On this date in 2011, cricket legend and former Mumbai Indians batsman Sachin Tendulkar had scored his maiden and only Indian Premier League (IPL) century.
Tendulkar, while playing for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 4th edition of the cash-rich league, smashed an unbeaten knock of 100 in 66 balls at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. His ton helped the hosts post 182 for 2 against Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK), whose captain Mahela Jayawardene had invited Mumbai to bat first.
Despite Tendulkar crafting his maiden T20 ton, KTK chased down the target quite comfortably riding on brilliant half-centuries from Brendon McCullum and Jayawardene. The Kiwi scored 81 off 60 balls while the Sri Lankan smashed 56 off 36.
Tendulkar played a total of 78 IPL matches in which he amassed 2,334 runs, including 13 fifties and a hundred.
On November 16, 2013, Tendulkar at the Wankhede Stadium called time on his illustrious international career. His last Test was also his 200th in the longest format.
Tendulkar’s Test career thus ended at 15,291 runs, 51 centuries, 68 fifties and an average of 53.78 across 329 innings. He had scored a whopping 18,426 runs in his ODI career at an average of 44.38 across 463 matches, smashing 49 tons and 96 fifties.
Tendulkar had previously retired from ODI cricket and had already played his last match in the Indian Premier League but the Test retirement had a sense of finality to it.
(With inputs from IANS)