PTI

BRISTOL, Aug 26: Much like a beautiful early morning dream evaporating to the deafening sounds of alarm clock, Sachin Tendulkar was stopped in his strides, not for the first time in recent weeks, as he stood on the threshold of scoring a majestic hundred in the second one-dayer against England.

As umpire Ian Gould ruled him out caught behind off Andrew Flintoff for 99, even though the ball came off his arm guard, he condemned Tendulkar to a much familiar nightmare that he has been subjected to in recent weeks.

"I guess, I have missed four or five hundreds in the last two months," Tendulkar said as he pondered over the jinx.

Indeed, for someone whose impeccable behaviour on and off the field is well documented, Tendulkar displayed customary grace in refusing to make any comment about the decision.

"No comments about the umpiring," said Tendulkar. However, what he left unsaid was that everyone has seen it.

Rather ironically, the man for whom scoring hundreds is a habit and a matter of routine, Tendulkar has been plagued by the jinx of the 90's right through this tour. He has already missed out on two hundreds in the one-day series against South Africa in Belfast early on to add to another two on this tour of England.

Early on in his career, Tendulkar has often found himself at the receiving end of Steve Bucknor's erroneous judgement and of late some of the more illustrious umpires in the game, like Simon Taufel, have joined the club.

Of course, at different times and different places against different umpires, Tendulkar may have endured shock, anger, disbelief and frustration. But now, he seems to have reconciled to it as a matter of destiny.

"There's nothing one can do about it. I used to feel bad but now things have come to such a state that I just laugh about it and carry on," he added.