CHENNAI, India, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Sachin Tendulkar on Monday dedicated one of his finest centuries to the families of victims of last month's Mumbai attacks.
Tendulkar hit 103 not out in an unbroken fifth wicket of 163 runs with left-hander Yuvraj Singh (85 not out) to beat England by six wickets in a game which looked in serious jeopardy after the militant attacks.
"From my point of view I look at it as an attack on India, not on Mumbai. It is an attack on India and it should hurt every Indian, not only people from Mumbai," Tendulkar told a news conference of the gunmen who killed 179 people.
"We are Indians and that is how I look at it. I would like to dedicate this hundred to all those people who have gone through such terrible times."
Set 387 for victory, Tendulkar, who holds the test record for most runs and centuries, scored his 41st test century to complete test cricket's fourth-highest successful run chase.
"This is something that I wanted to do - score a hundred in the fourth innings and win a match for India," he said.
"I've scored a hundred in the second innings, but to actually win a match, play the winning shot, that was something I wanted to do. This makes it really, really special.
"It's something every batsman dreams of. I would rate this hundred as one of the best, for sure."
'THANK ENGLAND'
England left the tour last month but returned after tight security was promised for the two tests which were moved to Chennai from Ahmedabad and to Mohali (Dec 19-23) from Mumbai.
"I'd like to thank England for coming back to play test cricket. We've witnessed a wonderful test match. People are again enjoying cricket the way it's meant to be," he said
"In no way am I trying to say that this will make everyone forget what happened in Mumbai," Tendulkar said, adding that a couple of parents from his daughter's school lost their lives in the attacks.
"What happened in Mumbai was extremely unfortunate and I don't think by India winning or me scoring hundreds people who have lost their dear ones and loved ones would feel better.
"It's a terrible loss for all of them and our hearts are with them. All I can say is that in whatever way we can contribute to make them feel better we'll make that effort."
England captain Kevin Pietersen said the loss was hard to take when his side had dominated thanks to two centuries from Andrew Strauss and another from Paul Collingwood.
"To control the test match for 70 per cent of the time and then unfortunately to miss out is a pretty bitter pill to swallow," he said.
"At the same time positives can be found in the way they (his team) played test match cricket over the past five days... We can sleep knowing 70 per cent of this test was ours.
"Especially after what happened in Mumbai a couple of weeks ago. For both teams to come out and play test match cricket and to put on a performance like that I think they can be really proud of themselves."
(Editing by Padraic Halpin)
------------Dec 15 (Reuters) - The 10 highest last-innings totals to win
a test match:
1 - 418-7; West Indies beat Australia, Antigua (2003) 2 - 406-4; India beat West Indies, Trinidad (1976)
3 - 404-3; Australia beat England, Leeds (1948)
4 - 387-4; India beat England, Chennai (2008)
5 - 369-6; Australia beat Pakistan, Hobart (1999)
6 - 362-7; Australia beat West Indies, Guyana (1978)
7 - 352-9; Sri Lanka beat South Africa, Colombo (2006)
8 - 348-5; West Indies beat New Zealand, Auckland (1969)
9 - 344-1; West Indies beat England, Lord's (1984)
10 - 342-8; Australia beat India, Perth (1977)
- - - -
(Compiled by Tom Pilcher; Editing by Jon Bramley)
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