Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was born on April 24, 1973 in Bombay, India. Given his first cricket bat at the age 11, he started training under Ramakanth Achrekar who nurtured Sachin’s talent, moulded him, and escorted him to local tourneys in his 2-wheeler vehicle. Sachin was 14 when he scored 329 out of a world record stand of 664 in a school match with Vinod Kambli.
Sachin was given a pair of pads by his cricket hero Sunil Gavaskar for this performance – and Sachin made his Test début for India against Pakistan in 1989 wearing those very pads at the age of 16. Then, he became India’s youngest Test cricketer.
In 2005 Sachin became the first cricketer to score 35 centuries in Test matches. In 2007, Tendulkar reached another major milestone, becoming the first player to record 15,000 runs in one-day international (ODI) play. In January 2010, he again moved into the record books when he became the first batsman to score 13,000 runs in Test history. Just one month later he registered another first, a “double century” (200 runs) in an ODI game against South Africa. That same year he was named the 2010 International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year. Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar is the only player to record 100 international centuries. Even the great Sir Don Bradman drew parallels between him and Tendulkar stating-“He reminds me of myself“!
In April 2011, Sachin Tendulkar chalked up another milestone when he was a part of Indian ODI team that won ICC World Cup after a gap of 28 years.
In a country reeling from troubled socio-economic times, Sachin Tendulkar is seen as a symbol of hope by his countrymen that better times lay ahead. Sachin is seen as a symbol of unity. He has been true gentleman and great ambassador of game. Govt. of India honoured Sachin with “Bharath Ratna” in 2013. Sachin Tendulkar is currently Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.
Happy Birthday, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!