Today (March 16) is a very special day in cricket history. On this day 11 years ago, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar had set such a record which no one would have imagined. In fact, on March 16, 2012, Sachin made a world record by completing his 100th century in international cricket.
Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla Stadium Mirpur became witness to this historic moment during the Asia Cup tournament. Sachin achieved this feat by playing an inning of 114 runs in the ODI against Bangladesh. This was Sachin’s 49th century in ODIs and before that he had scored 51 centuries in Test matches. Sachin is the only player in the world to score 100 international centuries.
India was defeated in that match
The memorable moment came in the 44th over when Tendulkar took a single to left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan at square-leg. Although that match was not special for the Indian team and it was defeated by Bangladesh by five wickets with four balls remaining. The Indian team had scored 289 runs for five wickets in that match, in which apart from Sachin’s century innings, Virat Kohli also had an important contribution of 66 runs. On the other hand, Tamim Iqbal (70), Nasir Hussain (54) and Jahrul Islam (53) played half-century innings from Bangladesh.
A CENTURY OF CENTURIES 🫡💯
#OnThisDay in 2012 @sachin_rt scored his 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th ton in international cricket – the only cricketer to achieve this feat 👏 🙌#TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/EhsDhdEJ7s
— BCCI (@BCCI) Mar 16, 2023
Sachin Tendulkar took almost a year to reach his 100th century from his 99th century. After completing his 99th century against South Africa in Nagpur on March 12, 2011, Sachin could not score a century in a total of 33 international innings. Finally his wait ended against Bangladesh.
In his 24-year career, Sachin scored 18426 runs in 463 ODIs, including 49 centuries, and scored 15921 runs in 200 Tests with the help of 51 centuries. Apart from this, Sachin Tendulkar has also played a T20 match. He has scored 34357 runs in a total of 664 international matches, which is a world record. During this, Sachin has scored 100 centuries and 164 half-centuries.
Sachin had said this about his 100 centuries
Sachin had said about his century, ‘It has been a difficult journey, especially when you know that you are batting well. I batted well in Australia and England and then in Mumbai I came so close to a hundred. I was disappointed when this was not happening. I don’t play for milestones. It was an exam time, so I thank God for whatever came my way.
Most centuries in international cricket:
Sachin Tendulkar (India) – 664 matches, 34357 runs, 100 centuries
Virat Kohli (India) – 494 matches, 25233 runs, 75 centuries
Ricky Ponting (Australia) – 560 matches, 27483 runs, 71 centuries
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) – 594 matches, 28016 runs, 63 centuries
Jacques Kallis (South Africa) – 519 matches, 25534 matches, 62 centuries