OMGSACHIN: Lara backs Tendulkar to score his 100th international ton

West Indian batting legend Brian Lara has backed Sachin Tendulkar to get to his 100th international century mark.

Speaking to reporters here, Lara said it was only a matter of time before Sachin got to the near-impossible landmark and advised Indian cricket fans and media to be patient.

“Unfortunately in Test cricket people are going to come at you as you are not playing against guys who are going to give up. He gets a good delivery or little lapse in concentration, things that happen and the opposition is there, they know fully well that maybe they don’t want him to score that against them,” said Lara.

“Sachin is a great player and obviously if he wanted to score against the West Indies he would have played the one-day series, but he is going to score and we have to wait and appreciate it,” he added.

Cricket pundits believe that the pressure of getting to the landmark is weighing on Tendulkar who has twice come close to the elusive ton, but was dismissed on 91 against England and 94 against West Indies in consecutive Test series.

The Indian batting great, with 51 Test centuries and 48 in one-day internationals, needs one more to complete 100 international hundreds.

The West Indies southpaw also came to the rescue of under-fire Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has been receiving a lot of flak for the Indian team’s abysmal performance in the on-going test series against Australia.

Lara said that to put the entire blame on Dhoni for Indian team’s failure Down Under was not fair, as everyone needed to share the blame for the poor show.

“I think you should give him a chance. Obviously, what happened in England and what’s currently happening in Australia, no Indian would be happy with the situation, but I believe they have to take everything in context and find out if you have the right team,” Lara added.

Dhoni, facing stiff criticism for his defensive tactics on the field, on Thursday had hinted at retiring from test cricket by the end of 2013, to prepare for the 2015 World Cup.