Ton up, India batsman Tendulkar keeps a straight face after historic feat

Mirpur, Bangladesh, Mar 17 (PTI) The 100 that had been one year in waiting finally came about Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's way as he completed his century of centuries but showed minimal emotion after reaching a milestone that is unlikely to be emulated in the near or distant future. After 33 innings and over a year, Tendulkar finally got to the elusive hundred against Bangladesh in an Asia Cup league match at a packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium here on Friday. It took the batsman 138 deliveries, one of the most arduos one-day efforts by the 38-year-old right-hander, to get to the ton that had become as much a talking point as the team's fortunes in the past 365 days. The bowler against whom it came about was Shakib Al Hasan and the moment was the fourth delivery of the 43rd over of Indian innings. Tendulkar clipped it down to square leg and jogged the single, gave a long hard stare to his bat after taking off his helmet before looking heavenward in his signature style. What was missing was emotion. The diminutive batsman, the most successful batsman in international cricket right now, kept it subdued. He shook hands with Suresh Raina, his partner at the other end, and raised his bat to acknowledge the cheering fans with a straight face giving little insight into what was going on his mind amid the drama. After getting what several former cricketers called a monkey off his back, Tendulkar was dismissed by Mashrafe Mortaza off the second last delivery of the 47th over. The 114-run knock was incidentally Tendulkar's maiden century against Bangladesh. Upon his dismissal, the Bangladeshi players expectedly gave him a round of applause as he walked back to pavillion with fans cheering him on. His Indian teammates and coach Duncan Fletcher received him at the boundary lauding the iconic player. With an over two decade long career, records are fairly routine for Tendulkar but for the cricketing fraternity every run he scores just adds to the legend that the diminutive right-hander has become. The champion batsman has perhaps every batting record that is there to be taken under his belt. Much before his debut on November 15, 1989, Tendulkar's precocious talent was there to be seen when he shared an unbeaten 664-run stand with buddy Vinod Kambli in the Lord Harris Shield Inter-School Game in 1988. The 1989 international debut was far less spectacular, in fact forgettable. A Waqar Younis bouncer left him with a bleeding nose but Tendulkar did not wince and the next two decades saw him punishing bowlers all over the world on all kind of surfaces. His first Test century came in England next year at Old Trafford and the Mumbaikar rose in stature after the 1991-92 tour of Australia, hitting sublime centuries on a Sydney turner and a Perth minefield. The rest is history. No existing batting record seemed safe. Other than Brian Lara's Test match highest of 400 not out and first class highest score of 501 not out, every batting record became Tendulkar's. A staggering 15470 runs scored in 188 Tests at a robust average of 55.44 confirmed Tendulkar's greatness in the longer version of the game. And in the 462 ODIs he played, a whopping 18,260 (before the Asia Cup match against Bangladesh) were added to his mountain of runs at an average of 44.64. PTI