50 Facts about the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar

If there has ever been a cricketer who is loved in every part of the globe alike, it has to be Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin redefined the game the cricket. He inspired the entire generation of cricketers in India. Such was his popularity that he was worshipped by many young fans. If cricket is a religion to a nation like India, Sachin is certainly the god. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that a part of every Indian cricket fan died when Sachin announced his retirement from the game. Well, while most of the stories about the little master are already known, here are some interesting facts about master blaster Sachin Tendulkar.

1. Early Days – bully at school:

Sachin Tendulkar spent his early days at the Sahitya Sahwas residence in Bandra, Mumbai. He was born at Nirmal Nursing Home in Dadar on 24 April 1973. His father Ramesh Tendulkar was a renowned novelist. He has 3 elder siblings, two brothers (Nitin and Ajit) and a sister (Savita). As a young kid, he was a bully and would often pick up fights at school.

2. The name has a history:

Sachin Tendulkar was named Sachin after the famous singer Sachin Dev Burman. His father Ramesh Tendulkar was an ardent fan of the music director.

3. Following John McEnroe:

As a young kid, Sachin not only had interest in cricket but also in Tennis. He was a great fan of Tennis legend John McEnroe. He even grew up his hair and wore a headband to copy his idol.

4. Brother Ajit intervenes:

Sachin’s mischievous activities prompted his elder brother Ajit to intervene. Ajit also saw his younger brother play cricket really well. He introduced him to cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. This is how the master was introduced to the game of cricket.

5. Playing for Sharda Vidya Ashram:

Impressed with Sachin’s talent, his coach advised him to join Sharda Vidya Ashram, a school reputed for producing good cricketers. He shifted from New English School to Sharda Vidya Ashram. Playing for the same school in 1988 in the Harris Shield, he hit an unbeaten 326 and put up the then record for the highest partnership of 664 runs with Vinod Kambli against St. Xavier’s High School.

6. Getting the coins:

As a young kid, he had tiring net sessions. His coach would keep a one rupee coin on the stumps and if Sachin survived the net session, he used to get the coin. Sachin still values those coins as his most prized possessions.

7. Sleeping with cricket gear and the superstitious one!

Sachin Tendulkar used to sleep with his cricket gear during his early days in cricket. He is highly superstitious when it comes to cricket. He often sits in the same position in the dressing room if he feels the team is doing well. Also, Sachin always wears his left pad first!

8. Rejected by Dennis Lillee:

He attended the MRF Pace Foundation in Madras at the age of 14 in 1987. The head coach and the Australian legend Dennis Lillee was unimpressed with Sachin and asked him to go back and rather concentrate on his batting.

9. Fielding for Imran Khan:

Sachin is the only Indian cricketer to have fielded for a Pakistani player in a game in 1987. During an exhibition game at the Brabourne stadium, he took the field for Imran Khan as a substitute fielder. The match was being played to mark the golden jubilee of the Cricket Club of India.

10. Gift from his Idol:

He idolized Sunil Gavaskar ever since he began playing cricket. Looking at a disheartened Tendulkar, who lost the prize of the Best Junior Cricketer by the Bombay Cricket Association, Sunil Gavaskar gave his ultra-light pads to Sachin. The pads, as he admitted later, was the best inspiration he could ever get.

11. Being the Ball boy:

During the 1987 World Cup that was staged in the subcontinent, he served as a ball boy in the semi-final match when India played England at Bombay.

12. Century in each inning:

The year of 1988 was remarkable for the young 15-year-old Sachin. In every inning that he played, he scored a century. It was in this year that he hit an unbeaten 326 in Harris Shield.

13. No games in Ranji:

Sachin was selected to represent Bombay in the Ranji Trophy in 1987-88 season but did not make it to the playing XI in any match.

14. Ranji Debut – Youngest Player to Score a century on debut in First Class cricket

A year later in the 1988 season, at the age of 15 years and 232 days, Tendulkar made his Ranji debut for Bombay against Gujarat and scored an unbeaten ton. He thus became the youngest player to score a century on debut in first-class cricket. He also scored centuries on debut in Deodhar trophy and Duleep Trophy.

