Sachin Tendulkar is regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He’s one of the most technically proficient players of his generation. Sachin excelled in almost all conditions regardless of the difficulties. He came to be adored as the ‘Master Blaster’ in India due to his explosive style of batting.

Tendulkar was born on April 24 1973 to Ramesh Tendulkar, a novelist & poet, and Rajni, who worked in insurance organizations. During his early days, Tendulkar was interested in Tennis. He idolized John McEnroe, the former American Tennis player. However, his brother Ajit convinced him to pursue Cricket in order to suppress his bullying tendencies.

He was introduced to Ramakant Achrekar, a cricket coach and got admitted to his academy. He went on to impress at the academy, forging the famous 664-run partnership with Vinod Kambli during a Harris Shield match. This earned him a promotion to the Ranji side, and Sachin made his debut for Mumbai when he was 15 years old. He eventually went on to make his debut for the national side against Pakistan in 1989.

What followed was a bulk of runs, multiple records, and a huge fan following. Tendulkar amassed 34,357 runs in 664 international matches while averaging 48.53. He is the only cricketer to breach the 30,000-run mark, the only cricketer with 100 international hundreds, and holds the record for most runs in Tests and ODI’s. He was also the first player to score 200 in an ODl.

Early Stages Of His Career

Sachin Tendulkar’s debut against Pakistan wasn’t impressive. He was able to garner only 215 runs at an average of 35.83. His spirit and determination was on display, however. Struck on the nose by a Waqar Younis bouncer, the 16-year-old Sachin declined medical attention and kept playing.

A similar performance against New Zealand didn’t faze Tendulkar. He kept grinding and his hard work paid off against England. He became the second-youngest player to score a century when he made 119* against England at Manchester in a drawn game. This started a barrage of centuries in Australia and South Africa.

During the 1999 World Cup, Tendulkar lost his father. He had to fly back to India to attend the final rites. The Master Blaster came back and scored a magnificent 140* off 101 balls against Kenya, and dedicated the century to his father. The 2003 World Cup saw Tendulkar end up as the highest run-scorer, aggregating 673 runs in 11 matches. He was pivotal in helping India reach the final, which they subsequently lost to Australia.

The Record Breaker

On December 10, 2005, Tendulkar broke Gavaskar’s long-standing record of 34 Test centuries. He did it against Sri Lanka at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Tendulkar kept peaking in the ODI format as well, revolutionizing the way India played the 50-over format.

Soon, however, India reached a low point during the 2007 World Cup owing to Greg Chappell-Ganguly’s spat. Tendulkar endured his worst tournament, scoring 7, 57 & 0 as India exited in the group stage. He made a quick comeback. In the series that followed against South Africa, Tendulkar became the first person to cross the 15,000 run mark in ODI cricket.

Having already been established as one of the greats, the only trophy missing from Tendulkar’s cabinet was the World Cup. In what turned out to be his sixth & final attempt in 2011, Tendulkar lifted the trophy after ending as the tournament’s second-highest run-getter, behind Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Retirement

After a few failures in trying to get to this 100th international hundred, Tendulkar finally achieved the milestone against Bangladesh on March 16, 2012. Following a dismal performance in the series against England in the same year, Tendulkar retired from ODI cricket on December 23, 2012.

He soon announced that he’ll be retiring from Tests as well, after the home series against West Indies. His last test, which was incidentally his 200th, was played in front of a packed crowd at his home ground, Wankhede Stadium. In his last innings, Tendulkar scored 74 before being dismissed and thus came to an end, the career of one of the greatest sportsmen in history. His legacy lives on, however, and cannot be tarnished for another thousand years.

List of centuries of Sachin Tendulkar in international cricket

Test Centuries:

ODI Centuries:

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