At about half past four at Mirpur's Shere Bangla Stadium, Sachin Tendulkar tapped a delivery from Shakib Al Hasan on his pads behind square. He scampered to the non-striker's end for a single. There was no exaggerated celebration; just a tired-looking glance heavenwards, a raised bat accepting the congratulations, and a finger pointed at the tri-colour on his helmet.
He was embraced by Suresh Raina in the middle before the Bangladesh players also ran up to congratulate him. The crowd welcomed the moment. They didn't mind that the home team had been at the receiving end of this milestone. The oldest man on the park had finally done it.
Tendulkar celebrates his hundred.With that single, Tendulkar completed his hundredth century in international cricket — an unprecedented feat that will not be passed again by anyone in a hurry. It was also his 49th hundred in an ODI, ending his year-long wait for a three-figure knock.
There may have been a more befitting stage for such an incredible milestone than an Asia Cup encounter against a weak bowling attack. Less befitting was the manner in which he crawled to the mark. There were 82 dot balls in Tendulkar's innings, completely in contrast with how Virat Kohli, Raina, and several of the Bangladeshi batsmen played this game. He was a shadow of his former aggressive self in this innings, but what's beyond doubt is Tendulkar's place among the greatest sports persons of all times.
A hundred hundreds in international cricket was unheard of. In 1998, Tendulkar took the recordat 36 hundreds held jointly by Sunil Gavaskar, Vivian Richards and Desmond Haynes. He has nearly tripled the mark, and this incredible feat of longevity will put him along such sporting icons as Pele, Navratilova and Federer.
Tendulkar, who is now in the 23rd year of his international career had been searching for this landmark since March 12 2011 when he last scored a hundred, against South Africa in Nagpur during the World Cup. Since then, he went 33 innings — including whole tours to England and Australia — without a hundred.
With each failure, the clamour around the milestone grew louder, with experts even questioning his motives behind continuing playing for India at the expense of young players waiting in the wings.
Today, India lost the early wicket of Gautam Gambhir in the sixth over when Shafiul Islam clean bowled the left-handed opener. Tendulkar and Virat Kohli (66) then added 148 runs for the second wicket, setting the stage for a big score.
News source by:- http://cricket.yahoo.com/news/
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