Sunday, December 12, 2004

Tendulkar equals Gavaskar's record

Sachin Tendulkar equalled Sunil Gavaskar's world record of 34 Test centuries.Tendulkar achieved the milestone when he took a single off paceman Tapas Baishya on the second day of the first Test against Bangladesh at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at Dhaka on Saturday.Interestingly, Gavaskar's 34th century had come in his 206th innings, while Tendulkar is playing only his 192nd innings.

He also became only the third player in history of Test cricket, after South Africa's Gary Kirsten and Australia's Steve Waugh to score centuries against all Test-playing nations.

The century against Bangladesh is the 19th for Tendulkar away from home -- a new world record. He was earlier at level with Sunil Gavaskar with 18 centuries.

Tendulkar's 34 centuries have been made on 25 different grounds -- four at Chennai, three apiece at Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo and Nagpur, two apiece at Ahmedabad and Sydney and once each at Bloemfontein, Bangalore, Cape Town, Colombo (Premadasa), Delhi, Dhaka, Edgbaston, Headingley, Johannesburg, Kolkata, Lucknow, Melbourne, Mohali, Multan, Mumbai (Wankhede), Old Trafford, Perth, Port-of-Spain, Trent Bridge and Wellington.

Countrywise break-up of Tendulkar's 34 centuries -- 15 in India, 4 apiece in Australia, England and Sri Lanka, 3 in South Africa and one apiece in Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies. Zimbabwe is the only country where Tendulkar has not yet scored a century.