Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is a former Indian Cricketer. He is regarded as one of the finest batsmen in the history of Cricket. Tendulkar is the only player to have scored one hundred international centuries, the first batsman to score a double century in an ODI, the only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in international cricket, and the holder of the record for the most number of runs in both Test and ODI.
Wiki/Biography
Sachin Tendulkar was born on Tuesday, 24 April 1973 (age 49 years; as of 2022) in Nirmal Nursing Home in Dadar, Bombay (now Mumbai). His zodiac sign is Taurus.
He attended Mumbai’s Indian Education Society’s New English School and spent his early childhood in the “Sahitya Sahawas Cooperative Housing Society” in Bandra (East). Sachin developed a deep interest in Lawn Tennis at a young age, and he started idolizing John McEnroe.
It was his brother, Ajit Tendulkar, who recognised his cricket talent and introduced him to the coach, Ramakant Achrekar at the Shivaji Park in Dadar, Bombay (now in Mumbai). Achrekar, after being impressed by Sachin, advised him to shift to Sharadashram Vidyamandir (English) High School in Dadar. While he was studying there, he stayed at his aunt’s place in Dadar as her home was nearer to the school. As he started playing cricket, he became the case of a child prodigy at his school. After completing his schooling, Tendulkar worked at an apparel manufacturing firm in order to support his cricket career. [1] Time
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5’ 5”
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Family, Caste & Wife
Sachin Tendulkar belongs to a Rajapur Saraswat Brahmin Family. [2] India Today His father, Late Ramesh Tendulkar, was a novelist and his mother, Rajni Tendulkar, is a former Insurance agent. He has two elder half-brothers, Nitin Tendulkar and Ajit Tendulkar. He also has one elder half-sister, Savita Tendulkar. They are from his father’s first wife, who passed away.
When Sachin was 17 years old, he met Anjali for the first time at the Mumbai Airport and it was love at first sight for both of them. The duo again met at a common friend’s place and got to know each other better. They dated for 5 years before getting married on 24 May 1995. Anjali Tendulkar is a Pediatrician. The couple has a son, Arjun Tendulkar, who is a cricketer. They also have a daughter, Sara Tendulkar.
Major Records
- In 1998, Tendulkar made 1,894 ODI runs, which is a record for highest ODI runs scored by any batsman in a calendar year.
- Most number of Test runs – 15,921
- Most number of ODI runs – 18,426
- Most number of Tests played – 200
- Most number of ODIs played – 463
- First batsman to score a double hundred in ODIs
- Only batsman to have scored 100 international centuries
- Most number of Test centuries – 51
- Most number of ODI tons – 49
- Most ODI half-centuries – 96
- Most number of runs (2,278) in World Cup history
- Most World Cup appearances (6 editions)
- Most fifties in Tests – 68
- Fastest to 10,000 runs in Tests (195 innings – along with Brian Lara (WI) and Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
- Most runs in a single edition of World Cup (673 runs in 2003)
- Most ODI hundreds in a calendar year (9 in 1998)
- The only one to accomplish rare ODI triple: 15000 runs (18426), 100 wickets (154) and 100 catches (140)
- Most times to score 1000 runs in a calendar year: 7 times
- Most Fours: 2016
- Most runs in World Cups: 2278 runs at an average of 56.95 in 45 matches
- Most centuries in World Cups: 6 in 44 innings
- Most Man of the Match titles in World Cups: 9
- The highest number of Man of the Match titles in ODIs: 62
- Most Man of the Match titles in all formats: 76
- Most Man of the Series titles in all formats: 20
Career
Sachin began his cricket career in 1987 when he got selected to represent Bombay in the Ranji Trophy. However, he did not made up in the final eleven lists during any of the matches and was often used as a substitute player for fielding.
His international ODI debut came in December 1989 against Pakistan at Gujranwala. Sachin scored a zero in his first match. He made only 15 runs in his Test debut but was noticed for handling numerous bowls to his body against the Pakistani pace attack. In 1989, he scored his first Test fifty in his second Test match against a tough bowling attack of Pakistan at Faisalabad. It was a career turning point for Tendulkar. Sachin scored his first Test century on 14 August 1990 against England at the Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester. His first ODI century came up after playing 79 matches where he scored 110 runs against Australia at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo in September 1994. In the period between 1993 and 2002, Tendulkar’s Test average was 62.30.
In 1990, he bagged his first advertisement for a Band-Aid brand. By 1992, he was endorsing Pepsi and was on his way to becoming Cricket’s first millionaire.
