Lord's Test awaits Sachin's 100th hundred

Lord's Test awaits Sachin's 100th hundred

New Delhi: The contest between the two hottest teams in international cricket at the home of cricket will not just go down as a colossal clash. The first Test beginning from July 21 at Lord's will be the 2000th Test in the history of the game and will mark a century of clashes between India and England.
After the thrilling drawn game in the ICC World Cup against India, England will be eager to set the record straight after inflicting a 1-0 Test series defeat on Sri Lanka, sounding a loud and clear warning to India that they will have to grind out the results against a buoyant English team.
Over the years, tours to England have brought fond memories to Indians. They recorded their first ever Test-series win over the 'Three' Lions in 1971. Yet another unique record will be made as the second Test will be the 50th face-off between India and England on English soil.
It has been about four months since the world has been waiting for the mother of all records to be made by the best batsman ever to play the game of cricket. If Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar reaches the magical three-figure mark at Lord's, that would be the 100th time in his international career he would have done so. His last effort that took him to the 99th came in a losing cause against South Africa in the 2011 ICC World Cup.
Not only will Sachin reach the pinnacle of the number of centuries in cricket, he would have also then made the most number of hundreds in England. He is at present level with batting legend Dilip Vengsarkar with four tons in England.
'The Wall' Rahul Dravid, who has been a thorn in the flesh of the English team many a time, will complete 1000 runs in England, with 'Jammy' only being 85 runs away from the four-figure mark.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who achieved the 400-wicket mark in the Carribbean, is nine wickets away from reaching the half-century mark against England.