SACHIN TENDULKAR

Personal lifeBorn to a middle class family of Rajapur Saraswat Brahmins in Bombay, now known as Mumbai. His father Ramesh Tendulkar, a Marathi novelist named him after his favourite music director Sachin Dev Burman. He was encouraged to play cricket by his elder brother, Ajit Tendulkar. He has 2 more siblings - brother Nitin Tendulkar and sister Savitai Tendulkar. Nitin's son Rohan Tendulkar born in 1990 is also a cricketer and represents Mumbai in junior cricket tournaments. In 1995, Sachin Tendulkar married Anjali Tendulkar (born 13 feb 1971), the paediatrician daughter of Gujarati industrialist Anand Mehta. They have two children, Sara (born 12 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, Annaben 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.
Sachin Early days cricket careerHe attended Sharadashram Vidyamandir School where he began his cricketing career under the guidance of his coach and mentor Ramakant Achrekar. 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.. The man who turned him back was legendary fast bowler Dennis Lillee who told the young Tendulkar, Just focus on your batting. This simple comment would result in the birth of one of the greatest batsmen of all time. While at school, he was involved in unbroken 664-run partnership in a Harris Shield game in 1988 with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli, who also went on to represent India. The destructive pair reduced one bowler to tears and made the rest of the opposition unwilling to continue the game. Sachin scored over 320 in this innings and scored over a thousand runs in the tournament. This was the 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 maestro Sunil Gavaskar gave him a pair of his used ultra light pads. "It was the greatest source of encouragement for me," he said nearly 20 years later after passing Gavaskar's top world record of 34 Test centuries.
International careerTendulkar is ambidextrous, he bats, bowls and throws with his right hand, but prefers to write with his left hand. He also practices left-handed throws at the nets on a regular basis. Tendulkar played his first Test match against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989. He made just 15 runs, being bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that match. 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 disappointing. 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. 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 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 is 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 is rise continued when he was the leading run scorer 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. This technique worked as India beat Australia. Following the series Australian spinner Shane Warne ruefully joked that he was having nightmares about his Indian nemesis.Indian Captain Mohd. Azharuddin was going through a lean patch and India were playing against Pakistan in Sharjah 1997. Sachin and Navjot Siddhu hit 100's to set a record partnership for the first wicket. Sachin returned back after getting out and found Azhar in two minds to bat out. Sachin boosted Azhar to bat and Azhar unleashed 29 runs in mere 10 balls. It enabled India post a score in excess of 300 runs for the first time. India went on to win that match.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 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.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. 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 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, which was also the last test appearance of one of cricket history's most successful captain Steve Waugh. 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 face-saving Indian victory in Mumbai, though Australia had already taken the series 2-1, with the Second Test in Chennai drawn.Sachin is an integral part of Think-Tank. He's often found discussing with the captain and involved in building strategies. Current Captain, Rahul Dravid publicly acknowledged that it was Sachin, who suggested to promote Irfan Pathan to #3. Pathan's swash buckling batting did impress every one, but he was later removed from that position, as his bowling started to be less effective and he would need to concentrate more on his bowling.On 10 December, 2005, at Feroz Shah Kotla, he delighted fans with a record-breaking 35th Test century, against the Sri Lankans.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 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 in 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.Tendulkar was operated upon for his injured shoulder forcing him to skip the tour of West Indies in 2006.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.He then came for the DLF cup in Malaysia and became the only Indian batsman to shine. 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. In January 2007 Tendulkar scored a 76-ball century against the West Indies which makes it his 41st ODI century. He reached a hundred on the last ball of the Indian innings. Tendulkar now has 17 more ODI tons than Sanath Jayasuriya who is second on the list of ODI century-makers.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.At Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Idies, 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 Coach Greg Chappel had scores of 7 (Bangladesh), 57* (Bermuda) and 0 (Sri Lanka). As a result, former Australian captain Ian Chappell, brother of former Indian coach Greg, called for Tendulkar to retire in his column for Mumbai's Mid Day newspaper Tendulkar was named the man of the Series in the subsequent Test series against Bangladesh.He scored two consecutive scores of 90+ in the Series against South Africa.He is now the only cricketer to complete 13,000-14,000 and 15,000 runs in ODI form of the game.On the second day of Nottingham test (July 28, 2007) Sachin became the third cricketer to complete 11000 test runs.
