When David Warner almost broke Sachin Tendulkar's record!

New Delhi: Australian opener David Warner on Friday hit a 128-ball 156 to destroy New Zealand almost single-handedly in the just concluded Chappell-Hadlee Trophy; Australia reclaimed the troply with 3-0 win of the series.

On the road to 156 at the packed Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCC), Warner hammered the New Zealand bowlers for 13 fours and four sixes.

This was his second consecutive century after hitting 119 on Tuesday at Canberra. In the process, Warner became the first Australian to score two back-to-back centuries, having done it earlier in the first two finals of the 2012 CB series against Sri Lanka.

And what was more interesting about the century was, it was Warner's seventh of the year, equalling India's former captain Sourav Ganguly's record.

With his seventh century in a year, Warner also came very close to breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record of nine centuries in a calender year, the most by any batsman.

The year 1998 will always belong to the Master Blaster for hitting nine ODI centuries and a record 12 Man of the Match Awards.

However, considering the current form of the Australian opener, Sachin's record came close to a threat.

Moreover, Warner took just 23 ODI innings to reach his personal record while Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar took 32 and 33 innings respectively to set their records.

Sadly (for Warner and Australian fans?) or luckily (for Indian fans?), the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy was the last ODI match that the Australian Cricket team for the year.

But for the excellent opening, it was indeed a year of personal records. With his fourth 150+ runs, he also became the very few players alongside Sanath Jayasuriya, Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma to hit four 150+ runs or so.

Sachin is the only player to hit 5 150+ runs in ODI and with Warner in form, the Little Master's record faces a threat.