Talking about Tendulkar’s Test stats, he never averaged less than 42 runs against any team. His lowest averages were against Pakistan and South Africa which were 42.28 and 42.46 runs, respectively. Of the 329 innings that he had played in his Test career, in 275 innings, he had batted at No. 4 position. Initially, Tendulkar used to bat at number 6 or 7, but later, his position got changed after he scored a 148 not out against Australia in Sydney in 1992.
During the 1988 Sharjah Tournament, he single-handedly helped India reach the finals and made a significant contribution to make India win the tournament.
Sachin made his T20I debut on 1 December 2006 against South Africa in Johannesburg. It was the only T20I match that he played during his Cricket career. On 24 February 2010, while Tendulkar was playing against South Africa at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, he became the first cricketer to score a double century in an ODI.
He represented Mumbai Indians Team at the IPL.
After representing Mumbai domestically and India internationally for around twenty-four years, Sachin announced his retirement from One Day Internationals on 23 December 2012. He played his last ODI on 18 March 2012 against Pakistan at Dhaka. On 10 October 2013, Sachin announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after the two-Test series against West Indies in November 2013.
He co-owns the Kochi ISL team in the Indian Super League Football League in India.
Controversies
Ball-tampering Row
Tendulkar was suspended for a Test Match by the referee Mike Denness because he did not inform the umpires that he was cleaning the seam of the ball during the 2001 Port Elizabeth Test against South Africa.
Low Attendance in Parliament
As a Rajya Sabha member, he often received criticism for remaining absent in the Parliament Sessions. [3]
Pandora Papers Leak
On 3 October 2021, Sachin Tendulkar’s name appeared in the Pandora Papers leak that was uncovered by a worldwide journalistic partnership, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The consortium claimed that they had uncovered the financial secrets of many celebrities across 91 countries including India. The ICIJ in its report claimed that the secret documents linked many celebrities including India’s cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar, pop music diva Shakira, supermodel Claudia Schiffer, and an Italian mobster known as ‘Lell the Fat One’ to offshore assets. Tendulkar’s attorney, however, claimed that Tendulkar’s investments were legitimate, and he had already given the details about his investments to the authorities. [4]
Morphed image used by a casino
In February 2022, Sachin Tendulkar initiated legal action against a casino, Big Daddy, located in Goa that used his morphed images for its promotion on social media. [5] Sachin Tendulkar shared a post on Twitter in which he wrote that he never endorsed any such brands.
Requesting everyone to remain vigilant about misleading images on social media. pic.twitter.com/VCJfdyJome
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) February 24, 2022
Awards, Honours & Achievements
- Arjuna Award (1994)
- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (1997-98)
- Padma Shri (1999)
- Maharashtra Bhushan Award (2001)
- Padma Vibhushan (2008)
- Bharat Ratna (2014)
Other Honours
- Wisden Cricketer of the Year (1997)
- Player of the Tournament in the 2003 Cricket World Cup (2003)
- The Indian Air Force made him an Honorary Group Captain (2010)
- BCCI Cricketer of the Year award (2011)
- Honorary Life Membership of Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) (2012)
- Indian Postal Service released a stamp of Tendulkar; making him the second Indian after Mother Teresa to have such stamp released in their lifetime (2013)
- Laureus Sporting Moment 2000-2020 award for the moment he was being lifted on the shoulders of his teammates after their World Cup triumph at home in 2011.
Car Collection
Being the brand ambassador of BMW India, Sachin owns almost all the latest models from the brand including BMW “30 Jahre M5” Limited Edition, BMW X5 M, BMW X5 M50d, BMW 760Li, and BMW i8. He still owns his very first car which was a red Maruti 800 (SS80). In addition to the above cars, Tendulkar also owns a Nissan GT-R.
Salary/Income & Net Worth
Sachin’s estimated net worth is Rs. 1100 crore (as in 2018). His income is around Rs. 80 crores per annum (as in 2018). [6] Forbes India
Signature
Favourite Things
- Cricketers (Batsmen): Sunil Gavaskar, Sir Vivian Richards
- Cricketers (Bowlers): Wasim Akram, Anil Kumble, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath, Curtly Ambrose
- Cricket Grounds: Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Wankhede Stadium Mumbai
- Food: Bombay Duck, Prawn Curry, Crab Masala, Keema Paratha, Lassi, Chingri Prawns, Mutton Biryani, Mutton Curry, Baigan Bharta, Sushi
- Actors: Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Nana Patekar
- Actress: Madhuri Dixit
- Films: Sholay, Coming To America
- Musicians: Sachin Dev Burman, Bappi Lahiri, Dire Straits
- Singers: Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
- Song: “Yaad Aa Raha Hai Tera Pyar” by Bappi Lahiri
- Colour: Blue
- Perfume: Comme des Garcons
- Restaurants: Bukhara, Maurya Sheraton, in Delhi
- Hotel: Park Royal Darling, Sydney
- Holiday Destinations: New Zealand, Mussorie
- Sports: Lawn Tennis, Formula 1
- Tennis Players: John McEnroe, Roger Federer
Facts
- His hobbies include collecting perfumes, watches & CD’s and listening to music.
