Sachin Tendulkar just can’t score his 100th century after scoring 99 before in his career. It seems inexplicable to explain.
He has been hitting the ball well, scoring runs too though not in the same vein as 12 months back. So what is the reason?
Tendulkar took many innings to score his first ODI hundred. He took even longer to score his first test double ton. However, he went on to score more ODI hundreds and test double tons after the barrier was broken.
Here, I find interesting that after Tendulkar equalled Gavaskar’s record of 34 international test hundreds, he said he was relieved as it was so talked about. 34 hundreds was a holy grail for Indian batsmanship and like for most Indians, that number would have inspired awe for him.
He had scored 33 test hundreds before that but the 34th was still not just another hundred. When you understand this, you understand that the 100th hundred is not just another hundred.
A match between India and Sri Lanka in the on going tri series being played in Australia is very different from a match between the two teams played in the world cup final around a year ago. Essentially, you have more or less the same players and players and facing similar physical skill challenges as far as various player versus player scenarios are concerned.
However, change the context and you change the game. It is here how it becomes clear how mental challenges are some times even tougher to over come than the physical challenges in sport (and in life). In the international arena, where players have excellent physical skills, it is extra ordinary that at that level, it often boils down more to the mental toughness, strength and acumen.
Bradman once said that he saw many cricketers in his life time who were more talented than him. Bradman was perhaps being modest but there is a lot of logic in the essence of his statement, neverthless.