Sachin Tendulkar is a legendary former Indian Cricketer, who was born on April 24, 1973, in a middle-class family and the youngest of four. When Sachin was growing, he showed some outstanding athletic abilities and at the age of 14, he had a cult status in his school for helping the team win many cricket games. He began playing cricket at the tender age of eleven and on November 15, 1989, at age 16, he had made his Test debut against Pakistan…
After which he continued until he represented club and country over twenty years. At the age of 15, in December 1989 he becomes the youngest player to score a century in his debut of domestic first class cricketing.
Sachin cricket achievements
Sachin is renowned as the greatest cricketer of all time. He is also the only player in the history of cricket to score 100 international centuries. Sachin ranks as the first batsman to score a double-century in an ODI and holds the record for the most runs both in Test cricket at in ODI. With such performance by 2002 when he was just halfway his career, Wisden Cricketers Almanack ranked Sachin the second all-time Test batsman behind Don Bradman and he was also ranked the second all-time best ODI batsman behind Viv Richards. Later in Sachin’s career, he was part of the India’s 2011 World Cup winning team after appearing in six previous World Cups for India. In the 2013 World Cup edition held in South Africa, Sachin was named the player of the tournament. In the same year, he was named in the list all time Tests world XI players during the 150th Wisden Cricketers Almanack Anniversary.
Sachin the cricket superstar
As a young player, Sachin was a symbol of hope for millions of his fellow citizens in India who were troubled with tough economic times. Sachin’s star continued to shine until one national weekly newspaper devoted an entire issue describing him as the last hero of his home country, India. His inventive and aggressive style of play endeared him to millions of sports fans not only in India but also around the world. Even with increasing wealth, he showed great humility refusing to flaunt his money.
Sachin Tendulkar the captain
Sachin had two tenure of captaincy with the Indian national cricket team. When he took over the captaincy in 1996, it was with great expectations and hope. However, by 1997, Indian national cricket team was performing poorly. The captaincy was taken from him and reinstated again, after which they had a series of mixed results. In 2000, he resigned and Sourav Ganguly took over as the captain of the national team. He remained an integral part of the team and was often seen consulting with the captain during games.
Towards the end of his sporting career, he joined politics and would later quit cricketing after his 200th test match in November 2013. He finished his career with jaw-dropping statistics of 100 centuries and 34 000 runs.