Reliving Sachin Tendulkar's Test hundreds: Centuries 1-5

#2 111 v South Africa, Johannesburg, 1992

Tendulkar took a special liking to the fast, bouncy pitches of South Africa

India's first ever tour to South Africa turned out to be a bit of a nightmare for them as the players struggled to cope with the conditions and had to play defensive cricket throughout the series. India lost the four-Test series 1-0 but it could have been far worse had Tendulkar not played a superlative innings in the 2nd Test at Johannesburg. He was slated to bat at number 4 in that innings and before too long, India found themselves in trouble as the team slumped to 77 for 4 and then to 124-5

However, Tendulkar's innate ability to acclimatise quickly and take on fast bowlers like Allan Donald and Craig Matthews in their own den saved India from embarrassment. In a patient innings spanning more than six hours, Tendulkar negotiated everything that was thrown at him and hit 19 boundaries in total to take India out of the woods. This innings also brought up 1000 runs for him in Test cricket and at the time he was the youngest player to have reached that milestone. India eventually scored 227 in response to South Africa's 292 and ended up with a draw.