Mumbai: He is one of the iconic batsmen the world has ever seen. He is the first batsman to score 100 international centuries. India was lucky that Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is a son of the soil. The ‘Master Blaster’ turns 48 today and is just two short of life’s half century. Here are some interesting facts about Tendulkar.
Tendulkar took up cricket at the age of 11, and made his Test debut November 15, 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi at the age of sixteen. He played for India, Mumbai and West Zone for approximately 24 years.
Tendulkar’s elder brother Ajit introduced him to coach Ramakant Achrekar and from there his cricket journey began. In fact, Tendulkar has always said that he wouldn’t have been a cricketer without Ajit. Interestingly, Ajit never went to see Tendulkar play in a cricket match, he preferred sitting at home. Only in Tendulkar’s last and 200th Test against West Indies at Mumbai, the elder brother was present at the ground.
During training period, Achrekar would put a one-rupee coin on top of the stumps while Tendulkar was batting. Any bowler who dismissed Tendulkar would get the coin. If Tendulkar passed the whole session without being dismissed, the coin belonged to him. Thirteen of those coins are still with Tendulkar.
It was in 1988 that Tendulkar burst into limelight. He was involved in a 664-run partnership with childhood buddy Vinod Kambli in a Harris Shield game against St Xavier’s High School. Tendulkar and Kambli were representing the Sharadashram Vidyamandir HS.
Tendulkar is only batsman to have amassed more than 80,000 runs (international and domestic compiled together). He has 241 centuries under his belt while playing international and domestic cricket.