Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar was one of the star attractions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) when it was announced in 2008.
He was named the icon player for the Mumbai franchise and though he was out for most of the first season of the tournament with an injury, fans thronged to have a glimpse of him.
His record is stellar in the tournament and showed that he was a real master at adapting to different formats easily and had a grip at the newest T20 format as well. In 78 matches, he scored 2334 runs with 13 half-centuries and one century at an average of 34.83. He hit 295 fours and 29 sixes in his career and had a strike rate of 119.81.
His only century till date in IPL came on this day, April 14, against Kochi Tuskers Kerala in IPL 2011. He scored 100* off 66 balls (12 fours and 3 sixes) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. He put a stand of 116 with Ambati Rayudu (53) to set a target of 182.
However KTK openers Brendon McCullum (81) and Mahela Jayawardene (56) added 128 runs for the first wicket and though Malinga removed them both, Ravindra Jadeja (28*) ensured KTK opened their account in the tournament with an eight-wicket win.
Despite the loss, Tendulkar became the fifth Indian after Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Murali Vijay, and Paul Valthaty to score an IPL hundred. He also became the first captain to score a century in IPL. A season earlier, in 2010, Tendulkar had bagged the Purple Cap for scoring 618 runs with the best score of 89*.
Here is the video of Sachin Tendulkar’s only IPL hundred:
