Sachin Tendulkar

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"Tendulkar" redirects here. For the Marathi writer, see Vijay Tendulkar. For the actress, see
Priya Tendulkar. For the economist, see Suresh Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar

Personal information
Full name Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
24 April 1973 (age 37)
Born
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Little Master, Tendlya,[1] Master Blaster,[2] The
Nickname
Master,[3][4] The Little Champion,[5] The Great Man[6]
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm leg spin, off spin, medium pace
Role Batsman
International information
National side India
Test debut 15 November 1989 v Pakistan
(cap 187)
Last Test 3 August 2010 v Sri Lanka
ODI debut 18 December 1989 v Pakistan
(cap 74)
Last ODI 24 February 2010 v South Africa
ODI shirt no. 10
Domestic team information
Years Team
1988–
Mumbai
present
2008–
Mumbai Indians (Indian Premier League)
present
1992 Yorkshire
 Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 169 442 270 529
Runs scored 13,837 17,594 22,432 21,150
Batting average 56.02 45.12 59.03 45.87
100s/50s 48/56 46/93 74/101 57/111
Top score 248* 200* 248* 200*
Balls bowled 3,994 8,020 7,359 10,196
Wickets 44 154 69 201
Bowling average 52.25 44.26 60.73 42.01
5 wickets in innings 0 2 0 2
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a
Best bowling 3/10 5/32 3/10 5/32
Catches/stumpings 106/– 132/– 173/– 169/–
Source: CricketArchive, 08 August 2010

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar pronunciation (help·info) (Marathi: सचिन रमेश तेंडुलकर [səʨin
rəmeˑɕ t̪eˑɳɖulkər]; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the
greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test
and One Day International cricket.[7][8][9] He is the only player to score a double century in the
history of ODI cricket.[10][11] In 2002, just 12 years into his career Wisden ranked him the second
greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one day
international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards.[12] In September 2007, the
Australian leg spinner Shane Warne rated Tendulkar as the greatest player he has played with or
against.[13] Tendulkar was the only player of the current generation to be included in Bradman's
Eleven.[nb 1] He is sometimes referred to as Little Master or Master Blaster.[15][16]

Tendulkar is the first player to score fifty centuries in all international cricket combined, he now
has 94 centuries in international cricket. On 17 October 2008, when he surpassed Brian Lara's
record for the most runs scored in Test Cricket, he also became the first batsman to score 12,000
runs in that form of the game,[17] having also been the third batsman and first Indian to pass
11,000 runs in Test cricket.[18] He was also the first player to score 10,000 runs in one-day
internationals, and also the first player to cross every subsequent 1000-run mark that has been
crossed in ODI cricket history and 200 runs in a one-day international match. In the fourth Test
of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, Tendulkar surpassed Australia's Allan Border
to become the player to cross the 50-run mark the most number of times in Test cricket history,
and also the second ever player to score 10 Test centuries against Australia, after only Sir Jack
Hobbs of England more than 70 years previously.[19] Tendulkar passed 30,000 runs in
international cricket on 20 November 2009, and has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan
award, India's second highest civilian award, and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's
highest sporting honour.

Contents
[hide]
  1 Early years and personal life
 2 Early domestic career
 3 International career
o 3.1 Early career
o 3.2 Rise through the ranks
o 3.3 Captaincy
o 3.4 Injuries and apparent decline
o 3.5 Return to old form and consistency
o 3.6 2007/08 tour of Australia
o 3.7 Home series against South Africa
o 3.8 Sri Lanka Series
o 3.9 Return to form and breaking the record
o 3.10 ODI and Test Series against England
o 3.11 Sri Lanka ODIs
o 3.12 New Zealand Series
o 3.13 Compaq Cup in Sri Lanka
o 3.14 ICC Champions Trophy 2009
o 3.15 India-Australia ODI Series
o 3.16 Sri Lanka Series
o 3.17 Bangladesh Test Series
o 3.18 Series against South Africa in 2010
 4 Indian Premier League
 5 Style of play
 6 Controversies
o 6.1 Mike Denness incident
o 6.2 Controversy over Ferrari customs waiver
 7 In popular culture
o 7.1 Fan following
 8 Business interests
o 8.1 Product and brand endorsements
 9 Biographies
 10 Career achievements
o 10.1 Individual honours and appreciations
 11 See also
 12 Notes
 13 References
 14 Further reading
 15 External links

