SACHIN TENDULKAR
editPersonal Information
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- Born Apr - 24, 1973 (46 years)
- Birth Place - Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra
- Height - 5 ft 5 in
- Role - Batsman
- Batting Style - Right Handed Bat
- Bowling Style - Right-arm legbreak
Sachiiiiiiin, Sachin!
You’ve heard the chant. You may not have heard of the sport, but you’ve heard the chant. The chant - one that a billion people once lived by; one that would originate from the Wankhede and echo across the city and the seas. It[1] is a name that continues to inspire many, not only in India, but all over the world, to take up the sport. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was that cricketer whose personality and aura upstaged any cricketing contest; yet he maintained that he wasn’t greater than than the game. To the people of India, the 5’5” giant of a man was much more than that. He was an emotion; a symbol of hope in a nation that revered him as nothing short of a God.
A World Cup veteran
editMoreover, this career spanned over six World Cup appearances, from 1992 to 2011, in which he made two appearances in the final (2003 and 2011), finally getting his hands on the coveted trophy on that enchanting night in Mumbai on the 2nd of April 2011, getting the swan-song he deserved in front of his home crowd in Mumbai.
\"He has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years; it’s time we carried him on our shoulders\"
The Initiation
editThere are so many tales about how Tendulkar was introduced to cricket, we may never know the absolute truth. According to legend, his half-brother, Ajit, with whom Sachin \"lived the dream”, took him to Sharadashram School in Mumbai and introduced him to Ramakant Achrekar, his first coach, at the age of eleven in an effort to focus his energy on something productive. It[2] was only a matter of time before he was a part of the Mumbai team and made his domestic debut. However, he was certainly too young to be facing senior bowlers, and this raised several eyebrows. However, when Dilip Vengsarkar, India’s captain at the time, watched him bat against Kapil Dev in the nets, the case of the child prodigy was escalated immediately. He made his first domestic appearance at the age of 14, and struck centuries on Ranji and Duleep trophy debut. He continued to pile on the runs, and an India call-up beckoned, a couple of years later.
The summit of all things cricket
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In a game riddled with statistics, he owns almost every batting record worth owning, including that of the most runs in Test and ODI cricket, the most hundreds in the two formats, and the highest number of centuries in international cricket - a mind-numbing 100. Despite a tough start to his ODI career, Tendulkar found his calling at the top of the order when he was sent to open against New Zealand in 1994 and struck a 49-ball 82, and made the opening spot his own. He went on to compile 49 ODI hundreds by the end of his career - eclipsing the second-best by nineteen hundreds. Tendulkar has been the single biggest factor behind the explosion of popularity that cricket enjoys in India which led to the Indian board becoming the richest and most powerful in world cricket. In a country already predisposed to cricket, Tendulkar gave the people a hero they could look upto regardless of age, colour, creed or sect - and catapulted cricket from a sport to a religion in the subcontinent.
The captaincy debacle
editTendulkar was made the captain of the side in 1996 at the age of 23, but with 7 years of experience behind him. A poor record, the egos of senior players to manage, and an avalanche of internal conflict, couldn’t quite dent Tendulkar’s performances with the bat, as he continued to score runs despite India being blanked by the opposition. In his second tenure as captain, which was thrust upon him without his contest, India lost a Test series to South Africa at home and Tendulkar’s own form was taking a hit, and he stepped down from captaincy. Sourav Ganguly[3] took over as the leader in 2000, with the hopes of building a new Indian team amidst the match-fixing scandal that had taken the cricket world by storm.
The World Cup Hangover
editAfter a dream run in the World Cup of 2011, the hangover followed. Tendulkar, still stranded on 99 international hundreds, seemed to have a long wait ahead as he missed the mark on two nightmarish Test tours of England and Australia, where he got close to the mark but failed to get across the line. After a year-long wait, he finally reached the landmark in an Asia Cup league game against Bangladesh at Mirpur, scoring his 100th international hundred to help India to 290 only for India’s bowling to fail at a crucial time and concede the match. His 51 against Pakistan in the same tournament ended up being his final ODI game as he announced his retirement from ODI cricket on 23rd December 2012, finishing his career as, by far, the highest run-scorer and century-maker in the format.
A nation in tears
editOn November 16, 2013, 24 years and a day after his Test debut, Tendulkar bid a tearful adieu to Test cricket at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. His 200th Test match, against the West Indies, culminated in a win for India, as Sachin[4] contributed handsomely with a fluent 74. The Wankhede Stadium was stunned into silence when he was caught at slip and had to walk back to the pavilion. However, his rousing speech after the match, wherein he mentioned that the chants of “Sachin Sachin will reverberate in my ears until my last breath”, reinvigorated the crowd into a new spree of the chant - perhaps for the last time ever.