adminboth statisticians and Sachin Tendulkar should the “Little Master” mark an already landmark occasion with a 100th international hundred.
The match is also the 100th Test between England, who gave birth to cricket, and India, now top of the ICC’s Test rankings, the 50-over world champions and the sport’s financial powerhouse.
That means it will feature a clash between the “old world” and the “new” – as there was, albeit in a different fashion, when England travelled to Melbourne to play Australia in the very first Test in 1877. Tendulkar arrives at the “home of cricket”, as Lord’s likes to call itself, having had to contend with a level of admiration arguably unequalled in both its frenzy and duration in cricket history.
And having scored a record 99 hundreds – 51 in Tests and 48 in one-day internationals in a career that started when he was a 16-year-old in 1989 – that adulation will only intensify should he reach three figures at Lord’s, where his previous Test-best is a modest 37.
The ever-modest Tendulkar, his teammates and opponents have all said the same thing: there is more to this match than Sachin. “I’m not thinking of records,” he insisted. “I’m just thinking of enjoying this tour,” added Tendulkar, whose four previous Tests at Lord’s have yielded a meagre top score of 37.” – AFP.
Online Reporter