Thaindian News

Mirpur (Dhaka), March 16 (IANS) “Enjoy the game and chase your dreams” was batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s message to budding cricketers after he achieved his 100th international hundred against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup.

The cricketing world and Sachin’s billion fans tasted their moment of joy after the master blaster struck his first hundred since March 12, 2011, scoring 114 off 157 balls.

Sachin said the wait for the elusive century as a tough one.

“I can’t think of anything at this stage. It has been a tough phase for me,” said Sachin.

“I started off the season batting reasonably well, batted well in Australia without much luck. It doesn’t really matter how many hundreds you score, in the end you have to put your head down and grind it out for the team.”

The 38-year old said he wasn’t thinking too much about the milestone despite the unprecedented attention by his fans and the media.

“To be honest, I was not really thinking about it. The media started it all. Wherever I went, to the restaurant, room service, housekeeping, everyone was talking about the 100th hundred. It was surprising as nobody talked about my 99 hundreds.”

Sachin slowed down a bit while getting to the magical figure. When asked about how he paced his innings, Sachin said: “It was slightly different, the ball was not coming onto the bat. Virat (Kohli) and I were discussing that 275-280 would be a decent score on this wicket.

Many feel Sachin’s feat won’t be repeated but he thinks the important thing is to play for the team.

“It hasn’t sunk in but I have definitely lost about 50 kilos,” he quipped when asksed about the significance of his achievement.

His message to the youngsters: “Dreams do come true. I had to wait for one for 22 years (the World Cup). So, go out there and chase your dreams.”