Early years and personal life

Tendulkar was born in Bombay (now Mumbai). His father, Ramesh Tendulkar, a Marathi
novelist, named Tendulkar after his favourite music director, Sachin Dev Burman. Tendulkar's
elder brother Ajit encouraged him to play cricket. Tendulkar has two other siblings: a brother
Nitin, and sister Savita.

Tendulkar attended Sharadashram Vidyamandir (High School),[1] where he began his cricketing
career under the guidance of his coach and mentor, Ramakant Achrekar. During his school days
he attended the MRF Pace Foundation to train as a fast bowler, but Australian fast bowler Dennis
Lillee, who took a world record 355 Test wickets, was unimpressed, suggesting that Tendulkar
focus on his batting instead.[20]

When he was young, Tendulkar would practice for hours on end in the nets. If he became
exhausted, Achrekar would put a one-Rupee-coin on the top of the stumps, and the bowler who
dismissed Tendulkar would get the coin. If Tendulkar passed the whole session without getting
dismissed, the coach would give him the coin. Tendulkar now considers the 13 coins he won
then as some of his most prized possessions.[21]

While at school, he developed a reputation as a child prodigy. He had become a common

conversation point in Mumbai circles, where there were suggestions already that he would
become one of the greats. His season in 1988 was extraordinary, with Tendulkar scoring a
century in every innings he played. He was involved in an unbroken 664-run partnership in a
Lord Harris Shield inter-school game in 1988 with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli, who
would also go on to represent India. The destructive pair reduced one bowler to tears and made
the rest of the opposition unwilling to continue the game. Tendulkar scored 326* in this innings
and scored over a thousand runs in the tournament.[22] This was a record partnership in any form
of cricket until 2006, when it was broken by two under-13 batsmen in a match held at Hyderabad
in India.

When he was 14, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar gave him a pair of his own ultra light
pads. "It was the greatest source of encouragement for me," he said nearly 20 years later after
surpassing Gavaskar's world record of 34 Test centuries.[23] On 24 May 1995,[24] Sachin
Tendulkar married Anjali, a paediatrician and daughter of Gujarati industrialist Anand Mehta.
They have two children, Sara (born 12 October 1997), and Arjun (born 24 September 1999).[25]

Tendulkar sponsors 200 underprivileged children every year through Apnalaya, a Mumbai-based
NGO associated with his mother-in-law, Annabel Mehta.[26]

Early domestic career

On 11 December 1988, aged just 15 years and 232 days, Tendulkar scored 100 not out in his
debut first-class match for Bombay against Gujarat, making him the youngest Indian to score a
century on first-class debut. He followed this by scoring a century in his first Deodhar and
Duleep Trophy.[27] He was picked by the Mumbai captain Dilip Vengsarkar after seeing him
negotiate Kapil Dev in the nets,[1] and finished the season as Bombay's highest run-scorer.[28][29]
He also made an unbeaten century in the Irani Trophy final,[30] and was selected for the tour of
Pakistan next year, after just one first class season.[31]
His first double century was for Mumbai while playing against the visiting Australian team at the
Brabourne Stadium in 1998.[1] He is the only player to score a century in all three of his Ranji
Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debuts.[32]

In 1992, at the age of 19, Tendulkar became the first overseas born player to represent
Yorkshire[1][33] Tendulkar played 16 first-class matches for the county and scored 1070 runs at an
average of 46.52.[34]

