Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar recalled Sachin Tendulkar's maiden international ton, a superlative second-innings effort to save India the 1990 Manchester Test against England.
Chasing 408 in the last innings, with the surface at its worst for batting and bowlers enjoying swing and seam movement, India found itself struggling at 109/4 when Tendulkar arrived to the crease at No.6.
His 119 runs were of the highest quality, exhibiting great mix of solid defence and stroke fluency. It was not only vindication of all the hype around the teenage batting sensation from Mumbai, but also a very early example that India had found a horse for the long haul.
Manjrekar, Tendulkar's teammate on that tour, reminisced of the knock on Star Sports' 'Cricket Connected' show and said they weren't really surprised by the youngster's effort but just impressed how quick a learner the then 16-year-old was, as he had already covered for whatever flaws that had held him back a bit on the first trip to Pakistan and the tour of New Zealand that followed.
"Those signs were there. It wasn’t that we were astounded by the effort. Because this is a guy whose climb at the international level from the age of 16, who started playing in Pakistan with a few good innings there but there was a certain amount of looseness, impetuous kind of batting outside the off-stump," said Manjrekar, now a renowned commentator.
"In New Zealand, he had one 80 and he had become a little tighter. But come England, he had sealed all his weaknesses. So that hundred was just a recognition of the growth of this man and I have never seen anyone dominate international cricket so quickly," he added.
Tendulkar played some of the toughest cricket abroad in his first few years at the highest level, that many believe was the best thing to have happened to him. The scheduling of frequent overseas tours threw the youngster deep into the difficult waters, overcoming which he was on his way to greatness.
"Then in Australia (1991-92) immediately after England, he went there and dominated international cricket as a batsman," Manjrekar said of his friend, who retired from the game in 2013 as its highest Test and ODI run-maker.
