text
stringlengths 0
1.86k
|
|---|
Ramesh Tendulkar FatherArjun Tendulkar SonRamakant Achrekar CoachSudhir Kumar Chaudhary Fan |
Gallery: Picture, Sound, Video |
vte |
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (/ˌsʌtʃɪn tɛnˈduːlkər/ ⓘ; pronounced [sətɕin teːɳɖulkəɾ]; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket.[5] Hailed as the world's most prolific batsman of all time, he is the all-time highest run-scorer in both ODI and Test cricket with more than 18,000 runs and 15,000 runs, respectively.[6] He also holds the record for receiving the most player of the match awards in international cricket.[7] Tendulkar was a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha by presidential nomination from 2012 to 2018.[8][9] |
Tendulkar took up cricket at the age of eleven, made his Test match debut on 15 November 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi at the age of sixteen, and went on to represent Mumbai domestically and India internationally for over 24 years.[10] In 2002, halfway through his career, Wisden ranked him the second-greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Don Bradman, and the second-greatest ODI batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards.[11] The same year, Tendulkar was a part of the team that was one of the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. Later in his career, Tendulkar was part of the Indian team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup, his first win in six World Cup appearances for India.[12] He had previously been named "Player of the Tournament" at the 2003 World Cup. |
Tendulkar has received several awards from the government of India: the Arjuna Award (1994), the Khel Ratna Award (1997), the Padma Shri (1998), and the Padma Vibhushan (2008).[13][14] After Tendulkar played his last match in November 2013, the Prime Minister's Office announced the decision to award him the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.[15][16] He was the first sportsperson to receive the award and, as of 2023, is the youngest recipient.[17][18][19] In 2010, Time included Tendulkar in its annual list of the most influential people in the world.[20] Tendulkar was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the 2010 International Cricket Council (ICC) Awards.[21] |
Having retired from ODI cricket in 2012,[22][23] he retired from all forms of cricket in November 2013 after playing his 200th Test match.[24] Tendulkar played 664 international cricket matches in total, scoring 34,357 runs.[25] In 2013, Tendulkar was included in an all-time Test World XI to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, and he was the only specialist batsman of the post–World War II era, along with Viv Richards, to get featured in the team.[26] In 2019, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.[27] On 24 April 2023, the Sydney Cricket Ground unveiled a set of gates named after Tendulkar and Brian Lara on the occasion of Tendulkar's 50th birthday and the 30th anniversary of Lara's innings of 277 at the ground.[28][29][30] |
Early life and background |
Tendulkar was born at the Nirmal Nursing Home in the Dadar neighbourhood of Bombay, Maharashtra on 24 April, 1973[31][32] into a Maharastrian family.[33] His father, Ramesh Tendulkar, was a Marathi-language novelist and poet while his mother, Rajni, worked in the insurance industry.[34] Tendulkar's father named him after his favourite music director, Sachin Dev Burman.[35] Tendulkar has three older siblings: two half-brothers Nitin and Ajit, and a half-sister Savita. They were his father's children by his first wife, who died after the birth of her third child.[36][37] His brother Ajit played in Bombay's Kanga Cricket League.[38] |
Tendulkar spent his formative years in the Sahitya Sahawas Cooperative Housing Society in Bandra (East). As a young boy, Tendulkar was considered a bully, and he often picked fights with new children in his school.[39] |
As a child, Tendulkar was interested in both tennis and cricket.[40] He particularly idolised American player John McEnroe, and emulated his hero by growing his hair long at the age of 7 or 8 years. At this time, Tendulkar also regularly wore tennis wristbands and headbands and carried a tennis racquet with him as a sign of his love for tennis.[41][42][43] |
To help curb his bullying tendencies, his elder brother Ajit introduced Tendulkar to cricket in 1984. Ajit introduced him to cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar at Shivaji Park in Dadar. At their first meeting, Tendulkar did not play well. Ajit told Achrekar that he was feeling self-conscious due to the coach observing him, and was not displaying his natural game. Ajit requested the coach to give him another chance at playing, but watch while hiding behind a tree. This time, Tendulkar, apparently unobserved, played much better and was accepted at Achrekar's academy.[44][better source needed] |
