Sachin Tendulkar registered his highest score in first class and Test cricket in the first innings of the Sydney Test. His 241 not out came in 613 minutes off 436 balls, his longest innings both in terms of time taken and balls faced.

His previous longest innings in terms of time taken had come against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in 1999-00 when he had scored 217 runs in 494 minutes. His previous longest innings in terms of balls faced was 177 off 360 balls against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, in 1996.

Tendulkar's previous longest first class innings in terms of minutes was of 565 minutes for Mumbai against Tamil Nadu at Mumbai in 1999-00 in the Ranji Trophy semi-final. Tendulkar had made an unbeaten 233 off 334 balls in that innings.

The accompanying table gives complete details of Tendulkar's 32 Test hundreds:

Runs	Mins	Balls	4's	6's	Vs	Inns	Test	Venue	Season	How out
119*	225	189	17	-	Eng	2nd	2nd	Old Trafford	1990	not out
148*	298	213	14	-	Aus	1st	3rd	Sydney	1991-92	not out
114	228	161	16	-	Aus	1st	5th	Perth	1991-92	caught
111	373	270	19	-	SA	1st	2nd	Johannesburg	1992-93	caught
165	361	296	24	1	Eng	1st	2nd	Madras (Chepauk)	1992-93	c and b
104*	217	161	11	1	SL	2nd	2nd	Colombo (SSC)	1993-94	not out
142	260	224	22	-	SL	1st	1st	Lucknow (KDS)	1993-94	caught
179	414	322	24	1	WI	1st	2nd	Nagpur	1994-95	caught
122	263	177	19	1	Eng	2nd	1st	Edgbaston	1996	caught
177	462	360	26	-	Eng	1st	3rd	Trent Bridge	1996	caught
169	329	254	26	-	SA	1st	2nd	Cape Town	1996-97	caught
143	292	247	20	-	SL	1st	1st	Colombo (RPS)	1997-98	caught
139	397	266	16	-	SL	1st	2nd	Colombo (SSC)	1997-98	caught
148	320	244	20	3	SL	1st	3rd	Bombay (Wankhede)	1997-98	bowled
155*	286	191	14	4	Aus	2nd	1st	Madras (Chepauk)	1997-98	not out
177	298	207	29	3	Aus	1st	3rd	Bangalore	1997-98	bowled
113	200	151	13	2	NZ	2nd	2nd	Wellington	1998-99	caught
136	405	273	18	-	Pak	2nd	1st	Madras (Chepauk)	1998-99	caught
124*	308	235	10	1	SL	2nd	1st	Colombo (SSC)	1998-99	not out
126*	397	248	14	-	NZ	2nd	1st	Mohali	1999-00	not out
217	494	344	29	-	NZ	1st	3rd	Ahmedabad	1999-00	caught
116	283	191	9	1	Aus	1st	2nd	Melbourne	1999-00	caught
122	283	233	19	-	Zim	1st	1st	Delhi	2000-01	caught
201*	392	281	27	-	Zim	1st	2nd	Nagpur	2000-01	not out
126	346	230	15	2	Aus	1st	3rd	Madras (Chepauk)	2000-01	caught
155	233	184	23	1	SA	1st	1st	Bloemfontein	2001-02	caught
103	254	197	12	1	Eng	1st	2nd	Ahmedabad	2001-02	caught
176	440	316	23	-	Zim	1st	1st	Nagpur	2001-02	caught
117	356	260	14	-	WI	1st	2nd	Port-of-Spain	2001-02	lbw
193	434	330	19	3	Eng	1st	3rd	Headingley	2002	lbw
176	419	298	26	-	WI	2nd	3rd	Calcutta	2002-03	caught
241*	613	436	33	-	Aus	1st	4th	Sydney	2003-04	not out