Century 42 proving to be a tough nut to crack for Sachin

Tendulkar displayed awesome form and devastated the Pakistan attack with shots which reminded of his days of yore.

His 91-ball knock included 14 fours and one six off Shahid Afridi. Tendulkar raced to the 90s and looked set for a big score but once again lost his nerves in the 90s and left the crowd and his team members, who had all stood up waiting to applaud his knock, stunned.

Tendulkar was looking to steal a single of Umar Gul and as he prepared to steer one in the third man region, he edged it behind and wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal held the ball diving to his right. The crowd fell silence.

Tendulkar, with 78 centuries to his name in both forms of the game, faced a similar problem at the start of his ODI career and it took him 79 matches to score his first century that came almost after five years since the start of his career. But once he scored his first ton — against Australia in Sri Lanka at Colombo in the Singer World series – he scored centuries at will.

But in the last few outings the century machine have stopped churning out those tons. Last time Tendulkar got a hundred (100 not out) was against the West Indies in January this year at Vadodara. But that came while batting at number four position.

In successive matches against South Africa in Ireland in June, Tendulkar was out in the 90s. First he scored 99 and then 93 in the Future Cup series in Belfast.

Century eluded him once again in the NatWest Series against England where Tendulkar twice fell in the 90s. He scored 99 in Bristol and then 94 at Lords. In between, he struck two fifties.

In the last series against Australia, he made some good scores and twice got out in 70s.

But he has been in excellent form in his last 20 matches and has piled up 942 runs with an average of 47 with the help of nine half centuries.