Virender Sehwag and RP Singh reveal the time Sachin Tendulkar was happy to miss a century

The game of cricket has always given a player a lot of personal glory, whether it is after scoring a century or after picking 5 wickets in an innings or ten in the game. Sachin Tendulkar is the only batter to score 100 international centuries during his long and illustrious 24 year international career. Whenever he went out to bat, there was huge pressure on him to perform and score a century each time. Virender Sehwag his best friend and former partner in crime now revealed the reason Tendulkar was happy to miss a century.

The story as it happened –

Virender Sehwag who has for better part of his career played for India along with Sachin Tendulkar opening the innings, recalled an incident where Sachin Tendulkar was happy to miss a century against Pakistan. Speaking to Cricbuzz post the CSK versus RCB game, where Shivam Dube missed his century by 5 runs, the former India praised the effort by Dube and said “If he scored a century and the team lost, then? That happens so many times, players make a century but the team loses”

Sehwag speaks about the Tendulkar was happy after missing a century

RP Singh who was also part of the panel along with Sehwag, heard the former India opener speak about an occasion where Tendulkar was happy after missing the century. The game was the all important semi final versus Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup Semi final at Mohali. Speaking about the game, Sehwag said “I was also part of that match and so many other matches. In fact, paaji (Tendulkar) himself told us. It was the semi-final against Pakistan and he was dismissed in the 80s. When he came to the dressing he laughed slightly. I asked why he was laughing, he got out. He said, 'Good that I didn't make a century. Who knows we could lose the game’He is also human. He understands that it is winning that matters and not the century. And this is coming from a player who has scored 100 international centuries. So I would say that his (Dube's) 95 is equivalent to a century”

Sachin Tendulkar scored 85 in the game and helped India reach a competitive total on the board. India then went on to win the game and reach the final against Sri Lanka. India won the world cup after 28 years at Tendulkar’s home ground in Mumbai. Sehwag and Tendulkar then went ahead to open the innings a handful few times. Tendulkar retired from the game in 2013 with 100 centuries and nearly 16000 runs in test cricket and over 18000 runs in ODI cricket.