On This Day: Sachin Tendulkar scores maiden ODI century vs Pakistan in Singapore; seventh overall

Sachin Tendulkar scores maiden ODI century: The legendary batsman had scored a total of five ODI centuries against Pakistan.

On this day in 1996, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar had scored his first-ever ODI century against Pakistan during the third match of the Singer Cup in Singapore.

In what was his seventh ODI century overall, it came at a brisk pace after the then Pakistan captain Aamer Sohail won the toss and put India in to bat at the Singapore Cricket Club.

Opening the batting with Navjot Singh Sidhu (14), Tendulkar recovered quickly from a slow start and made sure that he doesn’t consume a lot of deliveries like Sidhu and the then India captain Mohammad Azharuddin.

It was on the third delivery of the 24th over that Tendulkar glanced a ball on the leg-side to complete his half-century whilst in the middle of a 66-run partnership for the second wicket alongside Azharuddin (29).

Tendulkar, who was just under three weeks away from his 23rd birthday, nurtured the spinners extremely well as he was seen both playing them fine on the leg-side and sweeping them to collect runs.

On the fourth delivery of the 39th over, Tendulkar guided a loopy delivery on the leg-side to reach the three-figure mark. With Sanjay Manjrekar getting his eye in, India would have hoped for a well-set Tendulkar to register a daddy hundred.

Having said that, it wasn’t the case as the right-hand batsman’s attempt to increase the run rate saw him missing a Saqlain Mushtaq delivery altogether only to get stumped from Pakistan wicket-keeper Rashid Latif.

Having scored 100 (111) with the help of nine fours and a six, Tendulkar top-scored for India. A whirlwind 144-run opening partnership between Sohail (76*) and Saeed Anwar (74) laid the foundation for Pakistan’s victory amidst frequent rain breaks. Chasing a 187-run target in 33 overs, Pakistan sealed the chase inside 28 overs.

Sachin Tendulkar scores maiden ODI century

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About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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