New Delhi: It was on this day, 27 years ago, when the India batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar hit his maiden ODI ton after appearing in 78 games over a span of five years.
Tendulkar hit the first of his 49 ODI centuries in the match against the mighty Aussies in Colombo, in his 79th 50-over outing. The Little Master amassed 110 runs off 130 balls on a day that saw no other Indian batsman being able to cross the 50-run mark.
His knock played a major role in the team's victory in the match, as India won by 31 runs. Tendulkar was also adjudged the Player of the Match for his brilliant inning that was laced with two maximums and eight fours.
Tendulkar was lucky enough to register a century in the Test cricket before ODIs. At the age of 17 years and 112 days, he had the honor of becoming the third-youngest batsman to hit a Test ton.
He took eight Test matches to notch up his maiden 100-plus score in international cricket, scoring an unbeaten 119 off 189 balls in the final innings, helping India draw the game against England.
The knock also bagged Tendulkar his first Man of the Match award.
The Master Blaster made his debut in Test cricket on November 15, 1989 and made his first ODI appearance in the same year, on December 18. The legendary cricketer has the most number of runs in the longest format of the game, scoring 15,921 runs.
One of the most distinguished of Tendulkar’s on field achievements is his record of 100 International centuries in his illustrious career. He smashed 51 Test centuries and also sits atop the list of most runs in the ODI format, picking 18,426 runs, featuring 49 tons.
Tendulkar represented India in six World Cups during his career that lasted 24 years but only realized his dream of winning the World Cup in 2011.
