On this day: Sachin Tendulkar hits his maiden Test century

On this day in 1990, the first of Sachin Tendulkar’s 100 international centuries was witnessed by the entire world. When the Master Blaster reached his first Test ton at Manchester’s Old Trafford, he was only 17 years old. He also registered the record for the third-youngest player to ever score a Test hundred in the process.

There was no better way for Tendulkar to make his debut on the world stage. The tale of his first Test century, which prevented India from losing the second Test match against England at Old Trafford, is as spectacular as his stellar career. After choosing to bat first after winning the toss, England amassed 519 runs thanks to contributions from centurions Graham Gooch, Michael Atherton, and Robin Smith.

Following the cheap losses of Ravi Shastri and Navjot Singh Sidhu, India’s response was unsatisfactory. Sanjay Manjrekar’s 93 and Tendulkar’s 68 gave the visitors some resistance, but captain Azharuddin’s tenacious 179 saved the team and brought India’s total to 432 at the end of the first innings.

With 320 runs scored in the second innings, thanks to Allan Lamb’s century, the hosts gave India a target of 408.  India’s batting woes persisted as they started losing wickets quickly one after the other and were left at a dismal score of 127/5.

A young Tendulkar came on, stayed at the crease, and hit 17 boundaries in his 119-run knock, which helped India avoid a defeat. Tendulkar displayed remarkable grit and application to script what remains to this day one of the finest match-saving innings by an Indian cricketer outside of the subcontinent.

The right-handed batter broke numerous records over the course of his illustrious career, which lasted a whopping 24 years. Tendulkar holds the record for the most individual centuries, tallying 100, having scored 51 in Tests and 49 in ODIs and is also the leading run-scorer in both Tests and ODIs, having played the most number of games as well.