By IANS
Vadodara : Sachin Tendulkar is about to reach yet another milestone. The fifth one-day international (ODI) between India and Australia at the Reliance Stadium here Thursday would be the 400th limited overs international game of his career.
“It feels great that I will be playing my 400th ODI. But for me it is just a number and the match would be just another match. I won’t be doing anything special and I will be preparing for the game as usual as I do for other matches,” said Tendulkar on the sidelines of the team’s net session here Wednesday.
“Every time I go out I have to score runs for the team. Tomorrow it will also be the same and I have to score runs to help my team win,” said Tendulkar, who has 41 ODI centuries against his name.
“It has been a memorable journey so far. I love playing cricket and that is the only thing which has helped me come so far,” said Tendulkar, who made his ODI debut against Pakistan in Gujranwala in 1989.
It was hardly a memorable debut, as he got out for a duck but since then he has come a long way to rewrite the record books as his career enters its 18th year.
The Reliance Stadium has been a happy hunting ground for India as they have never lost a match here. The ground has also been lucky for Tendulkar as he featured in all the five occasions that India won. His batting average here is a stupendous 95.25 with three centuries to boot.
Tendulkar’s highest so far at this ground has been 122 against the South Africans in March 2000. It was thrilling encounter that India won with just one ball to spare.
He also has some happy memories from the last match played here when he scored an unbeaten 100 as India defeated the West Indies by a huge margin of 160 runs in January this year.
Tendulkar also scored a brilliant 115 in the inaugural match at the Reliance Stadium way back in 1994. India went on to win the match by seven wickets against New Zealand.
“Last time I played here I hit a century. So it will help me when I go out to bat again. It will help me a lot,” said Tendulkar.
This time again, Tendulkar will be hoping to score another century to make the moment memorable.
The maestro added that in all these years, his most memorable matches have been the semi-final match against South Africa in the Hero Cup in 1993 and the group match against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.