He reached the mark with an on-drive for four off spinner Ashley Giles before punching the air with his bat as India, seeking a series-levelling win, reached on an impregnable 584 for four when bad light stopped play.
Tendulkar was 185 not out while, skipper Saurav Ganguly hit 128 before he was clean bowled by Alex Tudor.
Tendulkar, who earlier added 150 with Rahul Dravid before the latter was dismissed for 148, had been level with Australian Bradman in the all-time list of Test century makers at the start of the day. Only India’s Sunil Gavaskar, with 34 Test hundreds, has scored more.
The 29-year-old right-hander has always argued that Bradman was beyond compare. History, however, will surely be more generous one day in mentioning the two in the same breath.
England, 1-0 up in the four-match series, traipsed into tea looking dejected and weary, knowing they face an uphill battle to save the game against India’s spinners.
At tea, Tendulkar was on 113 and his skipper Saurav Ganguly on 45 after an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 86.
The touring side had resumed on 236 for two after the first 55 minutes of the day were lost to rain, quickly strengthening their grip on the game as they pressed to level the four-match series.
Dravid, “The Wall”, clipped Andrew Caddick’s first delivery, an inviting half-volley, through the leg side to the boundary for the opening runs. He then played down on a delivery outside off stump, running it through the slips for four more.
Moments later, Tendulkar looked to turn the bowler to midwicket but sent a leading edge through extra cover for three runs. Dravid then squeezed down on a Tudor delivery, the ball dribbling past his off stump.
For the most part, however, it was one-way traffic.
Immediately after lunch the pair went on the attack, Dravid driving three boundaries in Tudor’s first over and Tendulkar hammering Hoggard through the covers.
But Dravid, who made 115 in the second Test, was the man who had laid the foundations as India sought to bat England out of the game.
He fell after seven hours when he was tempted to leave his crease by Giles. Dancing forward on 148, he was smartly stumped by Alec Stewart after being beaten by the turn. He hit 23 fours in his 12th Test century to make it 335 for three.
When Tendulkar reached 74 he moved up to seventh in the all-time list of test run scorers during his innings, overtaking Englishman David Gower’s 8,231. His century took just short of four hours and included 13 fours. He made 92 in the second Test.
Scoreboard
India (1st innings) (overnight 236-2)
S.Bangar c Stewart b Flintoff 68
V.Sehwag c Flintoff b Hoggard 8
R.Dravid st Stewart b Giles 148
S.Tendulkar not out 185
S.Ganguly b Tudor 128
V.Laxman not out 0
Extras (b-14 lb-13 w-5 nb-15) 47
Total (for four wickets, 173.1 overs) 584
Fall of wickets: 1-15 2-185 3-335 4-584
To bat: A.Agarkar, P.Patel, A.Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Z.Khan
Bowling (to date): Hoggard 36-12-102-1 (nb-4), Caddick 37-5-139-0 (nb-6), Tudor 32.1-10-113-1 (nb-3), Flintoff 27-6-68-1 (nb-2, w-5), Giles 39-3-134-1, Butcher 1-1-0-0, Vaughan 1-0-1-0—Reuters
List of top Test century-makers
List of top Test century-makers after India’s Sachin Tendulkar scored his 30th in the third Test against England on Friday.
1. Sunil Gavaskar (India) 34 125
2. Sachin Tendulkar (India) 30 100
3. Don Bradman (Australia) 29 52
4= Steve Waugh (Australia) 27 148
4= Allan Border (Australia) 27 156
6. Garfield Sobers (W. Indies) 26 93
7= Greg Chappell (Australia) 24 87
7= Viv Richards (W. Indies) 24 121
9. Javed Miandad (Pakistan) 23 124
10= W. Hammond (England) 22 85
10= M. Azharuddin (India) 22 99
10= Geoff Boycott (England) 22 108
10= Colin Cowdrey (England) 22 114