Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was born on 24 April 1973 is an Indian cricketer extensively recognized as one of the greatest batsmen in One Day International and second only to Don Bradman in the all time greatest list in Test cricket. In 2002, Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Don Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. Sachin Tendulkar was a part of the 2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team in the later part of his career, his first such win in six World Cup appearances for India. He was also the recipient of “Player of the Tournament” award of the 2003 Cricket World Cup held in South Africa.
Sachin Tendulkar won the 2010 Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the ICC awards. He has been recommended for the receipt of the Bharat Ratna award, in fact it has been speculated that the criteria for the award of the Bharat Ratna were changed to permit him obtain the award. Sachin Tendulkar is also a member of Rajya Sabha of Parliament of India. Sachin Tendulkar passed 30,000 runs in international cricket on 20 November 2009. On 5 December 2012, Sachin Tendulkar became first batsman in history to cross the 34,000 run aggregate in all formats of the game put together. At 36 years and 306 days, he became the first ever player to score a double-century in the history of ODIs. Two years later he became the first player to score 100 international centuries. As of June 2013, Sachin Tendulkar has played 662 matches in international cricket.
Sachin Tendulkar has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan award, India’s second highest civilian award, and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India’s highest sporting honour. He was also the first sports person and the first one without aviation background to be awarded the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force. Sachin Tendulkar has received honorary doctorates from University of Mysore and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences. Sachin Tendulkar holds the 19th rank in ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen as of 17 March 2013. On 1 August 2012, Sachin Tendulkar was nominated for the ICC People’s Choice award for the third time. In 2012, he was nominated to Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India. Sachin endulkar was ranked 78th richest sportsman in the world according to the Forbes’ list of world’s highest-paid athletes for the year 2012. In June 2013 list, Forbes ranks Sachin Tendulkar at 51st position in highest paid athletes list, with his total earnings were estimated to be USD 22 million.
Sachin Tendulkar was named as an Honorary Member of the Order of Australia in 2012. On 23 December 2012, Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement from ODIs. Sachin Tendulkar has already stated that he will not be playing T20 Internationals.
In May, 2013, Tendulkar revealed his retirement from IPL. Sachin Tendulkar scored his much awaited 100th international hundred on 16 March 2012, at Mirpur against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup. He became the first person in history to achieve this feat. Incidentally, it was Tendulkar‘s first ODI hundred against Bangladesh. He said “It’s been a tough phase for me … I was not thinking about the milestone, the media started all this, wherever I went, the restaurant, room service, and everyone was talking about the 100th hundred. Nobody talked about my 99 hundreds. It became mentally tough for me because nobody talked about my 99 hundreds.” Despite Tendulkar’s century, India failed to win the match against Bangladesh, losing by 5 wickets.
Sachin Tendulkar is an ardent devotee of Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi. He has visited Puttaparthi on several occasions to seek Baba’s blessings. In 1997, Sachin Tendulkar captained the Indian National side, playing against a World Eleven team, in the Unity Cup which was held at the hill view stadium in Puttaparthi, in Baba’s presence. After Sai Baba’s death, Sachin Tendulkar broke into tears when he saw the body of Baba in Puttaparthi, and cancelled his birthday celebrations. The cricketer is also known to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi at home and frequently visits temples during night when it is calm and quiet. The cricketer has also offered his prayers at several other Hindu temples across the country.
Sachin Tendulkar is cross-dominant: He bats, bowls and throws with his right hand, but writes with his left hand. He also practices left-handed throws at the nets on a regular basis. Cricinfo columnist Sambit Bal has described him as the “most wholesome batsman of his time”. His batting is based on complete balance and poise while limiting unnecessary movements and flourishes. He appears to show little preference for the slow and low wickets which are typical in India, and has scored many centuries on the hard, bouncy pitches in South Africa and Australia. He is known for his unique punch style of hitting the ball over square. He is also renowned for his picture-perfect straight drive, often completed with no follow-through. Straight drive is his favorite shot. In 2008, Sunil Gavaskar, in an article he wrote in the AFP, remarked that “it is hard to imagine any player in the history of the game who combines classical technique with raw aggression like the little champion does”.