- He is often spotted drinking alcohol on various occasions.
- Sachin was named after the famous music director, Sachin Dev Burman.
- Tendulkar was considered to be a bully in his childhood.
- While Sachin used to do net practice at the Shivaji Park, his coach, Achrekar, used to put a coin on the middle stump and offered the coin to the bowler who takes the wicket of Sachin. And if Sachin passed the entire session without getting out, the coin would go to him. He considers, those 13 coins collected during that period as some of his most prized possessions.
- Sachin had scored 329 runs out of the world record stand of 664 runs along with Vinod Kambli at the Sharadashram Vidyamandir.
- Tendulkar became a close friend of Vinod Kambli while he studied at the Sharadashram Vidyamandir.
- The first Cricket bat of his life was gifted to him by his sister, Savita.
- Initially, Sachin wanted to be a fast bowler, but after he went to the MRF Pace Foundation, Dennis Lillee, the Australian fast bowler advised him to go for batting instead.
- He resides at 19-A, Perry Cross Road, Bandra (West), Mumbai.
- His wife, Anjali Tendulkar, once revealed that she went to Tendulkar’s house for the first time disguised as a journalist.
- His lowest test average was against Zimbabwe, i.e, 40 in seven innings. It was the only country where Sachin didn’t hit a single Test century.
- Tendulkar has averaged more than 50 in Australia and England, and 49.52 and 46.44 in New Zealand and South Africa, respectively. These are the countries where most batsmen have often struggled to score runs.
- He is known to have played against some of the toughest bowlers of all time, the most number by any batsman in the history of cricket.
- He is an ardent follower of Lord Ganesha and considers Ganesh Chaturthi to be one of the most important days of the year.
- In addition to Cricket, he is equally good at many other sports like Tennis, Football, and Formula 1.
- He is a huge fan of Diego Maradona(Football Player), McEnroe (Tennis Player), and Michael Schumacher (F1 Racer).
- Sachin opened a restaurant in Colaba, Mumbai under the name “Tendulkar’s.” However, the restaurant was closed for business after a few months of its operations.
- At the age of 16, Sachin became the youngest Indian player to feature in International Tests and ODIs.
- In 2014, Sachin became the first and the youngest Indian sportsperson to be awarded Bharat Ratna. Before Sachin Tendulkar, there had been no sports category in Bharat Ratna since the inception of the award.
- Tendulkar has also been a Member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament (2012-2018).
- In 2002, Michael Schumacher, the Formula 1 legend, gifted him a new Ferrari 360 Modena.
- Sachin became the first batsman ever to be dismissed (run out) by the television replays on the second day of the Test match between India and South Africa at the Kingsmead, Durban in 1992. He was dismissed by the third umpire, Karl Liebenberg.
- Sachin is ambidextrous, i.e., he plays cricket with his right hand but writes with his left hand.
- He made a special appearance in the 2003 Bollywood film “Stumped.”
- Interestingly, Tendulkar was a ball boy during the 1987 World Cup semi-final between India and England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
- He had a career span of 24 years and a day, which is the fifth-longest in the history of the Test Cricket.
- He is so much dedicated to his game that he changed his way of playing cricket while he was struggling to score runs in the 2003 season. His determination towards the game is still praised by the cricket fraternity across the world.
- Sachin became the third non-England player, after Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards, to enter the 50,000-first-class-runs club after scoring a total of 50,192 runs.
- Sachin’s wax statue was established in London’s Madame Tussauds in the year 2008.
- Six times, Tendulkar has scored more than 1000 Test runs in a calendar year, which is the most by any batsman in the cricket fraternity.
- Sachin is the youngest Indian and the third-youngest player in the world to hit a Test century. Had he scored a century in his last Test, he would also be the oldest Indian player to hit a Test century.
- He faced 848 bowlers during his career span of twenty-four years. Interestingly, if each of them is allowed to bowl him one over, it would take nine full tests plus a morning session to face them all.
