For over a century, visiting and succeeding in Australia has been seen as the ultimate mark for a Test cricketer, to make the arduous journey down under, into the den of the wolf, and give a good accounting of themselves.

It is one of the toughest tasks in cricket to play a long series in Australia’s heat and bounce-friendly pitches, amongst some of the fiercest competitors in sport who would never pull their punches. 18-year-old Sachin Tendulkar was already making waves in international cricket as a batter of prodigious talent: would he be able to survive the onslaught down under?

In the New Year’s Test in Sydney, Tendulkar provided the answer. India were already 2-0 down with losses at the Gabba and the MCG, in near-identical fashion having batted first in both, and needed to show some steel.

Australia were in to bat first and, and an unbeaten David Boon 129* helped them put on 313, their third consecutive total of 300+ in their first innings in the series, indicating a batting order in top gear.

In response, India faced an attack that consisted of debutant leg-spinner Shane Warne, and the first chapters of a battle that would go on to define the next two decades of international cricket. Tendulkar came in at 201/4, joining Ravi Shastri at the crease, and the teenager went on to look comfortably at home in a way no player that young should in such unfavourable conditions.

With some of his trademark straight drives down the ground and backfoot punches with an almost mechanical sense of timing, Tendulkar worked his way past a 50 while Shastri breached the 200 mark at the other end.

Signs of what would become classic Tendulkar

With the senior batter departing, Tendulkar nonetheless didn’t take the foot off the gas as India streaked past Australia’s first innings total.

Tendulkar brought up a magnificent century with a deft glance off the legs, hustling back for a double to bring up his first century against Australia — and in doing so became, at that point, the youngest batter to register a Test century on Australian shores.

It was only his second Test century, but the sort that asks those to sit up and take notice as a sequence of fluid shots and courageous batting took the Australian attack by storm. Tendulkar stroked his way to 17 boundaries in that innings, but would run out of partners at the other end as the hosts fought back into the match.

This was his first of six centuries in Australia, the most outside India, and first of 11 against the Aussies overall — once again, marking Australia as his favourite opponents in Test cricket, saving his best for the best.

Flat conditions in Sydney meant the match trundled towards a draw on day five, despite India having a sniff of a chance at 114-6 to bowl out Australia and force a famous win. It wasn’t to be, as the Aussies hung on to seal the series and continue on to the WACA maintaining the 2-0 lead.

The five-match series would end heavily in favour of the hosts, who ran out 4-0 winners in the series as a whole with further wins in Perth and Adelaide.

Sachin added another century to the tally in Perth, scoring 114 in difficult and bouncing conditions in the fifth Test. Nevertheless, this was India’s heaviest defeat, coming at the end of a long tour, as Sachin’s century wasn’t enough to prevent a 300-run loss.

Read Also: Virat Kohli suffers worst fall in 10 years after NZ horror, slips out of top-20 in Test rankings; Rishabh Pant goes 6th