Mumbai: Happy with the century he scored against Rest Of India on Friday, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar said that the Irani Cup has given him a good match practice ahead of the all-important Test series against Australia.

Terming it to be a big series, Sachin said that he was looking forward to it. "It's a big series against Australia. I am sure everyone is looking forward to it.  It’s always nice to get some match practice before a big series," said Tendulkar, who scored an unbeaten 140 for Ranji champions Mumbai against Rest of India.

Speaking about the ton which put him on par with Little Master Sunil Gavaskar’s record of 81 first class centuries, Tendulkar said he took his time to adjust to the pitch. "It was the kind of surface where you needed to spend a little time to understand the bounce and the pace and the movement off the pitch,” he explained.

Meanwhile in the process of his 140 not out against Rest Of India, the Master Blaster equalled Sunil Gavaskar’s national record of 81 first class hundreds. Tendulkar also completed 25,000 runs in first-class cricket.

This is Tendulkar’s 18th century for his home state Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium. Tendulkar has 51 Test hundreds in 194 games with 15,645 runs.  Sachin has 100 hundreds, including 49 in ODIs and he retired before the home series against Pakistan recently.

Sachin holds a record of five centuries before he turned 20 which is a current world record.

ISN