Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar took up cricket at the age of eleven, made his Test match debut on 15 November 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi at the age of sixteen, and went on to represent Mumbai domestically and India internationally for over 24 years.^[9] In 2002, halfway through his career, Wisden ranked him the second-greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Don Bradman, and the second-greatest ODI batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards.^[10] The same year, Tendulkar was a part of the team that was one of the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. Later in his career, Tendulkar was part of the Indian team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup, his first win in six World Cup appearances for India.^[11] He had previously been named "Player of the Tournament" at the 2003 World Cup.


Tendulkar has received several awards from the government of India: the Arjuna Award (1994), the Khel Ratna Award (1997), the Padma Shri (1998), and the Padma Vibhushan (2008).^[12][13] After Tendulkar played his last match in November 2013, the Prime Minister's Office announced the decision to award him the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.^[14][15] He was the first sportsperson to receive the reward and, as of 2023, is the youngest recipient.^[16][17][18] In 2010, Time included Tendulkar in its annual list of the most influential people in the world.^[19] Tendulkar was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the 2010 International Cricket Council (ICC) Awards.^[20]


Having retired from ODI cricket in 2012,^[21][22] he retired from all forms of cricket in November 2013 after playing his 200th Test match.^[23] Tendulkar played 664 international cricket matches in total, scoring 34,357 runs.^[24] In 2013, Tendulkar was included in an all-time Test World XI to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, and he was the only specialist batsman of the post–World War II era, along with Viv Richards, to get featured in the team.^[25] In 2019, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.^[26] On 24 April 2023, the Sydney Cricket Ground unveiled a set of gates named after Tendulkar and Brian Lara on the occasion of Tendulkar's 50th birthday and the 30th anniversary of Lara's innings of 277 at the ground.^[27][28][29]

Early life and background

Tendulkar was born at the Nirmal Nursing Home in the Dadar neighbourhood of Bombay, Maharashtra on 24 April, 1973^[30][31] into a Maharastrian family.^[32] His father, Ramesh Tendulkar, was a Marathi-language novelist and poet while his mother, Rajni, worked in the insurance industry.^[33] Tendulkar's father named him after his favourite music director, Sachin Dev Burman.^[34] Tendulkar has three older siblings: two half-brothers Nitin and Ajit, and a half-sister Savita. They were his father's children by his first wife, who died after the birth of her third child.^[35][36] His brother Ajit played in Bombay's Kanga Cricket League.^[37]


Tendulkar spent his formative years in the Sahitya Sahawas Cooperative Housing Society in Bandra (East). As a young boy, Tendulkar was considered a bully, and he often picked fights with new children in his school.^[38]


As a child, Tendulkar was interested in both tennis and cricket.^[39] He particularly idolised American player John McEnroe, and emulated his hero by growing his hair long at the age of 7 or 8 years. At this time, Tendulkar also regularly wore tennis wristbands and headbands and carried a tennis racquet with him as a sign of his love for tennis.^[40][41][42]


To help curb his bullying tendencies, his elder brother Ajit introduced Tendulkar to cricket in 1984. Ajit introduced him to cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar at Shivaji Park in Dadar. At their first meeting, Tendulkar did not play well. Ajit told Achrekar that he was feeling self-conscious due to the coach observing him, and was not displaying his natural game. Ajit requested the coach to give him another chance at playing, but watch while hiding behind a tree. This time, Tendulkar, apparently unobserved, played much better and was accepted at Achrekar's academy.^[43]


Achrekar was impressed with Tendulkar's talent and advised him to shift his schooling to Sharadashram Vidyamandir School,^[30] a school in Dadar that had produced many notable cricketers. He made his debut as a cricketer for Sharadashram in late 1984.^[44] Prior to this, Tendulkar had attended the Indian Education Society's New English School in Bandra (East).^[44] He was also coached under the guidance of Achrekar at Shivaji Park in the mornings and evenings.^[45] Tendulkar would practice for hours; if he became exhausted, Achrekar would put a one-rupee coin on the top of the stumps, and the bowler who dismissed Tendulkar would get the coin. If Tendulkar completed the session without getting dismissed, the coach would give him the coin. Tendulkar considers the 13 coins he won among his most prized possessions.^[46] While he was training at Shivaji Park, he moved in with his aunt and uncle, who lived near the park.^[44]


Besides school cricket, Tendulkar also played club cricket. In 1984, at age 11, he debuted in the Kanga Cricket League while playing for the John Bright Cricket Club.^[44][47] Beginning in 1988, he played for the Cricket Club of India.^[47][48]


In 1987, at the age of 14, he attended the MRF Pace Foundation in Madras (now Chennai) to train as a fast bowler, but the trainer, Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee, was unimpressed and suggested that Tendulkar focus on his batting instead.^[49] On 20 January 1987, he was a substitute for Imran Khan's side in an exhibition match at Brabourne Stadium in Bombay.^[50] A couple of months later, former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar gave Tendulkar a pair of his own lightweight pads and told him to not get disheartened for not receiving the Bombay Cricket Association's Best Junior Cricketer Award. Of this experience, Tendulkar later said, "It was the greatest source of encouragement for me".^[51][52] Tendulkar served as a ball boy in the 1987 Cricket World Cup when India played against England in the semifinal in Bombay.^[53][54]


In 1988, while playing for Sharadashram, Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli batted in an unbroken 664-run partnership in a Lord Harris Shield inter-school game against St. Xavier's High School. Tendulkar scored 326 (not out) in that match and scored over 1,000 runs in the tournament.^[55] This was a record partnership in any form of cricket until 2006, when it was broken by two junior cricketers in Hyderabad, India.^[56]

In media

In 2001, Tendulkar appeared on Kaun Banega Crorepati on Star Plus with Vinod Kambli^[466][40]


In 2011, Tendulkar Opus was released by Kraken Opus, a specialty book publisher.^[467] Ten copies were part of the "Blood Edition", in which Tendulkar's blood was "mixed into the paper pulp" of the signature page.^[468] The proceeds from the "Blood Editions", which cost US$75,000 each, went to Tendulkar's charitable organisation.^[468] Other editions were offered: about a thousand hardback copies at US$2,000–$3,000, a smaller edition at US$200–$300, and a digital edition.^{[468][469][470]}


Tendulkar's autobiography, Playing It My Way, was released on 6 November 2014. It was listed in the 2016 Limca Book of Records for breaking the record for adult hardback pre-publication orders, with 150,289.^[471] It was written by a ghostwriter, Boria Majumdar.^[472]


In 2017, Sachin: A Billion Dreams, directed by James Erskine, was released.^[473] It is a docudrama film about Tendulkar, featuring interviews with cricket players and sports commentators. The film received mixed reviews.^[403][474]


The 2023 film Sachin: The Ultimate Winner depicts a child called Sachin who is inspired by Tendulkar, his hero and namesake, to return to cricket after becoming severely injured.^[475]