Tendulkar's top five centuries

AFP Sport picks Sachin Tendulkar's five most memorable centuries in chronological order after he became the first batsman to score 100 international hundreds on Friday:

- 119 not out, England v India Test match, Old Trafford, August 1990.

Tendulkar himself regards his first Test century as one of his best. Coming in to bat with India struggling at 109-4 after being set 408 to win, the 17-year-old defied the English attack on a seamer's wicket for almost six hours to steer his team to a draw.

- 114, Australia v India Test match, Perth, February 1992.

The 19-year-old Tendulkar mastered the fast Perth wicket to hit a brilliant 114 against an all-out pace attack of Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes, Paul Reiffel and Mike Whitney.

The little man drove, cut and pulled effortlessly on a pitch where the next highest score by a team-mate was Kiran More's 43. Australian fans were bowled over by the batsman, who the legend Don Bradman said reminded him of himself in his younger days.

- 155 not out, India v Australia Test match, Chennai, March 1998.

India, who trailed by 71 runs in the first innings, rode on Tendulkar's brilliant unbeaten 155 in the second knock to set Australia a target of 348 runs and win the match by 179 runs.

Tendulkar hit 14 boundaries and four sixes, smashing Warne out of the attack. Warne, who had dismissed Tendulkar for four in the first innings, was hammered for 1-122 the second time.

Afterwards Warne would joke that Tendulkar's aggression gave him nightmares and the Australian named the Indian star as the number one in his list of 50 greatest cricketers.

- 103 not out India v England Test match, Chennai, December 2008.

In one of the most emotional moments in Indian cricket, Tendulkar engineered a remarkable win over England two weeks after his home city of Mumbai was ravaged by the brutal November 26 terrorist attack.

Set 387 for victory on the fourth afternoon, India achieved the highest run chase on home soil and the fifth highest in history as Tendulkar ensured that Virender Sehwag's bright start of 83 off 68 balls was not wasted.

Tendulkar reached his century with the winning boundary to the fine-leg fence and dedicated the landmark to the entire nation that was mourning the Mumbai attacks.

"Their loss can't be replaced, but I hope this win brings some cheer to those who lost dear ones in the attack," Tendulkar said.

It was the first time Tendulkar had scored a century in a successful fourth-innings chase.

- 200 not out, India v South Africa one-dayer, Gwalior, February 24, 2010.

The first and only double-century in the history of men's limited-overs international cricket fittingly came from the most prolific batsman in the game.

The 36-year-old batted from the first over to the last to reach 200 off 147 balls with 25 boundaries and three sixes against an attack that included Dale Steyn, Wayne Parnell, Charl Langeveldt and Jacques Kallis.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.