On this Day in 1994 - The world saw Sachin Tendulkar's 1st ODI century

On this Day in 1994 – The world saw Sachin Tendulkar’s 1st ODI century: The Master Blaster Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is epitomized as the greatest batsman in the history of cricket. Sachin had scored his 1st international ODI century on 9th September 1994. Would you believe that the same man who almost shattered all the batting records and etched his glorious legacy on the cricketing map with his batting geniuses almost took 5 years and 79 matches to score his 1st ODI ton.

But what happened after that is not any surprise as this century against Australia embarked his illustrious journey in ODI cricket as he went on to score a mind-wobbling tally of 49 centuries in ODI cricket which is 19 more than the batsman who occupies the second spot in the list of most number of centuries in ODIs.

On this day his 1st century came in Colombo during the Singer World Series match against Australia. In this match, the Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin had won the toss and had no hesitations in batting first. The Indian openers Sachin and Manoj Prabhakar stood up on the faith of their captain as they accumulated 87 runs for the 1st wicket and laid a solid foundation for other batsmen. But more than anything else it was all about Sachin and Sachin only.

In the opening partnership as well it was Tendulkar who gave impetus to the Indian innings with his impeccable repertoire of strokes. His scintillating shot over the deep square-leg which cleared the ropes gave ominous signs to the Australian’s against whom he had blossomed and proved his magnificence with the bat on India’s tour down-under in 1992 where he had blasted the Aussie bowlers all around the park in an innings of 114 runs on the fastest pitch of the world, Perth.

After that six on Craig McDermott’s bowling, there was no looking back for the Mastero. He handled the biggest threat for the Indian’s, Shane Warne in a brutal way. Sachin was very nimble-footed and he used his feet to edge out Warne. Tendulkar played some majestic square-cuts and was able to read the leggie from his hand very well which gave him that extra second to judge his lengths to perfection. Warne was so ineffective against him that when Sachin danced down the track and blasted him for a splendid maximum over the mid-on region, he tried to put him off with his sledging tactics, though it didn’t work as Sachin was the last one to get unruffled by these tricks.

His wrists might not have been as supple as Laxman but yet he could execute the on-drives and use his wrists effectively to pierce the gaps on the leg-side which is a testimony as to why he is regarded as the most complete batsman in the world. In this innings as well the Indian legend was very good on the leg-side against seamers and with ease turned straight deliveries into a boundary ball with his prodigal abilities. Finally, on the bowling off Warne he brought up his 1st ODI ton.

Tendulkar smashed 110 runs off 130 balls to help India post a total of 246/8. The Australian team got bundled out for 215 runs and the Indian team secured a fabulous victory by 31 runs.

Watch: Sachin Tendulkar’s 1st ODI century: