Cricket might not be played at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in future, but the grand venue will for sure have apermanent place in great modern day batsman Sachin Tendulkar's mind.

The 31-year-old right-hander yesterday touched a landmark at the big bowl, which is all set to become football's only, making his 34th Tbst century against minnows Bangladesh that put him on par with legendary compatriot Sunil Gavaskar’s world record.

And it was just fitting for the Mumbai lad as Gavaskar was the first man to greet him when he walked off the field after tea had been taken following Sourav

Ganguly’s dismissal on the stroke of thebreak.

Tendulkar faced the obvious question when he appeared at a crowded press conference at the end of the day's play what Gavaskar told him during the emotion-chalked moment

He smiled and said: "He told me, 'It’s good to get to 34 but you should not stop here. Go farther and farther and get to the 50'," told Tendulkar, who ended the day on 159notout

"I don’t want to say whether it is possible or not right now. It's not that I'm not going to go for 50 hundreds. At the moment, I’m just going to go out there and play the way 1 've played."-

Records are nothing new to the little Indian maestro, but he branded this hundred as a special one, especially when he has been fighting in another front. His second

battle field is a bad tennis elbow injury that kept him out of the game for almost two months.

"This century is special, because I was coming back from the injury and that was a bad one. I'm still not hundred per cent fit. It was tough because I had to play the ball and at the same time fight this pain. There are plenty of things that people don't know, I was fighting against all these. It's never an easy task. It's been a great challenge and I’m quite satisfied that I've come through.

"The injury was frustrating me because I wasn't able to hold the bat even properly. I wasn’t allowed to pick up the bat the way I normally do and hit the ball. To do all that you need strength, and I just didn't have the strength in myleft arm." headded.

Tendulkar admitted that he was still battling the pain and that's why

his 361 minutes vigil at the crease tested the elbow thoroughly.

"It's been tested, I just have to wait and see how it feels tomorrow. The physio thinks it is going to be stiff In the morning. I hope it does n' t get so. I've been through this before and learnt to deal with this," said Sachin.

Tendulkar dedicated his success to his family members who stood by him all through his long career.

"I am extremely happy. I am thankful to my family, father, mother, brothers and sister. My beginning in cricket was at the age of 11, when I used to stay with my aunt and uncle. I cannot forget that My success is a combination of all these," he remembered.

"The first person I would thank is my father, I looked up and thanked him. What I am today is because of him. I am sure he would have been a happy man today, " said Sachin.