Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar: Conquered the best and brought millions to cricket

Lesser known facts about Maestro Sachin on his 46th Birthday

Roger Federer knows about Sachin Tendulkar as the man who signifies cricket. Maria Sharapova gets trolled brutally for her confession to have not heard the name. And India just adores its Cricketing Talisman. Such is SRT’s simplicity that fans and experts salute his personal and professional conduct.

The maestro is turning 46 on Wednesday and has planned a special session in his MB Application at 2:15 pm in the Afternoon, where he would come live to interact with millions of fans spread across the world.

A birthday is incomplete without fans! Excited to come LIVE on @100MasterBlastr App tomorrow. See you there! 😉Download the App here: https://t.co/dGbquRxLP4 pic.twitter.com/7C4nFNtdH4

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) April 23, 2019

Don Bradman was surely ahead of his times and his average of close to 100 is a testimony to his skills. Quite like the Don, short in height but big in stature, Sachin was probably the only cricketer who remained extremely fit in a career that spanned more than 20 years.

When Sunny Gavaskar was busy taking the India troops on foreign tours and showing them how to compete, a boy in Mumbai was wondering if India could ever become a force to reckon on the global stage. Then came the Pakistan tour of 1988 and the boy was ready to become a man as despite being struck on the chin he continued to face the fiery stuff of Wasim Akram and Imran Khan. Playing his last World Cup in 2011 the classy batsman led India to a memorable second World Cup triumph after 1983.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Tendulkar has been in a sea of statistics from the 90s till the time he said goodbye. The only man on the planet to score 100 international tons, isn't that enough to gauze his aura. 

Here are some Lesser known facts

1. Classy maiden ton Aug 14, 1990 - His first Test hundred, a match-saving one at Old Trafford, came when he was 17 as he scored 119 not out with 17 fours against England at Old Trafford and helped India to save the match.

2. Sachin still owns his first car – a red Maruti 800 (SS80)

3. During Pakistan’s tour of India in 1987, Sachin was sent in as a substitute fielder when Javed Miandad and Abdul Qadir left the field at lunchtime.

“I don’t know whether Imran Khan remembers this or has any idea that I once fielded for his Pakistan team,” writes Sachin in his book ‘Playing it My Way.’

4. Gavaskar had gifted Sachin a pair of ultra-light pads to console him after he wasn’t chosen as the Mumbai Cricket Association’s ‘Best junior cricketer.’ Sachin wore these pads on his debut against Pakistan in Karachi on November 15, 1989.  

5. Did you know that Sachin in ambidextrous – he bats and bowls with his right hand but bowls with his left.

6. Surprisingly, Sachin’s first ODI century came only in his 79th match. He scored 110 off 130 balls to steer India to a 31-run victory. Who would have thought he would make 48  more.

7. Sachin made a guest appearance in a Bollywood movie titled ‘Stumped’ in 2003.

8. Interestingly, in his long career of 24yrs Sachin has only been stumped once in Test matches in 2002 during a match against England at Bangalore by Ashley Gile. Apparently, Sachin remembers every dismissal and even the bowler who dismissed him.

9. On 4 February 2016, he was conferred with India’s highest Civilian Award- Bharat Ratna and also became the youngest recipient of Bharat Ratna so far.  

10. He wanted to be a fast bowler and attended the MRF Pace Academy but wasn’t able to impress Dennis Lillee with his bowling. Lilly till date jokes about doing Indian cricket favour by refusing him. 

Sachin scored 34,357 runs in all international matches (200 test matches and 463 ODI’s) with a total of 100 centuries in all formats. That’s the most runs for any batsman and only Virat Kohli looks to break his ODI century record. Other numbers are expected to remain at the pinnacle.

The best knock of Sachin Tendulkar

The Little champion played a scintillating knock in Hyderabad in the fifth ODI against Australia. Sachin’s 175 was chosen as the best innings in a public poll conducted by ICC and Espn. Batting first, the visiting Australian side scored 350 for the loss of four wickets. India had lost 4 wickets with less than 70 on the board. But the Mumbai batsman went berserk after getting an eye in. Ricky Ponting later admitted he had given up trying for a win if Sachin remained on the crease. India lost the match and Sachin had tears in his eyes.