- Sachin used to carry his personalized kit to all the matches in which he has kept a Tri-colour Flag (Indian National Flag) painted by his daughter, Sara Tendulkar.
- In 1996, during a Cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, when Shahid Afridi had created a world record of scoring a maiden century off 37 balls, it was the Sachin Tendulkar’s bat that Afridi had used to play that magnificent inning. It was reported that Tendulkar had given his bat to Waqar Younis who later gave it to Afridi.
- Sachin sponsors around 200 underprivileged children every year through a Mumbai-based NGO, Apnalaya, which is associated with his mother-in-law, Annabel Mehta.
- In May 2019, Sachin shared a picture with Neha and Jyoti from the Banwari Tola village in Uttar Pradesh (the barbershop girls whose video went viral online) through his Instagram account; depicting their story of taking over their father’s barbershop when their father fell ill. He captioned it- “A First for me! You may not know this, but I have never gotten a shave from someone else before. That record has been shattered today. Such an honour to meet the Barber Shop Girls. #DreamsDontDiscriminate”
- In June 2019, Sachin filed a lawsuit against the Australian bat manufacturer, Spartan Sports International. He accused them of using his name and image to promote their products and failing to pay him the royalties in return. According to him, the company agreed to pay him $1 million a year to use his image, logo and promotional services in 2016 for using his name to sell their sporting goods and clothing.
- In September 2019, he shared a video of him on his Twitter handle; practicing on a water-logged pitch.
Love and passion for the game always helps you find new ways to practice, and above all to enjoy what you do.#FlashbackFriday pic.twitter.com/7UHH13fe0Q
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) September 27, 2019
- For much of his career, his achievements on the cricket pitch were solely due to his own efforts. At the peak of his career, Sachin had become so popular that people preferred watching the match only as long as Sachin was on the crease and switched off their televisions as soon as he got out.
- Sachin had been dismissed for 681 times in his entire career and for over 60% of those dismissals, he was out caught.
- Although everyone knows that Sachin made his international debut in 1989 against Pakistan, not many know that his international cricket journey started two years earlier, playing not for India but for Pakistan. In 1987, during a festival match between India and Pakistan at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, Sachin was asked to field for Pakistan when Javed Miandad and Abdul Qadir left the field at lunchtime. Sachin was placed at long-on and when Kapil Dev hit the ball in the air in Sachin’s direction, he tried to take the catch but could not reach the ball. [7] Times of India
- For most of his Test career, Tendulkar had played at the 4th position. Matthew Hayden once said-
I have seen God. He bats for India at no. 4 in tests.”
- Sachin’s upper-cut shot to Shoaib Akhtar for 6 during the 2003 World Cup is considered to be his best shot ever by his fans.
- Sachin has been dismissed ten times in the Test Cricket when he was in his nineties. It is the most by any batsman.
- His family and friends fondly call him Tendya.
- Sachin was very close to his coach, Ramakant Achrekar.
- He had to “beg and plead” to open the batting for India; the fact was revealed by himself in a LinkedIn video in September 2019. In the video, he said-
In 1994, when I started opening the batting for India, the strategy used by all the teams was to save wickets. What I tried to do was slightly out of the box. I thought I could go upfront and take the opposition bowlers on. But I had to beg and plead to give me a chance. If I fail, I won’t come after you again.”
- His Jersey Number was #10 when he played for India as well as when he played for Mumbai Indians during IPL.
- In October 2019, while interacting with a group of students in Maharashtra, he revealed that he wasn’t selected in his first selection trials. He said,
When I was a student, the only thing in my mind was to play for India. My journey started at the age of eleven. I even remember when I went for my first selection trails, I was not selected by the selectors. At that time I was disappointed because I thought I had batted well, but the result was not as per expectation and I was not selected. But after that my focus, commitment and capacity to work hard increased further. If you want to realise your dreams, then short-cuts won’t help.”
- Sachin has earned the monikers of “Master Blaster,” “God of Cricket,” and “Little Master” for his outstanding performance in Cricket.
- According to Sachin, his favourite shot is Straight Drive. [8] The Hindu
- In 1996, Sunil Gavaskar made a prophecy that Tendulkar would surpass 15000 runs and 40 centuries. In an interview between Gavaskar and Sachin, Gavaskar said,
If by the end of his career, he does not score a minimum of 15000 runs and 40 Test centuries, I shall personally go and strangle him. 20 years down the line, my hands would not have the same strength and he might still survive, but I think I will get somebody to do that for me. He has got that much talent!”