International career
Early career

Tendulkar played his first Test match against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989 aged just 16. He made
just 15 runs, being bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that match, but was
noted for how he handled numerous blows to his body at the hands of the Pakistani pace attack.
[35]
In the final test in Sialkot, he was hit on the nose by a bouncer, but he declined medical
assistance and continued to bat even as he gushed blood from it.[36] In a 20 over exhibition game
in Peshawar, Tendulkar made 53 runs off 18 balls, including an over in which he scored 28 runs
off Abdul Qadir.[37] This was later called "one of the best innings I have seen" by the then Indian
captain Kris Srikkanth.[38] In all, he scored 215 runs at an average of 35.83 in the Test series, and
was dismissed without scoring a run in the only One Day International he played.[39][40]

The series was followed by a tour of New Zealand in which he scored 117 runs at an average of
29.25 in, Tests including an innings of 88 in the Second Test.[41] He was dismissed without
scoring in one the two one-day games he played, and scored 36 in the other.[42] On his next tour,
to England in 1990, he became the second youngest cricketer to score a Test century as he made
119* at Old Trafford.[36] Wisden described his innings as "a disciplined display of immense
maturity" and also wrote:[43]

"He looked the embodiment of India's famous opener, Gavaskar, and indeed was wearing a pair
of his pads. While he displayed a full repertoire of strokes in compiling his maiden Test hundred,
most remarkable were his off-side shots from the back foot. Though only 5ft 5in tall, he was still
able to control without difficulty short deliveries from the English paceman."

Tendulkar further enhanced his development during the 1991–1992 tour of Australia, that
included an unbeaten 148 in Sydney and a century on a fast, bouncing pitch at Perth. Merv
Hughes commented to Allan Border at the time that "This little prick's going to get more runs
than you, AB."[44]

Rise through the ranks

Tendulkar waits at the bowler's end.

Tendulkar's performance through the years 1994–1999 coincided with his physical peak, in his
early twenties. On the day of the Hindu festival Holi, Tendulkar was told to open the batting at
Auckland against New Zealand in 1994.[45] He went on to make 82 runs off 49 balls. He scored
his first ODI century on 9 September 1994 against Australia in Sri Lanka at Colombo. It had
taken him 79 ODIs to score a century.

In 1996 against Pakistan in Sharjah, Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin was going through a
lean patch. Tendulkar and Navjot Singh Sidhu both made centuries to set a record partnership for
the second wicket. After getting out, Tendulkar found Azharuddin in two minds about whether
he should bat. Tendulkar convinced Azharuddin to bat and Azharuddin subsequently unleashed
29 runs in mere 10 balls. It enabled India post a score in excess of 300 runs for the first time in
an ODI. India went on to win that match.

Tendulkar's rise continued when he was the leading run scorer at the 1996 Cricket World Cup,
scoring two centuries.[46] He was the only Indian batsman to perform in the infamous semi-final
against Sri Lanka. Tendulkar fell amid a batting collapse and the match referee awarded Sri
Lanka the match after the crowd began rioting and set fire to the stadium.

This was the beginning of a period at the top of the batting world, culminating in the Australian
tour of India in early 1998, with Tendulkar scoring three consecutive centuries. These were
characterized by a premeditated plan to target Australian spinners Shane Warne and Gavin
Robertson, to whom he regularly charged down the pitch to drive over the infield. This technique
worked as India beat Australia. The test match success was followed by two scintillating knocks
in Sharjah where he scored two consecutive centuries in a must-win game and then in finals
against Australia tormenting Shane Warne once again. Following the series Warne ruefully joked
that he was having nightmares about his Indian nemesis.[47] He also had a role with the ball in
that series, including a five wicket haul in an ODI. Set 310 runs to win, Australia were cruising
comfortably at 3 for 203 in the 31st over when Tendulkar turned the match for India taking
wickets of Michael Bevan, Steve Waugh, Darren Lehmann, Tom Moody and Damien Martyn for
just 32 runs in 10 overs.[48]

