Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (born 24 April 1973) is an Indian cricketer who was rated by Wisden in 2002 as the second greatest Test batsman ever, after Sir Don Bradman. He holds several key batting records, including the most Test centuries, most ODI centuries and the most runs in ODI cricket. He is also the most capped player currently playing international cricket. He received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honour, for 1997-1998, and the civilian award Padma Shri in 1999. Tendulkar was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997.
Personal life:
Born in Mumbai into a middle-class Marathi family, Tendulkar was named after his family's favourite music director Sachin Dev Burman. His late father Ramesh Tendulkar was a Marathi novelist. He was encouraged to play cricket by his elder brother. Sachin Tendulkar married Anjali Mehta, the paediatrician daughter of Gujarati industrialist Anand Mehta, in 1995, some years after they were introduced by mutual friends. They have two children, Sara (born October 1997) and Arjun (born 23 September, 2000). Tendulkar sponsors 200 under-privileged children, every year through Apnalaya, a Mumbai-based NGO associated with his mother-in-law, Annabel Mehta. He is reluctant to speak about this, or other charitable activities, choosing to preserve the sanctity of his personal life despite the overwhelming media interest in him.
Career:
Early days of cricket
He attended Sharadashram Vidyamandir School where he began his cricketing career under the guidance of his coach and mentor Ramakant Achrekar. While at school, he was involved in a world-record unbroken 664-run partnership in a Harris Shield game with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli, who also went on to represent India.
Domestic Career:
In 1988/1989, he scored 100 not-out in his first first-class match for Bombay against Gujarat. At 15 years and 232 days he was then the youngest cricketer to score a century on his first-class début.
Sachin Tendulkar is the only player to score a century while making his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debut.
International career:
Sachin played his first international match against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989, facing the likes of Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Abdul Qadir, and Waqar Younis. He made just 15 runs, being bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that match. It was an inauspicious start, but Tendulkar followed it up with his maiden Test fifty a few days later at Faisalabad. His One-day International (ODI) debut on December 18 was equally disappointing, where he was dismissed without scoring a run, again by Waqar Younis. The series was followed by a tour of New Zealand in which he fell for 88 in the Second Test. John Wright, who later became the coach of India, took the catch that prevented Tendulkar from becoming the youngest centurion in Test cricket. His maiden Test century came in next tour, to England in August 1990 at Old Trafford. Tendulkar further enhanced his development into a world-class batsman during the 1991-1992 tour of Australia that included an unbeaten 148 in Sydney (the first of many battles against Shane Warne who made his debut in the match) and a brilliant century on the fast and bouncy track at Perth. He has been Man of the Match 11 times in Test matches and Man of the Series twice, both times in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
Tendulkar's performance through the years 1994-1999, coincided with his physical peak, at age 20 through 25. Tendulkar was told to open the batting at Auckland against New Zealand in 1994 . He went on to make 82 runs off 49 balls. His first ODI century came on September 9, 1994 against Australia in Sri Lanka at Colombo. It had taken Tendulkar 79 ODIs to score a century.
Tendulkar's rise continued when he was the leading runscorer at the 1996 Cricket World Cup, topping the batting averages whilst scoring two centuries.
This was the beginning of a period at the top of the batting world, culminating in the Australian tour of India in early 1998, scoring three consecutive centuries. These were characterised by a pre-meditated plan to target Australian spinners Shane Warne and Gavin Robertson, to whom he regularly charged down the pitch to drive over the infield. Following the series Australian spinner Shane Warne ruefully joked that he was having nightmares about his Indian nemesis.
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. Worse was 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 Srilanka. However, soon he returned back to the World cup scoring a century (unbeaten 140 of 126 balls) against Kenya in Bristol.
Tendulkar, succeeding Mohammad Azharuddin as captain, then led India on a tour of Australia, where the visitors were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by the newly-crowned world champions. Tendulkar resigned, and Sourav Ganguly took over as captain in 2000.
Tendulkar made 673 runs in 11 matches in the 2003 World Cup, helping India reach the final. While Australia retained the trophy that it had won in 1999, Tendulkar was given the Man of the Series award. The drawn series as India toured Australia in 2003-2004 saw Tendulkar making his mark in the last Test of the series, with a double century in Sydney.Tennis elbow then took its toll on Tendulkar, leaving him out of the side for the first two Tests when Australia toured India in 2004. He played a part in the facesaving Indian victory in Mumbai, though Australia had already taken the series 2-1, with the Second Test in Chennai drawn.
