INTRODUCTION :
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar aka Sachin Tendulkar born on 24th April 1973, is a former Indian cricketer and Captain extensively regarded as one of the greatest batsman of all time. He is the only player who has scored one hundred international centuries, the first batsman to score a double century in ODI (One Day International). He is the player who has completed more than 30,000 runs in International cricket.
TENDULKAR : EARLY LIFE AND CHILDHOOD :
Sachin Tendulkar was born in Dadar, Bombay on 24 April 1973 in a Maharashtrian family. His father named Ramesh Tendulkar, was a widely known novelist in Marathi language and his mother, Rajni, worked in insurance industry. Sachin Tendulkar spent his early childhood years in the Sahitya Sahawas Cooperative Housing Society in Bandra (East).
During his early childhood, Tendulkar was considered a dominating person, and often picked up fights with new children in his school. He started showed his interest in tennis and considered John McEnroe as his ideal. To help curb his mischievous and bullying tendencies, Ajit Tendulkar (Sachin Tendulkar’s brother) introduced him to cricket in 1984. He introduced the young Sachin to Ramakant Achrekar,who was a famous cricket coach and a highly reputed club cricketer, at Shivaji Park, Dadar.
In the first meeting, the young Sachin was not able to give his best. Ajit Tendulkar explained Achrekar that he was feeling a little bit conscious and nervous due to the coach observing him, and was not able to present himself completely. Ajit politely asked the coach to give him another chance at playing, but this time keeping a watch on Sachin by hiding behind a tree. Now at this time, Sachin, played much better and freely without any nervousness and after recognising his real talent, he was accepted at Achrekar’s academy.
Achrekar admired Sachin Tendulkar’s talent and performance and advised him to shift his schooling to Sharadashram Vidyamandir High School, at Dadar which had a good cricket team and had given birth and recognised many notable cricketers.
Tendulkar’s early childhood education took place at New English School of Indian Education Society in Bandra (East). Sachin Tendulkar used to practice for hours even after doing practice with the team mates. If Achrekar felt that Sachin is now completely tired, he used to put a one-rupee coin on the top of the stumps, and the bowler who bold Tendulkar would get the coin. If Tendulkar passed this test without getting dismissed, the coach would give him the coin.
During his school days, Tendulkar developed a reputation as a genius and exceptional child who soon became a common point for discussion among local cricket players and coach and the society, where there were suggestions that he would become one of the great cricketers.
Sachin Tendulkar attended the MRF Pace Foundation in Madras at the age of 14 years in 1987 with a aim to get trained as a Fast bowler, but Australian well renowned fast bowler Dennis HYPERLINK , who had a world record of 355 Test wickets, was not much impressed, and gave the feedback that Tendulkar has more focus on his batting instead of bowling.
Sachin Tendulkar proved himself as a great cricketer when on 20 January 1987, he was selected as substitute for Imran Khan’s team in a exhibition game in Bombay at Brabourne Stadium, conducted to celebrate the golden jubilee of Cricket Club of India.
After this exhibition a couple of months later, at the age of 14 years again Tendulkar was recognised by Sunil Gavaskar, a former Indian batsman who gave him his own ultra light pads and solaced him that he did not the Bombay Cricket Association’s “Best junior cricket award“
“It was the greatest source of encouragement for me,” Tendulkar said nearly 20 years later after crossing Gavaskar’s 34 test centuries world record.
Sachin played as a batsman in the 1987 Cricket World Cup when India played against England in the semifinals in Bombay.
SACHIN TENDULKAR’S CAREER AS A CRICKETER :
Sachin Tendulkar was shortlisted and selected to represent Bombay in the Ranji Trophy on November 14, 1987, India’s premier First – class domestic cricket tournament, for the 1987–88 season.
After a year during at 1987-88 Ranji Trophy, on 11 December 1988, Sachin’s age was just 15 years, Tendulkar made his debut for Bombay against Gujarat and scored 100 not out in that match, which made him the youngest Indian to score a century on debut in cricket first-class.
He was then selected to play for the team by Dilip Vengsarkar (then Bombay captain) after watching him perform against Kapil Dev, India’s best fastest bowler at the time, at the Wankhede stadium, where the Indian team came to play against New Zealand team.
Tendulkar finished this 1988–89 season as highest run-scorer of Bombay. He scored 583 runs at an average of 67.77 and ranked sixth amongst highest run-scorer overall.