Tendulkar single-handedly won the ICC 1998 quarterfinal at Dhaka to pave way for India's entry
into the semifinals, when he took four Australian wickets after scoring 141 runs in just 128 balls.
A chronic back problem flared up when Pakistan toured India in 1999, with India losing the
historic Test at Chepauk despite a gritty century from Tendulkar himself. The worst was yet to
come as Professor Ramesh Tendulkar, Tendulkar's father, died in the middle of the 1999 Cricket
World Cup. Tendulkar flew back to India to attend the final rituals of his father, missing the
match against Zimbabwe. However, he returned with a bang to the World cup scoring a century
(unbeaten 140 off 101 balls) in his very next match against Kenya in Bristol. He dedicated this
century to his father.[49]

Captaincy

Tendulkar's two tenures as captain of the Indian cricket team were not very successful. When
Tendulkar took over as Captain in 1996, it was with huge hopes and expectations. However, by
1997 the team was performing poorly. Azharuddin was credited with saying "Nahin jeetega!
Chote ki naseeb main jeet nahin hai!",[50] which translates into: "He won't win! It's not in the
small one's destiny!".[51]

Tendulkar, succeeding Azharuddin as captain for his second term, then led India on a tour of
Australia, where the visitors were comprehensively beaten 3–0 by the newly crowned world
champions.[52] Tendulkar, however, was at his usual best and won the player of the tournament
award as well as player of the match in one of the games. After another Test series defeat, this
time by a 0–2 margin at home against South Africa, Tendulkar resigned, and Sourav Ganguly
took over as captain in 2000.

Tendulkar remains an integral part of the Indian team's strategic processes. He is often seen in
discussion with the captain, at times actively involved in building strategies. Former captain
Rahul Dravid publicly acknowledged that Tendulkar had been suggesting moves such as the
promotion of Irfan Pathan up the batting order which, although only temporary, had an
immediate effect on the team's fortunes. In 2007, Tendulkar was appointed vice-captain to
captain Rahul Dravid.[53] During the Indian team's 2007 tour of England, Dravid's desire to resign
from the captaincy became known. The BCCI President Sharad Pawar personally offered the
captaincy to Tendulkar.[53] However, Tendulkar asked Pawar not to appoint him captain, instead
recommending Mahendra Singh Dhoni, to take-over the reigns.[53] Pawar later revealed this
conversation, crediting Tendulkar for first forwarding Dhoni's name, who since achieved much
success as captain.[53]

Injuries and apparent decline

Tendulkar continued performing well in Test cricket in 2001 and 2002, with some pivotal
performances with both bat and ball. Tendulkar took three wickets on the final day of the famous
Kolkata Test against Australia in 2001. Tendulkar took the key wickets of Matthew Hayden and
Adam Gilchrist, centurions in the previous test.

In the 2002 series in the West Indies, Tendulkar started well, scoring 79 in the first test, and 117
in the first innings of the second. Then, in a hitherto unprecedented sequence, he scored 0, 0, 8
and 0 in the next four innings, getting out to technical "defects" and uncharacteristically poor
strokes. He returned to form in the last test scoring 41 and 86. However, India lost the series.
This might have been the beginning of the "decline" phase in his career which lasted till 2006.

Tendulkar made 673 runs in 11 matches in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, helping India reach the
final. While Australia retained the trophy that they had won in 1999, Tendulkar was given the
Man of the Tournament award.

He continued to score heavily in ODI cricket that year, with two hundreds in a tri series
involving New Zealand and Australia.

