When the ball reached the fine leg area bringing Sachin his next century and India the wining run, a visibly ecstatic Sachin was a photographer’s delight. A jump with the clenched fist well represented the mood of the entire nation that has resolved to give a good fight to the evil power. It thus did not come as a big surprise when the master blaster dedicated his forty first hundred to the martyrs of Mumbai blast . This Chennai ground witnessed some of Sachin’s best innings - unbeaten155 against Aussies in 1998, the 136 against Pakistan and the 126 against Australia once again - but this one will be remembered by the upcoming cricket for its sheer quality.

Sachin himself rates this unbeaten cricket score of 103, as one of his best. He chose to give it the same ranking as his Perth hundred of 1992. Why does the Maestro treat it as very special? As Sachin said after playing his wonderful innings, “This is something I wanted to do. Score a hundred in the fourth innings and win a match for India. I have scored a hundred in second innings, but to actually win a match, play the winning shot. That was something I wanted to do. This makes it really special.

It is not Sachin alone, who considers this innings to be among the top ones; the veterans of international cricket are in agreement that given the situation, Sachin’s forty first century is definitely among his most valuable contributions for team India. In Cricket360’s opinion, this time it has been tougher than the Perth hundred. The surface, the drizzles and above all the pressure of the target and even a bout of dehydration during the last lags and the genius still defied them all to grab his next hundred. If Yuvi and Sehwag were at their deadliest, Sachin provided the balance by helping build up a brilliant 163 run partnership that culminated into India’s six-wicket victory.

The beginning did not look very promising with Dravid and Gambhir falling before lunch. But when Sachin took over, the handful of visitors in MA Chidambaram stadium got to see a scintillating live cricket. Sachin’s resolve was written straight on his face and nothing including Flintoff’s short deliveries could break this resolve. It was Sachin’s presence that helped Yuvraj to ignore all distractions and concentrate on his natural game.

As for Sachin, this century will probably help him forget the disappointments of 1999, when despite his magnificent score of hundred, India lost to archrival Pakistan.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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