As per the report, Chappell felt that Tendulkar would be more useful down the order, while the latter felt that he would be better off opening the innings, the role he had played for most of his career.
Tendulkar flew back to India to attend the final rituals of his father, missing the match against Zimbabwe. Tendulkar made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November aged 16 years and days.
After getting out, Tendulkar found Azharuddin in two minds about whether he should bat. Tendulkar's dominance of his sport continued even as he moved into his 30s. He went to Sharadashram Vidyamandir High School at the advice of Achrekar as the school had a rich cricketing tradition.
Set runs to win, Australia were cruising at for 3 in the 31st over when Tendulkar turned the match for India, taking the wickets of Michael BevanSteve WaughDarren LehmannTom Moody and Damien Martyn for 32 runs in 10 overs.
The focus was on the clash between Tendulkar, the world's most dominating batsman and Shane Warnethe world's leading spinner, both at the peak of their careers, clashing in a Test series. During the tournament, he again demonstrated he was in a class by himself by becoming the first batsman to score 2, runs and six centuries in World Cup play.
However, he was not selected for the final eleven in any of the matches, though he was often used as a substitute fielder. He bats for India at no. Other celebrated early highlights included a pair of centuries in Australia inone of them coming at the blindingly fast WACA track in Perth.
After finishing the World Cup as the event's leading scorer, Tendulkar was named captain of the Indian national team.