Achrekar was impressed with Tendulkar's talent and advised him to shift his schooling to Sharadashram Vidyamandir School,[31] a school in Dadar that had produced many notable cricketers. He made his debut as a cricketer for Sharadashram in late 1984.[45] Prior to this, Tendulkar had attended the Indian Education Society's New English School in Bandra (East).[45] He was also coached under the guidance of Achrekar at Shivaji Park in the mornings and evenings.[46] Tendulkar would practice for hours; if he became exhausted, Achrekar would put a one-rupee coin on the top of the stumps, and the bowler who dismissed Tendulkar would get the coin. If Tendulkar completed the session without getting dismissed, the coach would give him the coin. Tendulkar considers the 13 coins he won among his most prized possessions.[47] While he was training at Shivaji Park, he moved in with his aunt and uncle, who lived near the park.[45] |
Besides school cricket, Tendulkar also played club cricket. In 1984, at age 11, he debuted in the Kanga Cricket League while playing for the John Bright Cricket Club.[45][48] Beginning in 1988, he played for the Cricket Club of India.[48][49] |
In 1987, at the age of 14, he attended the MRF Pace Foundation in Madras (now Chennai) to train as a fast bowler, but the trainer, Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee, was unimpressed and suggested that Tendulkar focus on his batting instead.[50] On 20 January 1987, he was a substitute for Imran Khan's side in an exhibition match at Brabourne Stadium in Bombay.[51] A couple of months later, former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar gave Tendulkar a pair of his own lightweight pads and told him to not get disheartened for not receiving the Bombay Cricket Association's Best Junior Cricketer Award. Of this experience, Tendulkar later said, "It was the greatest source of encouragement for me".[52][53] Tendulkar served as a ball boy in the 1987 Cricket World Cup when India played against England in the semifinal in Bombay.[54][55] |
In 1988, while playing for Sharadashram, Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli batted in an unbroken 664-run partnership in a Lord Harris Shield inter-school game against St. Xavier's High School. Tendulkar scored 326 (not out) in that match and scored over 1,000 runs in the tournament.[56] This was a record partnership in any form of cricket until 2006, when it was broken by two junior cricketers in Hyderabad, India.[57] |
Early career |
On 14 November 1987, at age 14, Tendulkar was selected to represent Bombay in the Ranji Trophy for the 1987–88 season, but he was not selected for the final eleven in any of the matches, though he was often used as a substitute fielder.[45] A year later, on 11 December 1988, aged 15 years and 232 days, Tendulkar made his debut for Bombay against Gujarat at Wankhede Stadium and scored 100 (not out) in that match, making him the youngest Indian to score a century on debut in first-class cricket.[58] He was selected to play for the team by Bombay captain Dilip Vengsarkar, who watched him play Kapil Dev in Wankhede Stadium's cricket practice nets,[31] where the Indian team had come to play against the touring New Zealand team. Tendulkar followed this by scoring a century each in his Deodhar and Duleep Trophy debuts, which are also India's domestic cricket tournaments.[59] |
Tendulkar finished the 1988–89 Ranji Trophy season as Bombay's highest run-scorer. He scored 583 runs at an average of 67.77 and was the eighth-highest run-scorer overall.[60] In both 1988 and 1989, he was picked for a young Indian team to tour England under the Star Cricket Club banner.[61] In the 1990–91 Ranji Trophy final, which Bombay narrowly lost to Haryana, Tendulkar's 96 from 75 balls was key to giving Bombay a chance of victory as it attempted to chase 355 from only 70 overs on the final day.[62] |
At the start of the 1989–90 season, while playing for Rest of India, Tendulkar scored an unbeaten century in an Irani Trophy match against Delhi.[63] |
In the final of 1995 Ranji Trophy, Tendulkar, captaining Bombay, scored 140 and 139 versus Punjab.[64] |
In the 1995–96 Irani Cup, he captained Mumbai against Rest of India.[64] His first double century (204*) was for Mumbai while playing against the visiting Australian team at the Brabourne Stadium in 1998.[31][65] He is the only player to score a century on debut in all three of his domestic first-class tournaments (the Ranji, Irani, and Duleep Trophies).[66] Another double century was an innings of 233* against Tamil Nadu in the semi-finals of the 2000 Ranji Trophy, which he regards as one of the best innings of his career.[67][68][69] |
In total, Tendulkar was part of five Ranji Trophy finals, in which Mumbai won 4.[64] |
County cricket |
In 1992, at the age of 19, Tendulkar became the first overseas-born player to represent Yorkshire, which, prior to Tendulkar joining the team, never selected players, even UK-based, from outside Yorkshire.[31][Note 1] Selected for Yorkshire as a replacement for the injured Australian fast bowler Craig McDermott, Tendulkar played 16 first-class matches for the team and scored 1,070 runs at an average of 46.52.[70] |
