Sachin Tendulkar retired from cricket with 100 centuries in international cricket, becoming the first batter to do so in the history of the game. 51 of those hundreds came in Tests, while he hit 49 centuries in ODIs. Overall, he scored 15,921 runs in 200 tests at an average of 53.78.

Out of those 51 Test and 100 international centuries, Sachin Tendulkar had often called his only 4th innings ton in a victory, in the 2008 Test against England in Chennai, the most meaningful to him.

When announcing the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy for the next India vs. England Test series, the Master Blaster stated in an interview with Sky Cricket that a century at Chepauk in a thrilling run chase is the "most meaningful" of his career, given the circumstances.

“I still remember post that match, when we were sitting in the dressing room, we could not believe that we had won the game from that position we were in for 3 days, and considering how the mental state was… not just the cricket team but the entire nation. I mean, it was very, very fragile; we were not in the right frame of mind to play test cricket. When the match was over, I felt it was the most meaningful hundred of my life. I don’t think there has been any hundred that has meant more to me,” Tendulkar told former England captain Mike Atherton for Sky Sports.

England had put up 316 in the first innings, with Andre Strauss scoring a ton. India replied with 241 runs. England then replied with 311/9 declared in the second innings, with centuries from Strauss and Paul Collingwood.

Set 387 runs to win, India started well with Virender Sehwag blazing 83 in 66 balls and Gambhir scoring 66 runs. But it was the partnership between Sachin Tendulkar (103*) and Yuvraj Singh (85*) that took India to win by 6 wickets.

The importance of this win was that this was the first match after the dust had settled after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. England was on tour in India when this happened. They left India in the aftermath but decided to come back and finish the tour.

“For the first three and a half days, we thought we were playing a catching-up game, and then suddenly we started picking wickets. Zaheer got three. Then, just towards the end of the day’s play, in about 90 minutes or so, Sehwag went berserk; he played some incredible shots. On that track, I felt England had possibly the best bowling attack. It was Jimmy, Harmison, Flintoff, Panesar, and Swann. So, they had everything covered, and the ball turned on the last day, so chasing wasn’t an easy task, especially against a world-class attack. But we got into some good partnerships, and then we finished really strong with Yuvi and I scoring the runs,” said Tendulkar.

Tendulkar also thanked England for their decision to go ahead with the two-match Test series after the events in Mumbai.

“After that terrorist strike, the series was put on hold. I remember England traveling to Dubai, where they were based for four or five days, and very graciously, they decided to come back. Thanks to the ECB. I want to officially go on record wanting to thank the ECB on behalf of all the Indian well-wishers of Indian cricket. It was very much needed for Indian cricket for the English team to return to India and play the series. It meant a lot to all of us,” Tendulkar signed off.