Sachin Tendulkar, 119 not out, Old Trafford, 1990: Master Blaster's first 100 of the 100 100s

The Batman@50 series continues to celebrate Sachin Tendulkar’s birthday by revisiting some of his special knocksIn this episode, associate sports editor Nitin Naik talks about Tendulkar’s first Test hundred that helped India save the second Test at Old Trafford in Manchester against England in 1990 Chasing an improbable 408, India had collapsed to 109 for 4 when Tendulkar, who had also scored a quality 68 not out in the first innings, walked inIndia soon were reduced to 183 for 6, after skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and Kapil Dev fellBut Tendulkar, in the company of Manoj Prabhakar (67*) saved the game by batting out almost a session and a half. At 17 years and 112 days, Tendulkar was the youngest to score a Test hundred in EnglandAs Sachin Tendulkar turns 50, we celebrate some of the icon’s greatest knocks in our podcast series titled Batman@50.This one by our associate sports editor Nitin Naik talks about his first Test hundred, a masterly 119 not out in the second Test of the three-Test series vs England at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1990.It was an innings of astonishing quality, considering the fact that Tendulkar was on his first tour of England and as his first innings 68 not out showed, where he took over an hour to get off the mark, biding his time to gauge the conditions, came naturally to him.India had been set 408 for victory on the last day and just after lunch, they collapsed to 109 for 4. That is when Tendulkar arrived. And he stayed there till two overs of the day were remaining and England skipper Graham Gooch agreed for a draw.Along with Manoj Prabhakar, Tendulkar put on a seventh wicket stand of 160 and at 17 years and 112 days, he was the youngest to score a Test century in England and the second youngest overall. Mushtaq Mohammed of Pakistan was 17 years and 82 days old when he scored a hundred vs India in Delhi in 1961.This podcast talks of counting down the overs as India inched towards safety while following the game through radio commentary and how one forgot about the score and the overs remaining and just focused on Tendulkar as he moved through the 70s, 80s and 90s.Having missed an opportunity to get to three figures in Napier four months before (he was out for 88), which would have given him the record of being the youngest Test centurion, one felt he was due for a three-figure score and when he crunched Angus Fraser, England’s best bowler in that game through mid-off to get to the mark, there was a collective sense of relief.That he was wearing batting great Sunil Gavaskar’s pads when he was getting to three figures, was symbolic. As it was a passing of the baton of greatness from one Little Master to the other. That he went on to get 99 international hundreds more, shows how good he was to become.Audio production: Shantanu Nanoti