This article is not to predict whether Sachin will get his hundredth ton or not, rather this article is about the similar instances and landmarks of sport persons, which have been hard to come by.
By this time, this is irrelevant to talk about the capability of the prodigy called Sachin Tendulkar,because he had made enough runs in both forms of cricket, which will require some effort to supersede individually, forget about any person reaching the milestones in both forms of this game.
This does not make him superhuman though, as we see in following cases, athletes struggling at the proverbial “last hurdle”.
Kapil Dev, the charismatic all rounder, who led India to their first world cup victory, was seen struggling in his last stages of career, when trying to upstage Sir Richard Hadlee. Azharuddin did not get to play his 100th test, because for the reasons not related to cricket. Saurabh Ganguly struggled for a place in the eleven at the fag end of his career.
Perhaps, the exception has been Anil Kumble, who became more skilful at the twillight of his career, but one person stands out of this, who is Sunil Gavaskar who is truly an exception to these. He said good bye to cricket in prime form.
Another is Imran Khan, who inspired a not so good team to a world cup win. Similarly we saw Ivan Lendl never winning a Wimbledon despite being at top for long, we are witnessing Rafael Nadal showing signs of fatigue at a very young age, which makes Roger Federer look good.
Well, the question is , even if he does not get it, would Sachin, the phenomenon Tendulkar’s achievements will become less great? I doubt, after all, Sir Don Bradman did not get those four runs. Sir Jack Hobbs struggled a lot to equal W G Grace’s record, and was “helped” by opposing team when he actually broke the record.
But guess, who will be remembered along with Tendulkar, if does not get it at all. The answer is, Ravi Rampaul.
First published on 04 March, 2012, Sachin made his 100th ton on Mar, 16, announced retirement from ODI before the team selection with Pak Series on 23 Dec, 2012.