Reliving Sachin Tendulkar's ODI centuries: 1-5

In the early years of Sachin Tendulkar's one-day international career, he usually batted in the middle order and could not quite get enough time to score centuries.

In fact, it took him 76 innings and 79 games to score his first century in one-day internationals, but once he started scoring them he did not seem to stop.

Over the course of his career, he became one of the greatest batsmen in limited overs cricket and scored 49 centuries over the course of his stellar career.

Here is a look at his early years and a closer look at the first 5 centuries that he scored for India.

#5 110 v Australia at Colombo (Premadasa Stadium), 1994

Sachin Tendulkar's very first century in one-day internationals took a long time coming and it was an innings that was of such high quality that it would remain in the minds of anyone who was privileged enough to have watched it live. Tendulkar's promotion in the batting order to the opener's slot had unlocked his full potential as an ODI batsman and in the 3rd game of the Singer World Series in Colombo, he put the Australian bowlers to the sword, with an innings of breathtaking brilliance.

The Australian bowling attack consisted of Craig McDermott, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Tim May and Steve Waugh (who used to be a regular bowler at the time), but they could not do much as Tendulkar took control of the game. He hit 8 fours and 2 sixes en route to his 110 and brought up his first-ever ODI century. He had a strike rate of 84.61 and helped India get to 246, which eventually proved to be the winning score.

#4 115 v New Zealand at Vadodara, 1994

In the 3rd game of the Wills World Series in 1994, New Zealand batted first and through a century from captain Ken Rutherford and a 96 from wicket-keeper Adam Parore (incredibly Parore did not hit a four or a six in his innings), they posted an imposing 269 in 50 overs. It was a big score at the time and there must not have been much hope that India would be able to overhaul that.

However, Sachin Tendulkar made a complete mockery of the target with the early onslaught on the Kiwi bowlers and helped India race to a superb start. Along with fellow opener Manoj Prabhakar, he put on 144 runs for the first wicket and from then on, the match looked to be going only one way. Tendulkar hit 9 boundaries and 3 big sixes to score 115 in 136 balls at a strike rate of 84.55. When he was finally run out, India only needed 23 more runs to win and they did so with 11 deliveries to spare.

#3 105 v West Indies at Jaipur, 1994

In the 5th and final ODI of the bilateral series against the West Indies at Jaipur, India chose to bat first and Sachin Tendulkar played another match-turning innings to help India romp to a 4-1 series win. Against a bowling attack fronted by Cameron Cuffy and Anderson Cummins, Tendulkar got India off to a fairly quick start and hit 10 boundaries over the course of his 105, that came off 134 deliveries.

It might be said that it was perhaps not one of his regulation ultra-attacking innings and in fact, he did not hit a single six in the whole innings. Tendulkar put on 95 for the 1st wicket with Ajay Jadeja and then put on 117 with great friend Vinod Kambli as India scored 259 in their 50 overs. It was the third ODI century of his career and the third of the year, which showed that at only 21 years of age he had matured as a limited-overs batsman.

#2 112 not out v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, 1995

In the 5th match of the Asia Cup held in Sharjah back in April 1995, India steamrolled Sri Lanka and won the game by 8 wickets, thanks to a phenomenal innings from their opening batsman Sachin Tendulkar. India had restricted Sri Lanka to 202 for 9 in their quota of 50 overs and in the chase, Tendulkar killed the game early on by unleashing absolute mayhem in the desert.

He completely decimated the Sri Lankan attack consisting of Chaminda Vaas, Dharmasena and Ramanayeke and hit 15 boundaries and 1 six to score 115 runs in only 107 deliveries. Tendulkar's strike rate of 104.67 also made it his fastest century in his career at the time and he remained not out as India closed out in the game in the 34th over by 8 wickets.

#1 127 not out v Kenya at Cuttack, 1996

The 1996 World Cup was the tournament in which Sachin Tendulkar's status as one of the world's most destructive batsmen was cemented and he showed it in India's very first game against minnows Kenya at Cuttack. After Kenya made a below par 199 for 6 in their 50 overs, the result of the game was never in doubt but Tendulkar stamped his class on the game and scored a superb century to help India dominate the chase from the outset.

He got India off to a flying start and added 163 for the 1st wicket with fellow opener Ajay Jadeja. However, the stroke-making was simply superb and Tendulkar hit as many as 15 boundaries and a solitary six in his 127 not out, that came off only 138 deliveries. He recorded a strike rate of 92.02 and was at the crease when India finished off the game in the 42nd over.