He also made an unachievable century in the Irani Trophy match against where he played against Delhi at the start of the 1989–90 season, playing for the Rest of India.
During the match held in 1990–91 as Ranji Trophy final, in which Haryana defeated Bombay by two runs after leading in the first innings, Tendulkar’s 96 runs from 75 deliveries was a key to giving Bombay a chance of victory as it attempted to chase 355 from only 70 overs on the final day.
Sachin had two brief stints as captain of Indian cricket team and both of them were not that successful. He became captain of Indian cricket team in 1996 but the team performed poorly and he gave up the captaincy in 1997. He was once again made captain in the year 1999 but unfortunately once again he was not successful and so he gave up the captaincy in 1999.
Indian cricket team was one of the favorites cricket team in the Cricket World Cup 2003 where he performed superbly, making 673 runs in 11 matches to help India reach the finals. The team, however, lost the finals to Australia but Sachin was given Man of the Tournament Award for his impeccable performance.
Sachin performed brilliantly in the 2011 World Cup during which he made 482 runs. India faced Sri Lanka in the finals and won the match—it was the first World Cup victory for him.
He retired from all forms of cricket in November 2013 and was given a very heart touching and emotional farewell by his fans.
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS :
National honours
- National honours
- Arjuna award – In 1994, Sachin Tendulkar was awarded with Arjuna Award, by the Government of India in for his outstanding achievement in sports.
- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award – He was rewarded with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (1997–98), India’s highest honour given for achievement in sports.
- Padma Shri award – Sachin Tendulkar was presented with 1999 – Padma Shri award, India’s fourth highest civilian award.
- Maharashtra Bhushan award – In 2001 – Maharashtra Bhushan Award, highest Civilian Award in Maharashtra State.
- Padma Vibhushan award – He was conferred with 2008 – Padma Vibhushan, second-highest civilian award of India.
- Bharat Ratna award – Tendulkar was bestowed with 2014 – Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.
SACHIN TENDULKAR : PERSONAL LIFE :
Sachin Tendulkar got married on 24 May 1995, at the age of 22, with Anjali, who is a paediatrician and daughter of famous industrialist Anand Mehta of Gujarat and Annabel Mehta, a famous British social worker. Anjali is six years older than Sachin.
They had an affair of five years and they got engaged in the year 1994 in New Zealand. They have two children name Sara (born on October 12, 1997) and Arjun (born on September 24, 1999).
Arjun, is going on the footsteps of his father Sachin and he is a left-handed batsman and left-arm seamer, and he has been recently included in under-14 list of Mumbai Cricket Association for training camp off-season. He was also selected in Mumbai under-14 team for the west zone league in January 2013.
SACHIN TENDULKAR AS BRAND AMBASSADOR :
Sachin Tendulkar has been sponsored and worked as BRAND AMBASSADOR by several brands throughout his career which includes :
- Boost (1990–present)
- Pepsi (1992–2009)
- Action Shoes (1995–2000)
- MRF (1999–2009)
- Adidas (2000–10)
- Britannia (2001–07)
- Fiat HYPERLINK (2001–03)
- TVS (2002–05)
- ESPN Star Sports (2002–present)
- Sunfeast (2007–13)
- Canon(2006–09)
- Airtel (2004–06)
- Reynolds (2007–present)
- G-Hanz (2005–07)
- Sanyo BPL (2007–present)
- Toshiba (2010–present)
- Colgate-Palmolive
- Philips
- Castrol India (2011–12)
- Ujala Techno Bright
- Coca-Cola (2011–13)
- com (2013–present)
He has also been a spokesperson for :
- National Egg Coordination Committee(2003–05)
- AIDS Awareness Campaign (2005)
- Luminous India (2010–present)
BOOKS ON SACHIN TENDULKAR :
- Sachin: The Story of the World’s Greatest Batsman by Gulu Ezekiel.
- The A to Z of Sachin Tendulkar by Gulu Ezekiel.
- Sachin Tendulkar-a definitive biography by Vaibhav Purandare.
- Sachin Tendulkar – Masterful by Peter Murray, Ashish Shukla.
- If Cricket is a Religion, Sachin is God by Vijay Santhanam, Shyam Balasubramanian.
- Master Stroke: 100 Centuries of Sachin Tendulkar by Neelima Athalye.
- Dhruvtara, a book on cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar.
- Sachin ke sau shatak by Dharmender Panth, a book on Tendulkar’s 100 centuries written in Hindi.