A Slice of 1999 | Sharjah Thrillers, and India’s Great Nuclear Leap!
11th April 1999
#memoriesfromdiaries
This day, 27 years ago!
Sundays are for rest, relaxation, reading and re-arrangement of room! 😊
Way back in 1999, a Sunday afternoon siesta was an indispensable ritual that was meant to recharge us all for the evening ahead! And so it was, that, after spending some time arranging my room, I had a siesta.
And this particular evening had its own share of entertainment quotient too!
If you were an Indian cricket fan like me, watching cricket in the 90s, the word “Sharjah” would definitely ring a bell in you, and bring back a flood of memories as well!
It was indeed a sensational match between India & England at Sharjah, that India had won the match by a nail-biting nine runs. Venkatesh Prasad was declared Man of the Match.
By 12.40 a.m at night the match ended!
One little sore point of the match was that, Javagal Srinath had indeed given too many runs! (cricket is all about wickets you see!)
This match is quite a memorable one for many reasons. Our regular captain Mohammad Azharuddin was out of the match, and so Ajay Jadeja stepped in as the acting captain.
Jadeja, who was famously known back then as ‘Mr. Cool’, led from the front, smashing a highly crucial, unbeaten 74 off 67 balls to place India at 239/6.
However, England’s baffling batting saved the day skyhigh for India. England’s innings featured three separate run-outs, effectively throwing the game away!
Now, coming back to the most interesting part of this diary entry –
India had successfully test-fired Agni-II, the intermediate-range ballistic missile, considered to be a major milestone for the nation.
The two-stage, 2,000 km-range missile was developed by DRDO to carry a 1,000 kg nuclear payload.
Well, on an aside, the Agni series forms the backbone of India’s land-based nuclear deterrence. Over the years, the DRDO has developed multiple variants, steadily increasing their range, precision, and technological sophistication.
The lineup begins with the highly mobile, single-stage Agni-I, a short-to-medium-range missile (SRBM/MRBM) capable of carrying a 1,000 kg payload over 700 to 1,200 km using road or rail launchers.
The two-stage Agni-III is a high-precision intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) designed to strike deep into enemy territory; its heavier and wider build allows it to deliver a 1,500 to 2,500 kg payload across 3,000 to 5,000 km.
The similarly ranged Agni-IV (3,500–4,000 km) prioritises extreme precision and modernisation, utilising lightweight composite rocket motors, advanced avionics, and a 5th-generation onboard computer to deliver an 800 to 1,000 kg payload.
The most powerful operational variant is the three-stage Agni-V, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a massive reach of 5,000 to over 8,000 km.
And the takeaway? 😊
Well, it indeed is so lovely to see how good ol’ diaries of ages past, manage to come to life with flesh and blood, almost 27 years later, highlighting both the personal news and the public news - on the national and the international levels – the sensational Indian win in cricket, the brilliance of DRDO, and the unbridled joys of a lovely siesta! 😊
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