Sachin Tendulkar's ODI centuries: Numbers 31 to 35
With 49 ODI centuries – a world record – Sachin Tendulkar captured the attention of the cricketing world each time he notched up a triple-figure knock irrespective of the format. Towards the tail end of the twentieth century and with the inception of the twenty-first, Tendulkar had formed one of the most threatening opening pairs in ODI cricket alongside Sourav Ganguly.
Together, the duo had put on 6,609 runs, including 21 century stands for the first wicket, both of which are still world records despite them having last opened in 2007.
Many of Tendulkar's centuries had come with Ganguly in company, and let us take a look back at his ODI centuries numbers 31 to 35.
#31 – 146 vs Kenya: Paarl, 2001
India 351/3 in 50 overs (Tendulkar 146, Ganguly 111; Odoyo 3/67) beat Kenya 165/5 in 50 overs (Otieno 40; Yuvraj 2/35, Harbhajan 1/14) by 186 runs
In a tri-series in South Africa with Kenya being the other team, India had already endured three losses in their first five matches. In the final match of the third round-robin matches, India's openers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly came out all guns blazing. They hammered their highest opening stand of 258 before captain Ganguly departed for 111. Tendulkar followed soon after, but in a knock of 146 at a strike rate of 110, he had set the tone for a massive total batting first.
He hit 17 fours in his stay at the crease for 132 balls, as Kenya's new ball bowler Martin Suji suffered the most with figures of 0/81 in only 7 overs. Tendulkar was the Man of the Match for his huge score as India put up 351 on the board and cruised to the final of the tri-series against South Africa.