Career |
Further information: List of international cricket centuries by Sachin Tendulkar |
Early tours |
Raj Singh Dungarpur is credited for the selection of Tendulkar for the Indian tour of Pakistan in late 1989,[71] after one first class season.[72] The Indian selection committee had shown interest in selecting Tendulkar for the tour of the West Indies held earlier that year, but eventually did not select him, as they did not want him to be exposed to the dominant fast bowlers of the West Indies so early in his career.[citation needed] |
Tendulkar was the youngest player to debut for India in Tests at the age of 16 years and 205 days, and also the youngest player to debut for India in ODI at the age of 16 years and 238 days.[73][74] Tendulkar made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November 1989 aged 16 years and 205 days. He scored 15 runs, being bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that match. He was noted for how he handled numerous blows to his body at the hands of the Pakistani pace attack.[75] In the fourth and final Test match in Sialkot, he was hit on the nose by a bouncer bowled by Younis, but he declined medical assistance and continued to bat even as he his nose gushed blood.[76] In a 20-over exhibition game in Peshawar, held in parallel with the bilateral series, Tendulkar made 53 runs off 18 balls, including an over in which he scored 27 runs bowled by leg-spinner Abdul Qadir.[77] This was later called "one of the best innings I have seen" by the then Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth.[78] In all, Tendulkar scored 215 runs at an average of 35.83 in the Test series, and was dismissed without scoring a run in the only One Day International (ODI) he played.[79][80] |
The series was followed by a tour of New Zealand in which he scored 117 runs at an average of 29.25 in Tests.[81] He was dismissed without scoring in one of the two ODI games he played, and scored 36 in the other.[82] On a 1990 tour to England, on 14 August, he became the second-youngest cricketer to score a Test century as he made 119 not out in the second Test at Old Trafford in Manchester.[76] Wisden described his innings as "a disciplined display of immense maturity" and also wrote, "He looked the embodiment of India's famous opener, Gavaskar, and indeed was wearing a pair of his pads. While he displayed a full repertoire of strokes in compiling his maiden Test hundred, most remarkable were his off-side shots from the back foot. Though only 5ft 5in tall, he was still able to control without difficulty short deliveries from the English pacemen".[83] |
Tendulkar's reputation grew during the 1991–92 tour of Australia held before the 1992 Cricket World Cup. During the tour, he scored an unbeaten 148 in the third Test at Sydney, making him the youngest batsman to score a century in Australia. He then scored 114 on a fast, bouncing pitch in the final Test at Perth against a pace attack from Merv Hughes, Bruce Reid, and Craig McDermott. Hughes commented to Allan Border at the time that "This little prick's going to get more runs than you, AB."[84] |
Rise through the ranks |
1994–96: ODI matches |
Tendulkar opened the batting at Auckland against New Zealand in 1994, making 82 runs off 49 balls.[85] He scored his first ODI century on 9 September 1994 against Australia in Sri Lanka at Colombo.[86][87] He competed in 78 ODIs before scoring his first century.[citation needed] |
Tendulkar waits at the bowler's end. |
Tendulkar's rise continued when he was the leading run scorer at the 1996 World Cup, scoring two centuries.[88] He was the only Indian batsman to perform well in the semi-final against Sri Lanka.[citation needed] Tendulkar fell amid a batting collapse[citation needed] and the match referee, Clive Lloyd, awarded Sri Lanka the match after the crowd began rioting and throwing litter onto the field.[89] |
After the World Cup, in the same year against Pakistan at Sharjah, Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin was going through a lean patch. Tendulkar and Navjot Singh Sidhu both made centuries to set a then record partnership for the second wicket. After getting out, Tendulkar found Azharuddin in two minds about whether he should bat.[citation needed] Tendulkar convinced Azharuddin to bat and Azharuddin subsequently unleashed 24 runs off one over.[90] India went on to win that match. It enabled India to post a score in excess of 300 runs for the first time in an ODI.[91] |
1998: Australian competition |
Tendulkar scored 143 (131) runs in Sharjah against the Australian team in the 1998 Coca-Cola cup, including 5 sixes in an innings against Shane Warne, Damien Fleming and Michael Kasprowicz. The innings is known as the "Desert Storm" because it was interrupted by a sand storm. In 2020, a poll from the ICC declared it Tendulkar's best ODI innings.[92] |