From February to April, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka hosted the 2011 World Cup. Amassing 482 runs at an average of 53.55 including two centuries, Sachin Tendulkar was India’s lead run-scorer for the tournament; only Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka scored more runs in the 2011 tournament. India defeated Sri Lanka in the final. Shortly after the victory, Sachin Tendulkar commented that “Winning the World Cup is the proudest moment of my life. … I couldn’t control my tears of joy.”
India was due to tour the West Indies in June, although Sachin Tendulkar chose not to participate. He returned to the squad in July for India’s tour of England. Throughout the tour there was much hype in the media about whether Sachin Tendulkar would reach his 100th century in international cricket (Test and ODIs combined). However his highest score in the Tests was 91; Sachin Tendulkar averaged 34.12 in the series as England won 4–0 as they deposed India as the No. 1 ranked Test side. The injury Sachin Tendulkar sustained to his right foot in 2001 flared up and as a result he was ruled out of the ODI series that followed. Sachin Tendulkar created another record on 8 November 2011 when he became the first cricketer to score 15,000 runs in Test cricket, during the opening Test match against the West Indies at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi.
Ian Chappell was not happy with Sachin’s performance after India’s tour of Australia. He says that Sachin’s quest for his 100th hundred has proved to be a hurdle for the entire team and has hampered their performance on the Tour of Australia. Former India World Cup winning captain and all-rounder Kapil Dev has also voiced his opinion that Sachin Tendulkar should have retired from ODI’s after the World Cup. Former Australian fast bowler, Geoff Lawson, has said that Sachin Tendulkar has the right to decide when to quit although he adds that Sachin Tendulkar should not delay it for too long. The selection committee of BCCI expectedly included Sachin Tendulkar in the national test squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand commencing in August 2012.
Sir Donald Bradman, considered by many as the greatest batsman of all time, considered Sachin Tendulkar to have a batting style similar to his. In his biography, it is stated that “Bradman was most taken by Tendulkar‘s technique, compactness and shot production, and had asked his wife to have a look at Sachin Tendulkar, having felt that Sachin Tendulkar played like him. Bradman’s wife, Jessie, agreed that they did appear similar.”
Former Australian cricket team coach John Buchanan voiced his opinion that Sachin Tendulkar had become susceptible to the short ball early in his innings because of a lack of footwork. Buchanan also believes Sachin Tendulkar has a weakness while playing left-arm pace. He was affected by a series of injuries since 2004. Since then Tendulkar’s batting has tended to be less attacking. Explaining this change in his batting style, he has acknowledged that he is batting differently because, firstly, no batsman can bat the same way for the entire length of a long career and, secondly, he is a senior member of the team now and thus has more responsibility. During the early part of his career, he was a more attacking batsman and frequently scored centuries at close to a run a ball. Ian Chappell, former Australian player, remarked in 2007 that “Tendulkar now, is nothing like the player he was when he was a young bloke”.
Sachin Tendulkar has incorporated several modern and unorthodox strokes into his repertoire, including the paddle sweep, the scoop over short fine leg and the slash to third man over the slips’ heads, over the last seven or eight years. This has enabled him to remain scoring consistently in spite of the physical toll of injuries and a lean period in the mid-2000s. By his own admission, he does not bat as aggressively as he did in the 1990s and early 2000s, because his body has undergone changes and cannot sustain aggressive shot-making over a long period. He is often praised for his ability to adapt to the needs of his body and yet keep scoring consistently.
While Sachin Tendulkar is not a regular bowler, he can bowl medium pace, leg spin, and off spin. He often bowls when two batsmen of the opposite team have been batting together for a long period, as Sachin Tendulkar can often be a useful partnership breaker. With his bowling, Sachin Tendulkar has helped secure an Indian victory on more than one occasion. He has taken 200 international wickets – 45 in Tests, 154 in ODIs where he is India’s tenth highest wicket taker, and one wicket in Twenty20 Internationals.
Source: Wikipedia
