India, Sept. 9 -- On September 9, 1994, Sachin Tendulkar finally crossed a line that had resisted him for almost five years. Against Australia at Colombo's R Premadasa Stadium, the 21-year-old made 110 off 130 balls, with eight fours and two sixes, carrying India to 246/8 before Australia were bowled out for 215. The attack included Glenn McGrath, Craig McDermott and Shane Warne; Tendulkar was eventually yorked by McDermott. India won by 31 runs, and the innings became the first of his 49 ODI hundreds.

The striking part, with hindsight, is how long that first hundred took. Tendulkar had played 78 ODIs before arriving in Colombo. Across his first 75 innings, he had scored 2,126 runs at an average of 32.70 and a strike rate of 78.28. He ha...