30 Astonishing Facts We Bet You Didn’t Know About Sachin Tendulkar

23 January 2018, 9:55 am EST By Ruby Karnick

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, is the only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in international cricket. He has played 664 international cricket matches in total, scoring 34,357 runs. Here are some very interesting facts about the former Indian cricketer:

Tendulkar is a most popular cricketer with a saying among his fans ‘Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God.’ He is the leading run scorer in the world with 15,921 runs in test and 18,426 runs in One-Day Internationals.
He was born Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, on April 24, 1973, in Mumbai, India. His father Ramesh Tendulkar was a well-known novelist and his mother, Rajni, worked for Life Insurance Corporation of India. He has two half-brothers Nitin and Ajit, and a half-sister Savita.
Tendulkar took to cricket at the age of eleven and was coached by Ramakant Achrekar, when he attended Sharadashram Vidyamandir High School. He still cherishes 13, one rupee coin which he earned for remaining not out at the end of the practice session.
On February 23, 1988, Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli, in the Lord Harris Shield inter-school tournament were involved in a record setting 664-run partnership. He scored 326 not out.
As a child prodigy with his exploits in the school cricket, he joined John Bright Cricket Club, in the Kanga League and later went on to play for Cricket Club of India.
Tendulkar is the youngest Indian at 16 years and fourth youngest in the world to play a Test when he made his debut against Pakistan at Karachi on November 15, 1989.
Ironically he stepped on to international arena for the first time as a substituteplayer for Pakistan, in an exhibition match between Indians and Pakistanis to mark the golden jubilee of C.C.I, on January 20, 1987.He also served as a ball boy in the 1987 Cricket World Cup semi-finals between India and England.
As a 14, year old at five feet four inches, he fancied himself as a fast bowler and took part in the trails at the MRF Pace Foundation, Chennaiin 1987 to be trained under Australian pace guru, Dennis Lillee, who was unimpressed.
Although he was selected in the Bombay team for 1987, season he made his debut on December 11, 1988, against Gujarat, at the age of 15 years and 232 days. He scored 100 not out and became the youngest Indian to score a century on debut in first-class cricket.
At the start of 1988-89, season, he scored a century for Rest of India against Delhi in the Irani Trophy and in the process became the only player to score a century on debut in all three domestic first-class tournaments, the Ranji, Irani and Duleep trophies.

In 1992, Tendulkar signed up with Yorkshire and became the first overseas-born player to represent the county and scored 1070 runs in 16 matches. The county had a policy of not selecting any player outside Yorkshire.
On August 14, 1990, he became the second youngest cricketer to score a Test century when he made 119 not out in the second test against England at Old Trafford, Manchester and saved the match for India.
He made his ODI debut as the youngest Indian at 16 years 238 days against Pakistan in Gjranwala, on December 18, 1989, but could score his first ODI century only after 78 ODIs against Australia on September 09, 1994, at Colombo.
During the tour of South Africa, in 2001, Tendulkar was found guilty of ball tampering and was given a suspended one test match ban by match referee Mike Denness.
He equaled the Sir Bradman’s record of 29 Test centuries during the 2002 series against West Indies. He scored 117 runs at Port of Spain and was awarded with a sports car ‘Ferrari’ by Michael Schumacher for achieving this feat.
Though Tendulkar could not help India lift the 2003 World Cup title held at South Africa, he shined with his batting amassing 673 runs in 11 matches and earned Man of the Tournament. He scored one century and six fifties.
In a rare instance Tendulkar, known for his controlled emotions, hit out against the Coach Greg Chappell over his comments about poor attitudes of senior players after the 2007 World Cup debacle. On April 07, 2007, he was issued a notice asking for an explanation for his comments to media.
On February 24, 2010, when he scored 200 not out against South Africa, he became the first batsman in the world to score a double century in ODI and also hit 25 fours in the innings, a record then.
On April 02, 2011, he achieved his dream of winning the world cup. He played an important role in achieving it, tallying 482 runs in nine innings with an average of 53.55, including two century and two fifties.
On March 16, 2012, he reached another mile stone, when he scored 114 for his 100th international hundred to become the first and only player in history to do so. He achieved this feat despite getting out 27 times in 90s during his international career.

To silence the critic and the media who started questioning his place in the national team, he took part in the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy and Irani Trophy matches. He scored 140 not out in the Irani Trophy against Rest of India, for his 81st hundred in first-class cricket equaling that of Sunil Gavaskar’s Indian record of most first-class hundred. He also surpassed 25,000 first-class runs.
On December 23, 2012, he announced his retirement from One Day International. He had earlier in 2006, stopped playing Twenty20 International.
On November 2013, he bid farewell to all form of cricket with 74 runs in the first inning of second test match against West Indies at Mumbai, as announced earlier on October 10.
He holds the world record for playing the highest number of international matches with 200 test and 463 ODI matches. He was also part of most wins by an Indian with 72 test wins and 234 ODIs wins.
In 1998, he scored 1,894 runs in ODIs, a record for highest number of runs scored by any player in a single calendar year of One-Day International. He has to his credit over 1000 runs in a calendar year in ODIs 7 times.
He has been Man of the Match 13 times and Man of the Series 4 times in Test matches. He has also been declared Man of the Match 62 times and Man of the Series 15 times in the One-Day Internationals.
On February 04, 2014, Tendulkar was conferred Bharat Ratna, by President of India Pranab Mukherjee. He is the first sportsman to receive the highest civilian award of the country. He has almost been honored with all the sports and civilian awards in the country, the Arjun award in 1994, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 1997, Padma Shri in 1999 and Padma Vibhushan in 2008.
He is married to Anjali Mehta, since May 24, 1995, and they have a daughter Sara and son Arjun. He sponsors 200 underprivileged children every year through an NGGO, Apnalaya, apart from raising$ 160,000 for cancer foundation and$ 70 million for creation of basic facilities such as toilets for girl students, in 140 government schools across country.
On November 06, 2014, he released his autobiography, ‘Playing it My Way,’ which created a Lima Book of Record for pre-publication order of 150,289 confirmed copies.
Tendulkar was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997, and ICC Cricketer of the Year for Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy in 2010. He is the second Indian after Mother Teresa, to have a stamp released by the Indian Postal Service in their life time.