India
Player profile
Full name Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
Born April 24, 1973, Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra
Current age 34 years 292 days
Major teams India, ACC Asian XI, Mumbai, Yorkshire
Nickname Tendlya, Little Master
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak, Legbreak googly
Height 5 ft 5 in
Education Sharadashram Vidyamandir School
Batting and fielding averages Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s Ct St
Tests 146 237 25 11782 248* 55.57 39 49 47 98 0
ODIs 409 399 37 16007 186* 44.21 18738 85.42 41 87 1750 166 120 0
T20Is 1 1 0 10 10 10.00 12 83.33 0 0 2 0 1 0
First-class 246 385 40 20545 248* 59.55 65 95 165 0
List A 496 484 51 19559 186* 45.17 52 105 155 0
Twenty20 5 5 0 198 69 39.60 119 166.38 0 2 30 5 2 0
Bowling averages Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10
Tests 146 124 3862 2212 42 3/10 3/14 52.66 3.43 91.9 0 0 0
ODIs 409 263 7985 6774 154 5/32 5/32 43.98 5.09 51.8 4 2 0
T20Is 1 1 15 12 1 1/12 1/12 12.00 4.80 15.0 0 0 0
First-class 246 7221 4101 67 3/10 61.20 3.40 107.7 0 0
List A 496 10161 8402 201 5/32 5/32 41.80 4.96 50.5 4 2 0
Twenty20 5 4 57 65 2 1/12 1/12 32.50 6.84 28.5 0 0 0
Career statistics Test debut Pakistan v India at Karachi, Nov 15-20, 1989 scorecard
Last Test Australia v India at Adelaide, Jan 24-28, 2008 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut Pakistan v India at Gujranwala, Dec 18, 1989 scorecard
Last ODI India v Sri Lanka at Brisbane, Feb 5, 2008 scorecard
ODI statistics
Only T20I South Africa v India at Johannesburg, Dec 1, 2006 scorecard
T20I statistics
First-class debut 1988/89
Last First-class Australia v India at Adelaide, Jan 24-28, 2008 scorecard
List A debut 1989/90
Last List A India v Sri Lanka at Brisbane, Feb 5, 2008 scorecard
Twenty20 debut South Africa v India at Johannesburg, Dec 1, 2006 scorecard
Last Twenty20 Bengal v Mumbai at Ahmedabad, Apr 19, 2007 scorecard
Notes
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1997
Profile
Sachin Tendulkar has been the most wholesome batsman of his time, and arguably the biggest cricket icon as well. His batting is based on the purest principles: perfect balance, economy of movement, precision in stroke-making, and that intangible quality given only to geniuses, anticipation. If he doesn't have a signature stroke - the upright, back-foot punch comes close - it is because he is equally proficient in each of the full range of orthodox shots (and plenty of improvised ones as well) and can pull them out at will.
Though he has adopted a noticeably conservative approach in the last quarter of his career, there are no apparent weaknesses in Tendulkar's game. He can score all around the wicket, off both front foot and back, and has made runs in all parts of the world in all conditions.
Some of his finest performances have come against Australia, the overwhelmingly dominant team of his era. His century as a 19-year old on a lightning fast pitch at the WACA is considered one of the best innings ever to have been played in Australia. A few years later he received the ultimate compliment from the ultimate batsman when Don Bradman confided to his wife that Tendulkar reminded him of himself.
Blessed with the keenest of cricket minds, and armed with a loathing for losing, Tendulkar set about doing what it took to become one of the best batsmen in the world. This was after he was turned away from a fast-bowling camp in Chennai by Dennis Lillee.
Tendulkar's greatness was established early: he was only 16 when he made his Test debut. He was hit on the mouth by Waqar Younis but continued to bat, in a blood-soaked shirt. His first Test hundred, a match-saving one at Old Trafford, came when he was 17, and he had 16 Test hundreds before he turned 25. In 2000 he became the first batsman to have scored 50 international hundreds, and he currently holds the record for most hundreds in both Tests and ODIs - remarkable, considering he didn't score his first ODI hundred till his 79th match.
Tendulkar's considerable achievements seem greater still when looked at in the light of the burden of expectations he has had to bear from his adoring but somewhat unreasonable followers, who have been prone to regard anything less than a hundred as a failure. The aura may have dimmed, if only slightly, as the years on the international circuit have taken their toll on the body, but Tendulkar remains, by a distance, the most worshipped cricketer in the world.
