On this day: 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar scores his maiden Test century in heroic rescue act, a sign of things to come

35 years and ninety-nine international centuries ago, the greatest modern batter of our age scored the first of many centuries throughout his storied career. A 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar, who had already put the world on notice through his precocious batting talent, registered the milestone to go with it, as he had Old Trafford on its feet with a display of grit and quality that could have fooled you into thinking this was a man twice his age. Sachin Tendulkar walks out of Old Trafford after scoring his maiden Test century to rescue the match for India.

In just his ninth Test match, against an England team that had already won the opening Test at Lord’s and had set the Indian team a massive target of 408 now at Old Trafford, the wiry Tendulkar had his task cut out for him. He had scored an impressive-looking 68 in the first innings, taking an hour to get off the mark in seaming conditions. But walking in at 109/4 as the pitch began to deteriorate and misbehave, a little bit more would be needed.

Tendulkar, who had debuted the year prior and was still finding his footing at the Test level, joined captain Mohammed Azharuddin during what is considered the latter’s legacy-defining Test summer. Azhar had scored a formidable 179 in the first innings, but it wasn’t to be this time: he was dismissed for 11, and all the weight was suddenly on the young Tendulkar’s shoulders.

Teenaged Tendulkar holds off English behemoth

It is a position he would grow very familiar with over the years, the expectations of a nation on his back, but here was a teenager still trying to find his footing, facing up against some fiery pace bowling and an English captain with the stature of Graham Gooch. Most cricketers would have wilted in that moment, and understandably so.

But Sachin Tendulkar has never been and will never be remembered as ‘most cricketers’. Playing the kinds of flourishing back-foot punches and square drives and flicks off his legs that he would immortalize over his long career, Sachin provided a glimpse of what to come: the sort of remarkable talent and ability that blessed him with the ability to change games.

Kapil Dev was dismissed to make it 183/6, but despite India staring down the barrel at that point, Sachin struck up an iconic 140-run unbeaten partnership with Manoj Prabhakar, seeing out the remainder of the match and helping India to a hard fought draw. Give the Master Blaster some more time, and he likely would have won a famous Test for the Indian team as well.

It would take Tendulkar another 18 months to get his next international century, but after that, he never showed any signs of stopping. But those who were turning in on the August evening in Manchester caught an early glimpse of the greatness that was to come.

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