RecordsRuns Scored: * Second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to make over 10,000 runs in Test matches.* Became the first Indian to surpass the 11,000 Test run mark and the third International player behind Allan Border and Brian Lara. Lara took 213 innings, Sachin 223 and Border 259.* Tendulkar and Brian Lara are the fastest to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket history. Both of them achieved this in 195 innings.* On 3 January 2007 Sachin Tendulkar (5751) edged past Brian Lara's (5736) world record of runs scored in Tests away from home. Tendulkar achieved this in 75 away Test matches while Lara had scored his runs in 66 away Tests.* Career Average 55.06 - the highest average among those who have scored over 10,000 Test runs.* Tendulkar has 4 seasons with 1000 or more runs - 2002 (1392 runs), 1999 (1088 runs), 2001 (1003 runs) and 1997 (1000 runs). Gavaskar is the only other Indian with four seasons of 1000+ runs. Only Hayden and Lara have five seasons with 1000+ runs in International cricket.* Tendulkar is only the third batsman in the history of Test cricket to go past the 11,000-run tally (currently 11,067), after Brian Lara and Allan Border.
Centuries:* Highest number of Test centuries (37), overtaking Sunil Gavaskar's record (34) on 10 December 2005 vs Sri Lanka in Delhi. Brian Lara has also scored 34 Test Centuries.* When Tendulkar scored his maiden century in 1990, he was the second youngest to score a century. Only Mushtaq Mohammad had scored a century at a younger age by 1990. Tendulkar's record was bettered by Mohammad Ashraful in 2001/02 season. The record for previous youngest Indian centurion was held by Kapil Dev.* Tendulkar's record of five centuries before he turned 20 is a current world record.* Tendulkar holds the current record (217 against NZ in 1999/00 Season) for the highest score in Test cricket by an Indian when captaining the side. Gavaskar held the previous record (205 against West Indies in Bombay - 1978/79 season)* Tendulkar has scored centuries against all test playing nations. He was the third batman to achieve the distinction after Steve Waugh and Gary Kirsten. The current list also includes Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Adam Gilchrist and Marvan Attapattu.* Sachin's 37th ton against Bangladesh during the 2007 series 2nd Test, made history as the 1st time the top four batsman of any team had all scored centuries in a single innings. Dinesh Karthik made 129, Wasim Jaffer 138 and Rahul Dravid 129 were the other centurions.
ODI:Highlights of Tendulkar's ODI career include:Game Appearances:* Matches Played: 388o Consecutive ODI Appearances: 185o Most Stadium Appearances: 90 different Grounds* On his debut, Sachin Tendulkar was the second youngest debutant. Only Aaqib Javed debuted in ODI matches younger than Sachin Tendulkar. Since then, there has been 4 players who were younger than Sachin on their ODI debut: Hasan Raza (Pakistan) - the current youngest debutant, Mohammad Sharif (Bangladesh), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) and Ramveer Rai (UAE)
Runs Scored:* Most Runs: 15,051 Runs (as of 29th June, 2007). He is the leading run scorer in the ODI format of the game and the only player ever to cross the 15,000 run mark. he reached this milestone with a stunning knock of 93 against South Africa to help win the match.* First player to reach 10,000-11,000-12,000-13,000-14,000 and 15,000 ODI runs.* Highest individual score among Indian batsmen (186* against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999). The score of 186* is listed the fifth highest score recorded in ODI matches* 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.* After he became the first cricketer to cross 10,000-run mark in ODI's. Only six other players have managed to also cross the milestone since then: (Sanath Jayasuriya, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, and Inzamam ul Haq). Sachin was the fastest to reach 10,000 runs taking 259 innings and has the highest batting average among batsmen with over 10,000 ODI runs
Centuries & Fifties Record:* Most centuries: 41o Only player to have over 100 innings of 50+ runs (41 Centuries and 79 Fifties)(as of 2007)o Fifties: 79. Inzamam-ul-Haq (83) is the only batsmen who has scored more Fifties. Rahul Dravid (79) is tied with Sachin.* Most centuries vs. Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
ODI Awards:* Most Man of the Match Awards: 54 Man of the Match Awards* Most Man of the Series Awards: 14 Man of the Series Awards.