Looking Back at Sachin Tendulkar's Age Defying Maiden IPL Hundred
On April 15, 2011, a master bewitched the cricketing world with his resplendent stroke play with the bat in the fourth edition of the IPL. He was almost 38 years old, but still deluded all those who watched him on that day into believing that time was nothing more than a mere illusion.
In what was supposed to be a fast-paced, young man’s game, cricket’s most technically gifted player, and a man who had withstood the harsh tribulations of international cricket for over two decades- Sachin Tendulkar scored an ethereal hundred against the Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
Tendulkar opened his account with a captivating straight drive down the ground for four off RP Singh. The ball was pitched on off stump and came in a fraction. The Master Blaster presented the full face of the bat and with just a punch down the ground, he sent the ball racing to the boundary.
Tendulkar scored his second boundary with a glorious cut shot off Vinay Kumar past point. The ball was just fractionally short, and Tendulkar moved back and across in a flash and cut Kumar fiercely past point.
His third boundary proved that it was a master at work. Thisara Perera bowled a short delivery just outside off stump, the master got onto the front foot, and bisected the gap between cover and mid-off with the precision of a surgeon. Tendulkar didn’t even move as the ball raced to the boundary.
In the second ball of the 11th over, Tendulkar played with the field and made the ball obey his command. The ball was pitched on off stump, and he just used the pace of the bowler and played the paddle shot over the fine leg with precision.
The Master Blaster got to his 10th IPL fifty with a single to deep mid-wicket, and at that point had scored exactly half of the team’s total. Then, in the last ball of the 14th over, he danced down the wicket with the elegance of a ballet dancer and bludgeoned the ball past long off for a boundary.
He scored his first six in the first ball of the 15th over. Vinay Kumar pitched the ball short, and Tendulkar pulled him away over fine leg into the crowd. Then, Kumar tried to outwit the master by bowling a slower ball, but Tendulkar spotted it early and hoisted him over long on for another six.
Then, in the fourth ball of the 18th over, Tendulkar executed the helicopter shot to perfection. Perara pitched the ball on off stump, Tendulkar went deep into the crease, and with a roll of his wrists, powered the ball past long on. MS Dhoni would have definitely been proud with the way Tendulkar executed the Helicopter!
A boundary off the fifth ball of the 20th over took Tendulkar on to 99.
And then, in the final ball of the innings, Tendulkar took a single off Perera and at the age of 38, scored his first and only century in the IPL.
The master illuminated the night sky at the Wankhede Stadium on that day, and indeed deluded all of us into believing that the concept of time did not apply to him.
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