Calcutta: Perhaps it?s because Sachin Tendulkar hasn?t ever put personal milestones ahead of the team that he could accept his dismissal on 94 (sixth time in the 90s), in Mohali on Thursday, stoically.

?No, I?m not upset? not disappointed or crushed with what happened? don?t worry,? he told The Telegraph shortly after returning to the team hotel in Chandigarh.

Obviously, the maestro doesn?t want Pakistan to get an additional psychological point?

Sachin, of course, wasn?t only on the verge of a record-scripting 35th Test hundred, but 27 short of entering the most envied of all cricket clubs ? 10,000 runs.

It already has four members: Allan Border (11,174), Steve Waugh (10,927), Sunil Gavaskar (10,122) and Brian Lara (10,094).

As for hundreds, Sachin is on a par with Gavaskar ? he caught up with him in his last Test (versus Bangladesh, in Chittagong). That was almost three months ago.

Incidentally, Sachin laughed and said: ?Hopefully, yes, I will get it there,? when it was suggested that his 35th hundred was probably destined to be at the Eden next week.

Sachin, by the way, just has one hundred at the amphitheatre here ? 176 against the West Indies, in late 2002. Having broken a ?jinx?, he had then quipped: ?Now, I won?t be reminded about getting a hundred at the Eden.?

The maestro, it may be recalled, had a very ordinary Test when India last played Pakistan at the Eden (early 1999) and, so, he has something to set right.

Doing so with another hundred would surely encourage a modern-day ballad.