Perth classic Tendulkar's finest

With Sachin Tendulkar reaching 50 Test centuries, ESPNcricinfo asked some of his team-mates to pick the best of the lot

VVS Laxman 114 in Perth, 1992

I was young and watched that innings on TV and that innings became very, very special immediately and it still remains. For somebody on his first tour of Australia, especially when the team is not doing well, and to score a century on a fiery track like Perth at a tender age said a lot about Tendulkar's talent. Some of the shots showed glimpses of a great batsman at work. Some of the shots he played against Merv Hughes are a dream for any batsman: being a short guy, on a bouncy track, against a quick bowler and to play on the up, you have to have a lot of talent to do that. He displayed that in abundance during that century. He remained positive even as the wickets fell around him and play naturally. He dominated the Australian bowlers easily. Even to a youngster then t became clear how special Sachin was.

Javagal Srinath 114 in Perth, 1992

It was a wicket where there were a lot of cracks. It was quick, real fast as the WACA was famous for in those days. There was no player who could really face the Australian attack. Tendulkar was just 18 or something and he was not only able to stand up to the bowling but bat aggressively. The ball was deviating left, right and centre from the cracks. No-one really knew how the ball would travel after pitching. But Tendulkar encountered it with such aplomb that it became the highlight of that series in many ways even if we lost the Test. My other favourite Tendulkar century was against South Africa in Johannesburg against Allan Donald and Brian McMillan at their fastest on a very pacy Wanderers' pitch. Another top-pick is the terrific century against Pakistan in Chennai in 1999. It was mind over matter, about handling the pressure every ball.

Rahul Dravid 116 in Melbourne, 1999

To me this was a special hundred because he was captain of the team and we were struggling as a unit in that series and not playing particularly good cricket. And here was Tendulkar, facing up to a good bowling attack comprising Glenn McGrath, Damien Fleming, Brett Lee and Shane Warne, and, standing tall when nobody else was scoring runs. He was in total control. For a long part of his career had some good batsmen around him but that was a time when a lot of us were young and none of us was playing well and he had to carry it on his own. And he did it beautifully. In some ways it was a Lara-esque innings because [Brian] Lara for a long time had to carry the side on his own. And the pressure is never easy. It was definitely not the toughest wicket he batted on but the atmosphere at the MCG and batting without any support was just brilliant. As a leader he was under tremendous pressure and to come in and make a terrific century was really a standout innings.

John Wright 126 vs Australia, Chennai 2001

The hundred I'll always remember is his 126 versus Australia in Chennai 2001. Counting back, it was his twenty-fifth hundred, at what was to be a halfway stage that we wouldn't have thought about then. It was a big, big game, the world's champion team, a Test that was going to decide the series, a contest between some greats of the modern game - Warne, McGrath and Sachin. I think he just loved that stage. He had come into that series in good form, and was batting beautifully even though until Chennai he had not got a century in the series. They were saying that the Aussies had been thinking about that, that Tendulkar's big knock was due. It was coming. There was also a lot of talk about how India depended too much on him. For me, though, the outsider who had come into Indian cricket without any baggage, you never picked that up inside the changing room. There was an overall confidence all the way through the team, its batsmen and its bowlers. The Aussies won the toss and put up a big first-innings score and we knew that we had to get close to it to get a foothold in the game. It was our big player who pulled out his big innings which gave us a chance to win that game. When he came in we were about 180 behind Australia, and when he was out, India were 77 in front. I remember him hitting Colin Miller for a six to reach his hundred. The ball went over long-on into the far end of the ground, we were sitting in our viewing area with spectators on two sides of us behind us and on our right and the celebration was wild. And loud. As much as we may see batsmen hitting sixes to reach centuries now, something like that was rarely done ten years ago. It was wonderful, emphatic, a statement. He was up against McGrath, Warne, Gillespie and the world's best team. It was hot and sweltering, we were sweating buckets sitting out in the viewing area and the crowd was packed in to every inch of the ground. And then, there was Sachin batting for us, batting for them.

Navjot Sidhu 114 in Perth, 1992

The ball was really bouncing around that day. Normally for a short-statured man it is very, very difficult to face the short ball, but the consummate ease with which Tendulkar played those horizontal cut shots on that pitch were amazing. Even a good length ball was going top of the stumps but Tendulkar showed his mastery with his wrists - he played the pull shot, cuts and flick using the wrists beautifully on the fastest pitch at the time - in a way proving already at the age how great he was.