Tendulkar, who already has a pile of runs and records to his credit, achieved the incredible milestone when he turned spinner Shakib-ul Hasan towards fine-leg in the Asia Cup match against Bangladesh here.
The star batsman first looked heavenwards and then acknowledged the cheers of his teammates and the crowd by lifting his bat.
It was the end of a long wait for the 38-year-old veteran, who had gone 33 innings and a year without a century. The right-hander made his 99th international ton in a World Cup match against South Africa in Nagpur on March 12.
Since then it had been an agonising wait for the maestro, whose every inning was watched with anticipation. He came close on quite a few occassion only to miss the milestone so much so that it became a huge monkey on his back and an unwanted distraction during every series that India played.
He was woefully out of form during India's Test and ODI whitewash at the hands of England last year and though he recovered quite a bit in the later series, the hundred was still not coming.
He carried the weight of expectation to what turned out to be a horror tour of Australia. Tendulkar seemed to be in good touch during the Tests but his form waned after he missed the 100th hundred despite coming close a few times.
Following this, he made himself available for the ODI tri-series against Sri Lanka and Australia but there too, the milestone proved elusive.
But the wait finally ended in familiar sub-continental environs.
With an over two decade long career, records are fairly routine for Tendulkar but for the cricketing fraternity every run he scores just adds to the legend that the diminutive right-hander has become.
The champion batsman has perhaps every batting record that is there to be taken under his belt and adding to the countless tally is the historic hundred he scored against England in the post-lunch session.
