Architect of India's come-from-behind win in the first Test against England, Sachin Tendulkar said the unbeaten 103 he scored on Monday would definitely rank among the best knocks he played ever.
"I would rate this hundred as one of the best that I have scored. Victory makes it even more special," said Tendulkar, whose 41st Test century, along with Virender Sehwag's violent 83 and Yuvraj Singh's sedate 85 not out guided India to a six-wicket win against Kevin Pietersen's England.
"It is quite emotional too. I would like to dedicate this to all the people of India," he added.
With this knock, Tendulkar also erased the nightmare of a 1999 Test where India, despite a sparkling 136 from him, could not chase down 271 runs and went down to Pakistan.
"That would always be there in back of my mind. But today I feel extremely happy that every batsman dreams of finishing off the game in the fourth innings scoring huge runs. I am quite happy that I was able to achieve for the team cause," he said.
"The disappointments are there. They will be there. But what one can do is just show that you do not repeat the same thing in future. Today in particular, I am extremely happy and proud that we were able to achieve something very special," said Tendulkar, after India completed the highest successful fourth innings chase in the sub-continent.
{{/usCountry}}"The disappointments are there. They will be there. But what one can do is just show that you do not repeat the same thing in future. Today in particular, I am extremely happy and proud that we were able to achieve something very special," said Tendulkar, after India completed the highest successful fourth innings chase in the sub-continent.
{{/usCountry}}Tendulkar said he kept talking to Yuvraj Singh throughout their partnership and ensured both stayed put to finish the job at hand.
"Actually we had a discussion. Yuvi played the shot off Monty (Panesar) and the ball fell in between short mid-wicket and long on. I told him 'wait till the last run is scored. Don't give it to me. Let's score the required runs ourselves," Tendulkar said.
"Because on track like this, when you lose wicket, you may lose two or three at a time. So, better to finish it ourselves. That is what I had told him and kept telling him," Tendulkar revealed.
On the partnership, Tendulkar said, "We were always looking for opportunities to score runs because on a surface like this it is difficult to survive three sessions when the ball was kicking and bouncing with lot of turns. We felt that we should also put some pressure on the bowlers who bowled good lines so that they may not be able to consistently do that. We took some calculative risks."
Tendulkar also heaped praise on Yuvraj and said people should stop questioning the left-hander's ability as a Test batsman.
"People talking about whether Yuvraj is a Test player or not, these are just loose statements. He is a terrific player and he has got some important runs. He has got three hundreds in Test cricket.
"Anyone can have a bad phase but that does not mean that he is not capable of scoring runs at Test levels. He has done that in a brilliant manner. Today again he proved the critics wrong. I am glad that he came up with such a fantastic innings. The guys are now made to rethink about their opinions," said the senior batsman.