In early 1998, while playing in an Australian tour of India, Tendulkar scored three consecutive centuries. The focus of the tour was the clash between Tendulkar and spinner Shane Warne, both at the peak of their careers.[93] In the lead-up to the series, Tendulkar simulated scenarios in the nets with Laxman Sivaramakrishnan.[94] In their tour opener, Australia faced Mumbai at the Brabourne Stadium in a three-day first class match.[95] Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 204 runs as Shane Warne conceded 111 runs in 16 overs and Australia lost the match within three days.[96][97] He also had a role with the ball in the five-match ODI series in India following the Tests, including a five wicket haul in an ODI in Kochi. Set 310 runs to win, Australia were cruising at 203 for 3 in the 31st over when Tendulkar turned the match for India, taking the wickets of Michael Bevan, Steve Waugh, Darren Lehmann, Tom Moody and Damien Martyn for 32 runs in 10 overs.[98] The Test match success was followed by two consecutive centuries in April 1998 in a Triangular cricket tournament in Sharjah—the first in a must-win game to take India to the finals and then again in the finals, both against Australia. These twin knocks were also known as the Desert Storm innings.[99] Following the series, Warne ruefully joked that he was having nightmares about his Indian nemesis.[100] |
Tendulkar's contribution in the ICC 1998 quarterfinal at Dhaka paved the way for India's entry into the semifinals, when he took four Australian wickets after scoring 141 runs in 128 balls.[101] |
1999: Asian Test Championship, Test matches, and the World Cup |
The inaugural Asian Test Championship took place in February and March 1999, involving India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.[102] Around 100,000 attended the first four days of the tournament, breaking a 63-year-old record for aggregate Test attendance record.[103] In the first match, between India and Pakistan at Eden Gardens, Tendulkar was dismissed from the match after colliding with Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar. The crowd reacted by throwing objects at Akhtar, and the players were taken off the field. The match resumed after Tendulkar and the president of the ICC appealed to the crowd; however, further rioting meant that the match was finished in front of a crowd of 200 people.[104] Tendulkar scored his 19th Test century in the second Test and the match resulted in a draw with Sri Lanka.[105] India did not progress to the final, which was won by Pakistan, and refused to participate in the 2001–02 Asian Test Championship due to increasing political tensions between India and Pakistan.[106] |
In a Test match against Pakistan at Chepauk in 1999, the first of a two-Test series, Tendulkar scored 136 runs; India lost the match by 12 runs.[107] |
Tendulkar's father, Ramesh Tendulkar, died during the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Tendulkar flew back to India to attend the final rituals of his father, missing the match against Zimbabwe.[108] He returned to the World Cup, scoring a century (140 not out of 101 balls) in his very next match against Kenya in Bristol. He dedicated the century to his father.[109] |
Captaincy of national team |
Tendulkar's record as captain |
Matches Won Lost Drawn Tied No result Win % |
Test[110] 25 4 9 12 0 – 16% |
ODI[111] 73 23 43 – 2 6 31.50% |
Tendulkar's two tenures as captain of the Indian cricket team were not very successful. Tendulkar became captain in 1996, but by 1997 the team was performing poorly. Discussing Tendulkar's first term as captain, Azharuddin was credited with saying, "He won't win! It's not in the small one's destiny!" (Hindi: "Nahin jeetega! Chote ki naseeb main jeet nahin hai!")[112][113] |
Tendulkar, succeeding Azharuddin as captain for his second term, led India on a tour of Australia, where the visitors were beaten 3–0 by the newly crowned world champions.[when?][114] Tendulkar won the player of the series award,[114] as well as player of the match in one of the games.[115] 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.[116][117] |
South Africa match fixing |
Further information: Mohammad Azharuddin and South Africa cricket match fixing |
See also: Chandrachud Commission |
In 2000, members of the South African national team attempted to fix matches during their visit to India. After the incident, Tendulkar and three other senior cricketers worked to ensure that players "whose performance and conduct was dubious were never picked for the Indian squad again".[118] |
Role in 2007 captaincy change |
During the Indian team's 2007 tour of England, the desire of Rahul Dravid to resign from the captaincy became known. Then Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sharad Pawar offered the captaincy to Tendulkar, who instead recommended Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Pawar later revealed this conversation, crediting Tendulkar for suggesting Dhoni, who since achieved much success as captain.[119] |
Continued rise |
2001–02: Mike Denness incident, Kolkata Test, and breaking Bradman's record |