The drawn series as India toured Australia in 2003/04 saw Tendulkar making his mark in the last
Test of the series, with 241* in Sydney, putting India in a virtually unbeatable position. He
followed up the innings with an unbeaten 60 in the second innings of the test. Prior to this test
match, he had had an unusually horrible run of form, failing in all six innings in the preceding
three tests. It was no aberration that 2003 was his worst year in test cricket, with an average of
17.25 and just one fifty.

He scored an unbeaten 194 against Pakistan at Multan in the following series. The 194 was
controversial as he was stranded prior to reaching his double century as a result of a declaration
by Rahul Dravid. In meeting with the press that evening, Tendulkar responded to a question on
missing 200 against Pakistan by stating that he was disappointed and that the declaration had
taken him by surprise.[54] Many former cricketers commented that Dravid's declaration was in
bad taste.[55][56] The media noted at the time that the decision had apparently been made by Sourav
Ganguly,[57] and Ganguly himself later admitted that it had been a mistake.[58] The controversy
was put to rest when Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and coach John Wright spoke to the media
after the team's victory and stated that the matter was spoken internally and put to rest.[59]

Tennis elbow then took its toll on Tendulkar, leaving him out of the side for most of the year,
coming back only for the last two tests when Australia toured India in 2004. He played a part in
India's victory in Mumbai in that series with a fast 55, though Australia took the series 2–1.

On 10 December 2005 at Feroz Shah Kotla, Tendulkar scored his record-breaking 35th Test
century, against the Sri Lankans.

In the test series in Pakistan in 2006, Sachin failed to get going in all three innings despite the
pitches being flat tracks. In the third of those three innings, he was bowled comprehensively after
making 26, and ended up on all fours. This prompted The Times of India to publish an article
entitled "Endulkar" in which TOI opined that Tendulkar's batting prowess had declined and his
career had slid permanently.

On 6 February 2006, he scored his 39th ODI hundred, in a match against Pakistan. He followed
with a run-a-ball 42 in the second one-day international against Pakistan on 11 February 2006,
and then a 95 in hostile, seaming conditions on 13 February 2006 in Lahore, which set up an
Indian victory.
On 19 March 2006, after scoring an unconvincing 1 off 21 balls against England in the first
innings of the third Test in his home ground, Wankhede, Tendulkar was booed off the ground by
a section of the crowd,[60][61] the first time that he had ever faced such flak. Tendulkar was to end
the three-Test series without a single half-century to his credit, and news of a shoulder operation
raised more questions about his longevity. Tendulkar was operated upon for his injured shoulder.
In July 2006, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that Tendulkar had
overcome his injury problem following a rehabilitation programme and was available for
selection, and he was eventually selected for the next series.

Tendulkar's comeback came in the DLF cup in Malaysia and he was the only Indian batsman to
shine. In his comeback match, against West Indies on 14 September 2006, Tendulkar responded
to his critics who believed that his career was inexorably sliding with his 40th ODI century.
Though he scored 141*, West Indies won the rain-affected match by the D/L method.

In the preparation for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Tendulkar was criticized by Greg Chappell
on his attitude.[62] As per the report, Chappell felt that Tendulkar would be more useful down the
order, while the latter felt that he would be better off opening the innings, the role he had played
for most of his career. Chappell also believed that Tendulkar's repeated failures were hurting the
team's chances. In a rare show of emotion, Tendulkar hit out at the comments attributed to
Chappell by pointing out that no coach has ever suggested his attitude towards cricket is
incorrect. On 7 April 2007, the Board of Control for Cricket in India issued a notice to Tendulkar
asking for an explanation for his comments made to the media.[63]

At the Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies, Tendulkar and the Indian cricket team, led by
Rahul Dravid had a dismal campaign. Tendulkar, who was pushed to bat lower down the order
by the Greg Chappell had scores of 7 (Bangladesh), 57* (Bermuda) and 0 (Sri Lanka). As a
result, former Australian captain Ian Chappell, brother of the then Indian coach Greg, called for
Tendulkar to retire in his column for Mumbai's Mid Day newspaper.[64]