A long time has passed since Sachin Tendulkar slammed his 99th ton against South Africa at the successful World Cup campaign earlier this year. A lot has happened in international cricket since then. India had a rather lackluster tour of West Indies even though they completed a Test and ODI series victory against them. This was followed by a disastrous tour of England that saw the world beaters being humbled in all the formats of the game.
The only positive from the tour that lasted two months, was the hope that master blaster would achieve the milestone of 100 centuries in international cricket. However, that remained a pipe dream. First, it was expected to happen at the historic Lord’s Test, where for the record Sachin hasn’t recorded any century even when the likes of Ajit Agarkar have their names encrusted at the Honours Boards in the Pavillion for doing so.
The agonising wait continued till the end of the Test series and then Tendulkar opted out of the following ODI series due to injury. However, the first Test against West Indies that begins at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi on Sunday might see the great exponent of the game achieve yet another milestone that has been eluding him for the past few months. The famous cricket ground has a penchant for records as at this particular venue, former spinner Anil Kumble equaled Jim Laker’s record of claiming all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.
As much the fans are waiting for that elusive ton, the organizers might have a reason or two for the same as the crowd has been showing a significant lack of interest in the cricket matches being played in the country. The recently concluded ODI series against England saw a poor response from the crowd as per the standards of a cricket match involving India as stands sported a deserted look. The record might reignite or at least for some time draw the attention of the fans who are now seem to be showing signs of withdrawal as the Indian cricket team has been playing continuously since their second World Cup triumph in April this year.
