Sachin Tendulkar scored his first Test century at the age of 17 when he smashed 119 against England in Manchester.
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Sachin Tendulkar is the established gold standard of batting in cricket. His numbers are simply phenomenal. His tally of 18426 runs in ODIs and 15921 runs in Tests, in addition to his 100 international centuries are records that might never be broken. However, the journey to these numbers was never easy for Sachin Tendulkar. At the very beginning of his career, Tendulkar struggled slightly to get some big scores. His talent was never in question, having impressed in the tours of Pakistan and New Zealand. Tendulkar had hit attractive fifties but he did not get to a century.
In the 1990 tour of England, India had mixed fortunes. They won the ODI series but in the first Test at Lord’s, they were blown away. Graham Gooch made 333 and 123 as he simply decimated India’s bowling attack. Ravi Shastri and Mohammad Azharuddin hit centuries and Kapil Dev avoided the follow-on with four consecutive sixes off Eddie Hemmings. Tendulkar managed just 10 and 27 in both innings in the Lord’s Test.
Heading into the Manchester Test, Tendulkar looked to break his jinx of not having scored a century in all formats. On August 14, 1990, history would be written.
In the second Test at Manchester, India was once again staring down the barrel. Graham Gooch scored his third consecutive ton and England managed to reach 519. Mohammad Azharuddin’s 179 ensured India did not fall behind as they ended on 432. England declared on 320/4 and they set India a target of 408.
India was in deep trouble at 127/5 but in stepped Sachin Tendulkar and he went on to change history. However, the feat of history was almost never going to happen. Early in his innings, Tendulkar spooned a return catch to Eddie Hemmings who dropped the catch. It would prove to be the costliest drop in world history. Tendulkar decided that he would play with discipline and not play any strokes on the up. It took close to an hour to get off the mark.
Tendulkar made great progress but he survived another close call. The batsman ducked a short ball but it hit the back of the bat. Luckily, it did not go to any close-in fielder. Memories of what had happened in New Zealand in 1990 came flooding back. In that match, Tendulkar was on 80 overnight and he hit two fours. But, on 88, he found the fielder and the chance to become the youngest to score a century went away.
Tendulkar and Manoj Prabhakar had done enough to save the match. But, they had to hang in there. Some strokes that Tendulkar unveiled was simply fabulous. On 99, Tendulkar unveiled a straight drive and he notched up his century in grand style. It was a fabulous moment that announced his arrival on the international stage. At the age of 17 years and 62 days, Sachin Tendulkar had become the second youngest individual after Mushtaq Mohammad to hit a century.
It was the beginning of something big in world cricket. Tendulkar’s first century opened up the floodgates. After the century in Manchester, Tendulkar would hit centuries in Sydney, Perth, Johannesburg before hitting his first home century in Chennai in 1993, also against England. The first century is always special and Tendulkar’s effort in Manchester was hailed as a professional.
It would be the start of something incredibly special for Tendulkar in international cricket. He would hit 51 centuries in Tests and 49 in ODIs. Tendulkar would become the first individual to hit 100 international centuries. He would score centuries against all nations and in ODIs, he would become the greatest of all time. In 1998, he hit nine centuries in a single year and that remains the most-ever.
The journey of Tendulkar’s greatness began in Manchester 31 years ago and ended in Dhaka in 2012. In between those two knocks, Tendulkar redefined the passion of a nation for cricket in a great way. He became the heartbeat of a nation for two decades.
The brilliance of Tendulkar made cricket the ultimate unifying factor of the country. Whenever Tendulkar scored a century, the whole nation celebrated. When he failed, there would be tears. Tendulkar ensured that cricket became the ultimate passion for billions of Indians.
The journey for greatness is always tough. But, when the path is established, an individual can transcend greatness. But, Tendulkar crossed that path and became one of the greatest.
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