5 times Sachin Tendulkar was denied a century by part-time spinners

#4. By Michael Clarke (2nd Test, 2012)

Sachin was denied his 100th hundred at SCG by Michael Clarke.

When India’s tour to Australia in 2011/12 came around, Sachin was on the cusp of scoring his 100th international hundred. It was clear that the impending record was having a negative effect on his batting.

However, he was still batting beautifully and whenever he got himself set at the wicket, looked as comfortable as any batsman. Same was the case during the 2nd Test of the 4-match series at Sydney.

Tendulkar came out to bat in the second innings and looked perfectly at ease. He got to his fifty without any trouble and the overhyped 100th century seemed a matter of time. The Australian captain Michael Clarke decided to bowl a few overs of left-arm spin himself.

Tendulkar was batting on 80 and had already struck 9 boundaries. Then as all his fans looked on, hoping to see their hero get to three figures and end the incessant noise about the 100th hundred, and then save the match for his team, tragedy struck.

Clarke bowled a nice delivery that pitched around off stump, straightened and bounced. Sachin prodded forward, a little tentatively, while the ball caught the outside edge of the bat and looped to first slip where Michael Hussey took an easy catch.

Tendulkar’s friend and long-time teammate Sourav Ganguly said Tendulkar should have been more aggressive against Clarke. It did indeed seem that as the great man got close to his hundred, the fluency of his batting decreased and a measure of caution came into it.

This may have been the result of the pressure to rid himself of the milestone which had become a millstone around his neck. Probably, Tendulkar thought about safely reaching the 100 and then carrying on his good work. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for him.