Wisden named Tendulkar one of the Cricketers of the Year in 1997, the first calendar year in which he scored 1,000 Test runs. He repeated the feat in 1999, 2001, and 2002. Tendulkar also holds the record for scoring 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year. He has done it six times - 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003. In 1998 he made 1,894 ODI runs, still the record for ODI runs by any batsman in any given calendar year.
Bowling:
While not a regular bowler, Tendulkar has taken 37 wickets in 132 Tests and 142 wickets in 365 ODIs. He bowls when the specialist bowlers are lacking success, often providing useful breakthroughs. Though his bowling averages are above 50, he is reckoned as the man with the Golden arm who breaks partnerships. .
On more than one occasion , he has had a strong influence on an Indian victory with his bowling. Notable among his bowling exploits are:
5 wicket haul against Australia at Kochi in the 1997-98 Series . Set 269 runs to win, Australia was cruising comfortably at 203/3 at the 31st over. Sachin turned the match for India taking wickets of MG Bevan, SR Waugh, DS Lehmann, TM Moody and DR Martyn for just 32 runs in 10 overs.
Final over control against South Africa in 1993 Hero-cup semifinals. South Africa needed 6 runs to win the match in the final over. Sachin bowling 3 dot balls in that over, conceded just 3 runs to help India win the match and reach the Finals of the tournament.
Performance of 4/34 in 10 overs against West Indies in Sharjah where the Windies were bowled out for 145.
He single handedly won the ICC 1998 QuarterFinals at Dhaka to pave way for India's entry into the Semifinals, when he took 4 Australian wickets after scoring 141 runs in just 128 balls.
Recent performance:
His 139 out of 100 balls in the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy held in Madras(2006) helped his India Blue team to win against the India Green Team by a whopping margin of 266 runs
He then came for the DLF cup in Malaysia and became the only Indian batsman to shine.
Tendulkar was recently operated upon for his injured shoulder forcing him to skip the tour of West Indies in 2006.
On 6 February 2006, Tendulkar scored his 39th ODI hundred, in a match against Pakistan. He followed with a run-a-ball 42 in the second ODI against Pakistan on February 11, 2006, and then a 95 in hostile, seaming conditions on 13 February, 2006 in Lahore, which set up an Indian victory.
On 23 May 2006, after deciding not to undergo a scheduled fitness test, he announced he would miss the tour of the Caribbean for the test series. However he agreed to play 5 games for Lashings World XI in order to regain fitness for a possible August comeback. He had scored 155, 147(retired), 98, 101(retired) & 105 in the 5 matches for Lashings XI with strike rate of well above 100 and was the top scorer in all the matches.
Also in his first Twenty20 match with international opposition, although unofficial, Tendulkar hit 50 not out off 21 deliveries to blast the International XI to 123 after 10 overs against the Pakistan XI.
However as of July,2006 The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the longest-serving international cricketer has overcome his injury problem following a rehabilitation programme and is available for selection.
In his most recent comeback match, against West Indies on 14th 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. Tendulkar now has 18 more ODI tons than the players who are second on the list of ODI century-makers, Sourav Ganguly and Sanath Jayasuriya .
Criticism:
Of late, as Wisden noted, Tendulkar has not been as aggressive and cavalier as in his younger days. Expert opinion is divided on whether this is due to his increasing years or the lingering after-effects of injuries over 17 years at the highest level. On 10 December, 2005, at Feroz Shah Kotla, he delighted fans with a record-breaking 35th Test century, against the Sri Lankans. But doubts were raised once again when he averaged a mere 21 over three Test innings when India toured Pakistan in 2006.
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, the first time that he has ever faced such flak. While cheered on when he came for his second innings, Tendulkar, was the top scorer of the second innings and yet 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.
Although he has silenced these doubts by scoring a come back hundread and a half-century in Malaysia tri-series.
Despite his record of scoring Test centuries, none of Tendulkar's innings was among the "Wisden 100", a statistics-based list released by Wisden in 2001 of the "greatest Test batting performances".
Comparison:
When comparing Sachin to another contemporary great Brian Lara, critics have often pointed out that India's win percentage in matches where Sachin scored a century is significantly lower than that of the Lara-West Indies performance-win ratio. Sachin averages 49.02 in 44 matches against Australia, at present the world's best team and it shows his calibre. On the other hand, McGrath, whose career average is 22.45 has only 32 wickets at an average of 26.28 in 22 games against India. This shows how effective Tendulkar has been at taking on the shiny white ball.
