Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is regarded as one of the stalwart players and the greatest batsman in the history of cricket. A right-hand batsman, popularly known as “Little Master” or “Master Blaster”, he has managed to create a profound impact on popularizing cricket in India and garnering recognition at the International level with his talent, dedication, and hard work. In our country where cricket is considered a religion, Sachin Tendulkar is god.

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Early Life

• Sachin Tendulkar was born into a Maharashtrian family as the youngest son of Ramesh Tendulkar, a Marathi Professor, Poet, and critic, and Rajani, an employee at the Life Insurance Corporation of India. He has three siblings, namely Ajit, Nithin, and Savita Tendulkar. Sachin was named after an eminent Bollywood music composer Sachin Dev Burman. Tendulkar started playing cricket at the age of 11.
• His elder sibling, Ajit, had a profound influence on him to develop his talent in cricket. Scoring well in school matches, he scored a century in his debut match for Bombay. The world cup victory of the Indian cricket team in 1983 instilled a genuine interest and passion for cricket in Sachin Tendulkar.
•  Coach Ramakant Achrekar was instrumental in chiseling the cricketing skills of Sachin Tendulkar during the initial years of training. Sachin played his debut match against Pakistan in Karachi as the youngest International Test Cricketer at the age of 16 years in November 1989.

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Beginning of cricket career

• As a 12-year-old, Sachin scored a century in a U-17 Harris Shield encounter in 1985. Next year, Sachin was selected to play in all three junior level (U-15, U-17 and U-19) BCCI tournaments. He aspired to be a fast bowler but got rejected by Dennis Lillee’s MRF pace foundation in 1987.
• In November 1987, Sachin became the youngest to be placed on the probable list of players of the Mumbai Ranji Team. He became the youngest person to score a century in his debut match and scored centuries for his debut matches in Deodhar and Duleep trophies in the same year. Thus, he scored a century in all his debut matches in three domestic first-class tournaments.
• In the 1988-89 Ranji Trophy season, he became the highest run-scorer. He also gave incredible performances for Ranji trophies in 1990 and 1995.

Setting foot in International cricket

• In 1989, Tendulkar made his test debut against Pakistan at the age of 16. He was the youngest person to play a Test match and ODI for India at the age of 16. He became a part of the Indian Team for the New Zealand tour and a summer tour to England. On 14 August 1990, he became the second youngest player to score a test century.
• Tendulkar scored 148 runs in an Australian tour in 1991-92. Thus, he became the youngest batsman to score a century against Australia. Sachin developed his career and proved himself beyond doubt, between 1994-1999. On 9th September 1994, he scored his first ODI century against Australia.
•  In the 1996 World Cup, he became the top scorer with two centuries. He put up an impressive performance against Srilanka in the semi-finals.
•  In the 1998 Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah, he scored 143 runs out of 131 balls against the sturdy Australian team. This is considered the best one-day innings from Sachin, based on ICC polls. The match is known as “Desert Storm” because it got interrupted by a desert storm.
• Tendulkar reached the zenith of the batting career with the Australian tour of India in 1998. He scored three consecutive centuries from the series. A crucial element of this match was the clash between Shane Warne, one of the leading spinners of the Australian team, and Sachin Tendulkar, a consummate batsman of the Indian team. Australia lost the match with Sachin scoring 204 runs. In the five-day ODI series following the test match, Tendulkar tried his luck in bowling and did an impressive performance taking five wickets. A triangular cricket tournament in 1998 culminated with India’s victory over Australia, and Sachin scored two consecutive centuries.
• India made an entry into the ICC quarter-finals with Tendulkar scoring four wickets and 141 runs against Australia. During the 1999 World Cup, Sachin’s father, Ramesh Tendulkar passed away. He scored a century against Kenya in the next match and dedicated the same to his father.

Captainship

• Sachin Tendulkar had two turns as the Captain of the Indian team in 1996 and 1999. In 1997, under his captaincy, the performance of the team was not satisfactory. He was reinstated as the captain in 1999 and led India on an Australian tour. India lost the match 3-0. However, Tendulkar became the ‘player of the series” and the player of the match for his performance. After facing a defeat from South Africa for the next test series, Tendulkar resigned from the post of captain and handed it over to Saurav Ganguly.
• During team India’s tour to England in 2007, the then captain Rahul Dravid wanted to resign from the captaincy. Sachin recommended the name Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the BCCI.

