Former Aussie skipper Steve Waugh said that Sachin Tendulkar's aura as a batsman will not diminish even if he does not score his long awaited 100th century.

"I think it's a huge statistic and India is obsessed by stats. The whole country wants him to get his one-hundredth 100 so maybe that's where the real pressure is coming from.

"It will be nice if he could get it down the road, but if he doesn't get it I certainly won't think any less of him as a player," Waugh said.

Waugh said Tendulkar's failure to score his hundredth 100 so far this summer can be compared to Don Bradman, who retired with an average of 99.94.

He also said that it may be in Tendulkar's destiny to not score that elusive hundred.

"He's a great player. You know Bradman wasn't meant to average 100, maybe Tendulkar is not meant to get a hundredth century. But I think he'll get it pretty shortly," Waugh was quoted as saying by 'The Australian'.

Tendulkar has been waiting to get to the magic figure since April last year.

He moved in the vicinity of 80s in the current tour of Australia but the hundred has eluded him thus far.