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

#3 114 v Australia, Perth, 1992

Tendulkar scored a stunning century at Perth

According to many who were privileged to have watched this innings from Tendulkar in the 5th Test match at Perth in 1992, it was one of his finest ever knocks. The reason behind this assertion is the fact that Perth had the quickest pitch in the world at that time and after the four-pronged Australian pace attack (consisting of Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes, Mike Whitney and Paul Reiffel) had reduced India to 135 for 6, it was Tendulkar who stood alone among the ruins.

He was still shy of his 19th birthday by a few months but his mastery of the conditions and the ability to play off both the front foot and the back foot put many senior players in the team to shame.

He scored quickly, hitting 16 boundaries in his 114 and recorded an incredible strike rate of 70.80 on one of the world's most fearsome pitches. Talking about the innings many years later, former Australian captain Ian Chappell said, “Here a kid 18 years of age. He's coming from low, bouncy pitches to the highest bouncing and fastest pitch in the world. Totally unique conditions and he makes all the adjustments and he scores 114.”