Celebrating the 30th anniversary of his first international hundred, former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar on Friday said he never expected to score 99 more hundreds in his career after scoring his first one. Tendulkar shared a video on Twitter and wrote, “Scoring my 1st ever 100 was very special as we managed to save the Test and keep the series alive, and it all happened on the eve of our Independence Day. It’s been my privilege to play for India and I thank each one of you for your love and support over the years.”
Scoring my 1st ever was very special as we managed to save the Test & keep the series alive, and it all happened on the eve of our Independence Day.
It’s been my privilege to play for India and I thank each one of you for your love & support over the years. pic.twitter.com/oTNUESifUs
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 14, 2020
Tendulkar scored his maiden Test century at the age of 17 years and 112 days against England in Manchester in 1990. It took him eight Test matches to bring up his first hundred and he finsihed unbeaten on 119 off 189 balls in the fourth innings, helping India draw the game. The knock also earned Tendulkar his first Player of the Match award.
“In the first innings I had scored 68 runs and I was the last batsman to get out. But in the second innings, I walked out to bat at number six. We had lost few wickets and we had to still play out number of overs. So I dug in and played out those overs and if there were opportunities to attack, I also attacked. Not to forget that was my first Man of the Match,” Tendulkar said in the video.
It was the second Test of the three-match series and England opted to bat first after winning the toss. The hosts posted 519 in their first innings as skipper Graham Gooch (116), Mike Atherton (131) and Robin Smith (121*) all scored centuries.
In reply, India were bundled out for 432 despite captain Mohammad Azharuddin’s 179. Sanjay Manjrekar accumulated 93 runs while Tendulkar scored 68. Going into the second innings with a lead of 87, England declared at 320/4, thus setting India 408 to win the game.
Mike Atherton made 74 while Allan Lamb smashed a century (109). Robin Smith and Jack Russell remained unbeaten on 61* and 16* respectively.
Chasing 408, India had a bad start as they lost their openers Navjot Sidhu (0) and Ravi Shastri (12) cheaply. Manjrekar and Dilip Vengsarkar stitched a 74-run partnership for the third wicket.
At the score of 109, Manjrekar (50) and Vengsarkar (32) departed in quick succession.
Tendulkar came in to bat at number 6 but soon lost his skipper Mohammad Azharuddin for 11. Kapil Dev joined Tendulkar in the middle and the duo added 56 runs for the sixth wicket. Dev departed after scoring 26 runs.
Thereafter, Tendulkar and Manoj Prabhakar played cautiously and remained unbeaten on 119* and 67* respectively at the end of the fifth day thus helping India draw the match. The duo added 160 runs for the seventh wicket even as Tendulkar brought up his hundred.
Tendulkar also reflected on how his first hundred was different from his 100th.
“In one of these meet and greet, I was asked ‘What was the difference between your first hundred and 100th hundred?’ I said after I scored my first hundred I did not know that there were 99 to follow. When I was stuck on 99 hundreds a number of people advised me what to do and what not to do failing to realise there were 99 behind. This was the difference between the first and 100th hundred,” he said.
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