 Further matches

• Sachin scored his 29th test century in the 93rd test match in the 2002 test series. He reached Donald Bradman’s test record of 29 centuries through this match.
• In the 2003 ICC World Cup, Tendulkar managed to score 673 runs from 11 matches, helping India reach the finals. Australia won the title, and Tendulkar received the Man of the Tournament award for his laudable performance. He scored well in the succeeding tri-series with New Zealand and Australia.
• In the 2003 tour to Australia, Tendulkar performed well and had an average strike rate of 52.7. This marked his comeback after maintaining a poor form throughout the year 2003. During these innings, he spent the longest time in the crease during his entire career.
• After scoring 194 runs against Pakistan in Multan, he met with a tennis elbow injury and took a break from cricket for a short period. He came back in a series against Australia in 2004, scoring the fastest 55 runs. Tendulkar scored his 35 century against Srilanka on 10 December 2005. It took him another two years to score the next test century, in 2007, against Bangladesh. He scored his 39th ODI century against Pakistan in 2006.
• After a rough patch in his career, he had a comeback in the DLF Cup in Malaysia.
• After the World Cup 2007, Tendulkar had a difficult phase and thought of retiring from cricket.
• In a test series against Bangladesh in 2007, he recovered his old form and received the Man of the Series. He set the record for the first cricketer to score 15000 runs in ODI’s, in the second match with South Africa in Future Cup. He scored the maximum runs and got selected as the Man of the Series.
• On 28th July 2008, Tendulkar became the third cricketer to score 15000 runs in the test. He also became the top scorer from India in the subsequent one-day series against England and ODI series against Australia.
• Sachin performed exceptionally well in the Border Gavaskar Trophy in 2007-08, scoring 483 runs in 4 innings. For the New Year test in Australia, he was instrumental in contributing to India’s overall score and was chosen the Man of the Match for one of the games.
• Sachin became the only batsman to score 16000 runs in ODI’s in the One-day International tri-series.
• He won the record of scoring the most test runs in an ODI series against Sri Lanka. Breaking the record previously held by Brian Lara, he defined the achievement as the biggest in the last 19 years of his career.
• In the 2011 Cricket World Cup, Tendulkar became the top scorer from India. Scoring 482 runs with an average of 53.55, he played a major role in India winning the World Cup. In his words, winning the World Cup was the proudest moment of his life as a cricketer.
• On 8th November 2011, he set another world record and became the first cricketer to score 1500 runs in Test cricket. He gave consistent performance throughout 2011 and was chosen for the World Test XI by the ICC.
• Sachin scored his 100th International century against Bangladesh for Asia Cup on 16th March 2012. He became the first cricketer in history to achieve this record.

Indian Premier League (IPL)

• Sachin started playing with Mumbai Indians in the 2018 inaugural match. He served as the captain and was one of the most expensive players on the team. He gave an impressive performance in different IPL seasons. In 2010, he was selected as the player of the tournament. In the IPL awards 2010, he got selected as the Best Captain and Best Batsman. In 2014, he retired from IPL and was appointed as the “Team Icon” of Mumbai Indians.

Retirement

• Tendulkar announced retirement from one-day internationals in December 2012. Sachin retired from all forms of international cricket in 2013. The BCCI arranged 2 farewell matches in honour of Sachin Tendulkar. He played his last test match against West Indies. He continued his cricket career through Indian Premier League matches as a member of the Mumbai Indians.
• Tendulkar became the first sportsperson to be nominated as the Member of Parliament in 2012. He accepted the offer and served as an MP in Parliament. He was also associated with the Swachh Bharat Mission as one of the ambassadors.
• He released his autobiography “Playing it My Way” in June 2014, which was listed in the Limca Book of Records.

Honours- National and International

• He received Arjuna Award in 1994
• The highest sporting honour in the country, Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna was awarded to him in 1997-98.
• He got selected as the Wisdon Cricketer of the Year in 1997
• He was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour in the country in 199.
• He received the second highest civilian award in the nation, Padma Vibhushan in 2008.
• In 2014, he was awarded the highest civilian honour in the country, Bharat Ratna 2014.

Frequently Asked Questions about Sachin Tendulkar

What are the Nicknames of Sachin Tendulkar?

Sachin Tendulkar is also known as Little Master, Master blaster, and The God of Cricket.

What are the outstanding sporting achievements that are awarded to Sachin Tendulkar?

Sachin Tendulkar received the Arjuna Award in 1994 and the Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour, in 1997. Sachin also received Maharashtra Bhushan Award, the highest civilian honour award conferred by the state.

Note: (Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, formerly known as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in Sports and Games, is the highest sporting honour in India.)

Which are the civilian awards received by Sachin Tendulkar?

Sachin Tendulkar received two of India’s highest civilian awards, Padmasri in 1999 and Padma Vibhushan in 2008. Tendulkar received Bharat Ratna, India’s greatest civilian award in 2014, on February 4. He is the youngest recipient of Bharat Ratna as of 2022. He was also the first sports person to receive it.

Who wrote the book titled The Making of a Cricketer: The formative years of Sachin Tendulkar?

This book is a biography of Sachin Tendulkar written by Ajith Tendulkar, brother of Sachin Tendulkar.

Against which team did Sachin score his 100th international century?

His 100th International century was against Bangladesh in the year 2012. It was his 49th ODI century and 51st test century. He was the first person to attain this feat.

What is the official autobiography of Sachin Tendulkar?

“Playing it my Way” is the official autobiography of Sachin Tendulkar in English, authored by Boria Majumdar and Sachin Tendulkar.

Which is a documentary sports film on the life of Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar?

 Sachin: A Billion Dreams, directed by British film producer James Erskine. It was released in the year 2017. The documentary features the cricket career and the personal life of Sachin Tendulkar.

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