15. Youngest player to debut for India – International Debut:

Sachin made his Test debut at the age of 16 years 205 days against Pakistan at Karachi. He scored just 15 and was bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in the same match. He made his ODI debut at the age of 15 years 238 days. He got out on a duck on his ODI debut.

16. Youngest in County:

When Sachin signed up for Yorkshire in 1992, he became the youngest Indian to play county cricket. He was also the first foreign player to be drafted into the Yorkshire team.

17. Batting with a bruised nose:

In his maiden series, during the 4^th Test at Sialkot, he was hit on his nose by a bouncer from Waqar Younis. His nose bled, but Sachin refused medical assistance and continued to bat with blood coming out of his nose.

18. Smashing Abdul Qadir:

During a 20-over exhibition match in the same year, Sachin smashed the wily spinner Abdul Qadir for 4 sixes in an over. Krismachari Srikanth termed the knock as the best he has ever seen in his life. Sachin hit four sixes in that over. 6, 4, 0, 6, 6, 6!

19. Maiden ton:

He scored his maiden Test ton in 1992 at Old Trafford against England. His maiden ODI ton came in 1994 against Australia at Colombo. It took him 79 innings to register his maiden ODI ton.

20. ‘Little prick’s going to get more runs than AB’

During India’s tour down under in 1991-92, Sachin Tendulkar played against a bowling lineup that boasted of bowlers like Merv Hughes, Bruce Reid, and McDermott. He played exceptionally well, scoring an unbeaten 148 at Sydney and 114 at Perth. Watching him, Hughes commented to Allan Border, “This little prick’s going to get more runs than you, AB’

21. First Car:

Sachin brought his first car which happened to be Maruti 800. Sachin later went on to own a Ferrari as well

22. First brand:

The first brand that he endorsed was of ‘Boost’. He was seen endorsing the drink with the likes of Kapil Dev in 1990.

23. No sponsors:

Sachin had no sponsors for his bat prior to the 1996 Cricket World Cup. He emerged as the leading run-getter in the tournament and a tyre company, MRF, became his sponsors. The partnership continued for almost a decade and a half before Adidas signed Tendulkar.

24. Ad King:

He went on to become the first choice for being the face of brands. The first advertisement in which he appeared was of sticking plaster. He went on to be the brand ambassador of popular brands like Pepsi, MRF, Britannia, Fiat, Adidas, Sunfeast, VISA, Philips, TVS etc. As Kiran More once quoted, it was Sachin who brought sponsors to the Indian jersey!

25. Getting to open:

The first match when Sachin got a chance to open was on the day of Hindu festival Holi in 1994 at Auckland. He hammered a quickfire 82 off 49 balls to make the slot his own!

26. Richest cricketer:

Sachin signed a contract worth 31.5 crore rupees with World Tel in the year 1995, which made him the richest cricketer at that time.

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27. The Desert Storm:

When Australia toured India in 1998, they played a warm-up game against Bombay. Sachin made a classy 204 and targeted Shane Warne in particular. Warne gave away 111 runs in his 16 overs. The Test series was won by India. In the triangular ODI series that followed in Sharjah, Sachin hit two back to back centuries, one in the virtual knockout game and the other in the finals, both against Australia, to help India win the cup. Warne later quoted that he had nightmares of Sachin hammering him! These two innings came to be known as the Desert Storm.

28. Handy with the ball:

Playing in an ODI at Kochi, Aussie were cruising at 204/3, chasing 301 for the win. Sachin came in the 31st over and went on to take 5 wickets for just 32 runs to help India win the match. Years later, he took another five-wicket haul at the same venue.

29. Ferrari comes his way:

When Sachin equalled Don Bradman’s record of 29 centuries, Ferrari invited him to its paddock in Silverstone on the day of British Grand Prix on July 23 to receive a Ferrari 360 Modena from the F1 champion Michael Schumacher.

30. Handling the crowd:

During the inaugural Asian Test Championship, Sachin was dismissed in a weird manner. Sachin collided with Shoaib Akhtar in his attempt to complete a run and was run out in the process. The crowd reacted wildly at the Pakistani players. Sachin had to come out on the field to and appeal to the crowd to stay calm. The match resumed after that.

31. First to be run out:

He was the first victim to be given run out by the third umpire. Playing against South Africa, Sachin was found short of his crease by third umpire Karl Liebenberg as Jonty Rhodes hit the stumps.