Controversies
His two tenures as captain of the Indian cricket team didn't go too well. During his second run, after constantly complaining that the national selectors weren't giving him the team he wanted, he resigned after a disastrous tour of Australia where India lost 0-3 in the tests and managed to win only one of 8 ODIs.Incidentally, he was named man of the series for the test matches.
During India's historic tour of Pakistan in 2004, he went public with his disappointment in not being able to score his 200 against Pakistan, when Rahul Dravid the acting captain of India declared the match with 16 overs remaining on Day 2 when Sachin was still on 194 NO. The controversy was so huge that it completely overshadowed one of Indian cricket's landmark innings by a young Virender Sehwag - a score of 309 which is the highest ever by an Indian in Tests. Many former cricketers commented that Dravid's declaration was in bad taste. The media noted at the time that the decision had apparently been made by Ganguly , and Ganguly himself later admitted that it had been a mistake, the wording of the statement indicating that it had not been Dravid's call.
Achievements:
Test cricket:
Highlights of Tendulkar's Test career include:
Rated as the second best batsman of all time (next to Don Bradman) by Wisden
Highest number of Test centuries (35), overtaking Sunil Gavaskar's record (34) on 10 December 2005 vs Sri Lanka in Delhi.
Played in the highest number of Cricket Grounds - he has played Test Cricket on 52 different grounds, ahead of Azharuddin (48), Kapil Dev (47), Inzamam-ul-Haq (46) and Wasim Akram (45).
He is the fastest to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket history. He holds this record along with Brian Lara. Both of them achieved this feat in 195 innings.
4th highest tally of runs in Test cricket (10,469)
Career Average 55.39 - Has the highest average among those who have scored over 10,000 Test runs.
Second Indian to make over 10,000 runs in Test matches.
Has 37 Test wickets (14 Dec 2005)
Third fastest player to reach 9,000 runs (Rahul Dravid made 9000 runs in 176 innings, Brian Lara made 9000 in 177 innings, Sachin in 179.)
ODI:
Highlights of Tendulkar's ODI career include:
Most runs (14,366 as of 20th September, 2006)
Most centuries (40)
Played most number of ODIs (367), (as of September 22th 2006).
Most Man of the Match (52) awards
Only player to have over 100 innings of 50+ runs as of September, 2006
Second most number of Fifties (73). Inzamam-Ul-Haq is the only batsman who has scored more Fifties (83) than Tendulkar.
Appeared on the most grounds (90 different grounds)
Most ODI runs by any batsman in any given calendar year - 1,894 ODI runs in 1998.
Most Centuries by a player in one year - 9 ODI centuries in 1998
Most centuries vs. Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
Holds the record for scoring 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year. He has done it six times - 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003.
Highest batting average among batsmen with over 10,000 ODI runs (as of September 2006)
First cricketer and fastest cricketer to cross 10,000-run mark, 11,000-run mark, 12,000-run mark, 13,000 run-mark and 14,000 run-mark in ODIs
Only cricketer to cross 14,000-run mark in ODIs
Over 100 wickets (142 as of September, 2006)
Highest individual score among Indian batsmen (186* against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999)
World Cup:
Most runs (1732 at an average of 59.72) in World Cup Cricket History
673 runs in 2003 World Cup, highest by any one in a single Cricket World Cup
Player Of The Tournament in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
Miscellaneous:
He was the first overseas cricketer to play for Yorkshire CCC in 1993.
Shane Warne famously remarked after the Australian tour of India, and then Sharjah in 1998, that his nightmares are full of "Sachin coming, dancing down the track and lofting me over for yet another six !"
Trivia:
Tendulkar has been seen taking his Ferrari 360 Modena for late-night drives in Mumbai. (Gifted by Fiat through Michael Schumacher, the car became notorious when Tendulkar was given customs exemption; Fiat paid the dues to end the controversy.)
During India's tour to Australia, he was declared out LBW after ducking and being hit by bouncer that kept low, which lead commentators to coin the term "shoulder before wicket".
Sachin Tendulkar was the first batsman to have been declared run out by a third umpire in 1992 against South Africa in South Africa.
Tendulkar is ambidexterous. He writes with his left hand but bats & bowls right-handed.
During his early days as a schoolboy cricketer he went to the MRF pace academy to train as a pace bowler but was sent back home.
Owns a restaurant, Tendulkar's in Colaba, Bombay. Tendulkar's in one of India's very few if not only, personality-themed restaurant.
