Sachin Tendulkar scored his first Test hundred 20 years to this day
Today is the 20th anniversary of the first of Tendulkar's 48 test tons -- vs England at Old Trafford
"Time has flown by rather quickly." Sachin Tendulkar puts the 20th anniversary of his first Test century in true perspective.
On August 14, 1990, Tendulkar scored a match-saving 119 against Graham Gooch's England at Old Trafford, Manchester to kick off two decades of adulation, admiration and adoration in the land where cricket originated.
India were set 408 to win against an attack comprising the pacy Devon Malcolm, wily Angus Fraser and teasing off-spinner Eddie Hemmings.
Sachin Tendulkar is congratulated by Manoj Prabhakar on his maiden
Test hundred against England at Old Trafford, 1990.
PIC: GETTY IMAGES The formidable Indian batting order, save Sanjay Manjrekar's 50, did not measure up to much. Seventeen-year-old Tendulkar walked in at the fall of Dilip Vengsarkar's wicket with the scoreboard reading 109 for four. The dismissal of skipper Mohammed Azharuddin (11) and Kapil Dev (26) meant Tendulkar and Manoj Prabhakar had to battle against all odds to save the Test.
"We simply could not get out because there was no one left after us," Prabhakar told MiD DAY yesterday. With only Kiran More, Anil Kumble and Narendra Hirwani to follow, Tendulkar and Prabhakar had to toe a cautious line.
But what can one do when a hungry, teenaged strokeplayer is at the other end? "He was just playing his shots and looked in total control against a good attack. It was amazing. In fact, I grew in confidence by watching him from the other end. I had decided not to do anything fancy till he gets out, but he just refused to be sucked in by the pressure," said Prabhakar, who scored an unbeaten 67 in a 160-run partnership for the seventh wicket.
"Manoj helped me with some determined batting at the other end. I was not surprised by what he did that day because I had played with him earlier and I knew that he was a terrific competitor. We prevented England from winning," Tendulkar told MiD DAY in an earlier interview while including the Old Trafford ton among 20 of his most memorable cricketing moments.
Fraser was probably the main danger because of the movement he could generate. Prabhakar did not offer any advice for the majority of the partnership. "I only asked Sachin to be patient when it came to playing Fraser towards the end of his spell, but he hit his last ball for four."u00a0 In February earlier that year, against New Zealand at Napier, Tendulkar missed out on becoming the youngest ever Test centurion by 12 runs. His Old Trafford hundred put him second on the list behind Pakistan's Mushtaq Mohammad.
Deservedly, Tendulkar was named man of the match and the reward -- a magnum champagne bottle -- was
preserved and unopened till his daughter Sara's first birthday in 1998.
Forty-seven Test hundreds and 20 years later, he still has the Power bat.