32. Death of his father:

Sachin’s father died in the middle of the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Tendulkar flew back to India to finish the last rituals of his father and missed the game against Zimbabwe. In the very next match he played, against Kenya, he scored 140* off just 101 balls) and dedicated his ton to his father.

33. Being banned!

Perhaps the only blotch on his illustrious career was a one-match ban imposed on him during 2001 tour to South Africa. Sachin Tendulkar was given a suspended ban of one match by match referee Mike Denness in light of alleged ball tampering. The ban resulted in a massive backlash and Denness was barred from entering the venues for the remaining matches!

34. The Prankster:

The prankster that Sachin is, he had once put a hose pipe onto Sourav Ganguly’s room and kept the tap open. Sourav woke up only to find his stuff floating in the room!

35. Rajya Sabha:

Sachin Tendulkar became the first cricketer to be nominated for the Rajya Sabha and is now a Member of Parliament.

36. Heaviest Bat!

Sachin uses the heaviest bat in World cricket. During his playing days, Sachin used bats which weighed 3.2 lbs. Only Lance Klusener of South Africa used a heavier bat than that in the 1999 World Cup.

37. Leading run scorer:

He is the leading run scorer in Tests with 15921 runs and leading run scorer in ODIs with 18426 runs. He is the only player to have scored in excess of 30000 runs in international cricket. He has over 50000 runs in all forms of the game.

38. Most Centuries and the Maiden double ton:

Sachin holds the record for having scored most number of International centuries, 100 centuries. He has scored 51 Test tons and 49 ODI centuries. He brought up his 100th 100 against Bangladesh in Asia Cup 2012. Playing against South Africa in 2010 at Gwalior, Sachin became the first cricketer to score a double century in ODIs.

39. Most capped player:

He played the most number of Tests (200) and most number of ODIs (463).

40. Most runs in a calendar year:

He scored 1894 runs in the year 1998 and it remains to be the record for most runs in a calendar year.

41. 1000 runs in a calendar year:

He scored 1000 runs in a calendar year on 7 occasions, the most by any player.

42. Most runs in a World Cup:

Sachin was the leading run scorer in the 1996 World Cup with 523 runs. India finished as the semi-finalists that year. In the 2003 World Cup, he was again the leading run scorer with 673 runs. This time, India made the finals and lost to Australia.

43. Awards galore:

Sachin has received all highest degree honors in India. He received Arjuna Award in 1994, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1997, Padma Shri in 1999, Maharashtra Bhushan in 2001, Padma Vibhushan in 2008 and the highest civilian award in India the Bharat Ratna in 2014.

44. Stamp on his name:

A commemorative stamp was issued by Indian Post Service when Sachin played his 200th Test.

45. Honorary Group Captain:

Sachin was made an honorary Group Captain of the Indian Air Force in the year 2010.

46. Personal Life:

Sachin married Anjali Tendulkar, a paediatrician by profession and daughter of industrialist Anand Mehta. They got engaged in 1994 and married on May 24 1995. They have a daughter, Sara Tendulkar and a son, Arjun Tendulkar.

47. Co-owner of football team:

Sachin owns the Kochi franchise in the Indian Super league, the Kerala Blasters.

48. Philanthropist:

Tendulkar sponsors over 200 underprivileged kids through an NGO Apnalaya. He also helps to raise fund for Cancer foundation, Crusade against Cancer Foundation.

49. Autobiography:

A lot of biographies have been written on Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin: The Story of the World’s Greatest Batsman by Gulu Ezekiel, Sachin Tendulkar – Masterful by Peter Murray, Ashish Shukla, Master Stroke: 100 Centuries of Sachin Tendulkar by Neelima Athalye, Dhruvtara, a book on cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar and Sachin: A Hundred Hundreds Now by V. Krishnaswamy, to name a few. Sachin released his autobiography titled ‘Playing it My Way’ in November 2014.

50. Biopic:

Sachin’s biopic titled ‘Sachin – A billion dreams’ is about to release worldwide. The movie is a documentary directed by James Erskine and produced by Ravi Bhagchandka. The music of the movie is given by AR Rahman and Carnival Motion Pictures in producing it.

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