On This Day: 17-year-old Master Blaster Announced His Arrival With Maiden Century In International Cricket

On this day: Back in August 1990, legendary India batter Sachin Tendulkar announced his arrival to international cricket after scoring his maiden hundred against England. The Master Blaster, who was only 17 years old back then, played a spectacular knock to help India save the second test as they drew the second Test of the three-match series at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Hyderabad: The veteran Sachin Tendulkar is considered to be the best batter of all time in the history of the sport of cricket. A plethora of records have been registered by the Indian great in Test and ODI cricket including the highest run-scorer in international cricket history with 34357 and centuries of the hundreds in the national jersey.

On this day, August 14, 1990, the 17-year-old prodigy Sachin, who eventually became the legend of the game serving Indian cricket for more than two decades, announced his arrival at the highest level with a stunning century, which came in the test format, at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester. The Mumbaikar, who was known as a record-making machine back then, had accomplished another feat with his maiden century, becoming the third youngest player to smash a century in the red-ball format of the game.

Tendulkar scored 119 runs off just 189 balls in the final innings of the second Test of the three-match series. His stunning knock propelled India to draw the match. Facing the likes of Devon Malcolm, Angus Fraser and Eddie Hemmings did not bother him. After losing the first Test by 247 runs at the Lord's, where the master blaster has never scored a ton, India were put under immense pressure and India didn't have a perfect start as they lost the toss and were asked to field first on the belter.

In the Manchester Test, India again got into trouble as England scored 519 in their first innings, but Tendulkar had come to their rescue this time around. He scored 68 in the first innings, although India ended up conceding a lead of 87 runs. England declared their second innings at 320/4, setting India a target of 408 runs, India had to put in a special effort to avoid going 0-2 down. Sachin put his hands up in crisis and got to his hundred, scoring 119 runs from 189 balls with the help of 17 fours.

Despite all of their efforts, India failed to level and lost 0-1 after the third Test at the Kennington Oval in London ended in a draw. The master blaster had a memorable series, amassing 245 runs from five innings at an average of 61.25, striking at 55.80.

In 2013, 23 years later, Sachin became the first cricketer to play 200 Test matches. Even 11 years after his retirement, he remains the leading run-scorer in Tests. He has scored 15,921 runs in 329 innings across 200 Test matches, including 51 centuries, 6 double centuries, and 68 fifties, the highest by any player. Sachin's average in Tests is 53.79 with his best score being 248.