It was five years back, and the date was 16th March when the little master Sachin Tendulkar got to his landmark 100th hundred in Tests and One Day Internationals. It was an Asia Cup match where India was taking on minnows Bangladesh at Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Mirpur. It may have been a slow hundred according to his standards, taking 147 balls to score 114 runs.
With this feat, he has ended a 34-innings drought where he had been devoid of the landmark. Hence, this feat was even more special. During the period from 99 to 100, he had reached 90’s on many occasions failing to convert it into a three figure score. What was also ironical was that this was Sachin Tendulkar’s first ODI ton against Bangladesh. In that very match, Virat Kohli got a 66, which got overshadowed for obvious reasons. India got a reasonable 289 against Bangladesh. Bangladesh managed to emerge trumps, thanks to Tamim Iqbal and contributions from the middle order. The match ended in the last over, but the result was going just one-way.
In a career spanning 24-years, Sachin Tendulkar has amassed 34,347 runs to his name—18,426 in ODIs and 15,921 in Tests—and has scored 51 Test centuries and 49 ODI tons. Ironically, most of his hundreds came against the mighty Australians in an era that had Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brett Lee. That makes this feat even more special.
In fact, one of the biggest feats among his many, is being the first cricketer to score a double ton in the history of the game. It has almost been half a decade and no one has even come close to breaching the demi-gods record. He played his last knock against the West Indies team at his home ground in Mumbai, before calling it quits in 2013.
Sachin Tendulkar will always remain one of the best cricketers that the game has ever seen.
