Reliving Sachin Tendulkar's Test Centuries: Century 31-35

4. 241 not out v Australia at Sydney, 2004

Tendulkar plays a sweep during his epic effort at Sydney

This might not have been a vintage Tendulkar innings but his approach to batting in this innings showed a completely new side to his genius and as such, it is often regarded as one of the best innings he ever played in his career.

The 4 Test series was tied at 1-1 when the teams arrived at Sydney for the final game of the series and after winning the toss, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly elected to bat first. Tendulkar walked in at 128 for 2 on the first day but he was in no batting form at the time.

In the three previous Tests, he had scored a total of 82 runs including two ducks (and a 1) and in most of those innings, off-side strokes had been his undoing.

Then, Tendulkar came up with a master plan. He simply refused to play strokes on the off-side and instead concentrated on scoring on the on-side. He did not do so for a few hours, but in an innings spanning 10 hours. There were plenty of on-drives and nudges to the leg side that were used to exploit the gaps.

It was a masterful innings and he remained not out at the end, having taken India to 705 when they declared.