Sachin Tendulkar the God of Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar also known popularly as the God of Cricket  was born on 24th April 1973 to Ramesh Tendulkar and Rajni. His father Ramesh named Tendulkar after his favourite music director, Sachin Dev Burman.Sachin Tendulkar has three elder siblings, two half-brothers Nitin and Ajit, and a half-sister Savita. They are Ramesh's children from his first marriage. Young Sachin Tendulkar was considered a bully, and often picked up fights with new children in his school.He also showed an interest in tennis, idolising John McEnroe.To help curb his mischievous and bullying tendencies his elder brother Ajit introduced him to cricket in 1984. It was Ajit who introduced young Sachin to Ramakant Achrekar, a famous cricket coach and a club cricketer of repute, at Shivaji Park, Dadar. Sachin Tendulkar always gives Ajit credit for playing a pivotal role in his life. Ramakant was impressed with Tendulkar's talent and advised him to shift his schooling to Sharadashram Vidyamandir (English) High School.This school had a dominant cricket team and had produced many notable cricketers. Sachin Tendulkar would practice for hours on end in the nets (No doubt he went on to be called as the God of Cricket). 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 Sachin Tendulkar stayed the whole session without getting dismissed, the coach would give him the coin. Tendulkar now considers the 13 coins he won then as some of his most prized possessions. Sachin moved in with his aunt and uncle, who lived near Shivaji Park, during this period, due to his hectic schedule. As the days passed Sachin developed a reputation as a child prodigy. He had become a common conversation point in local cricketing circles, where there were suggestions already that he would become one of the greats. Besides school cricket, he also played club cricket, initially representing John Bright Cricket Club in Mumbai's premier club cricket tournament, the Kanga League,and later went on to play for the Cricket Club of India.Sachin attended the MRF Pace Foundation in Madras (now Chennai) to train as a fast bowler In 1987, at the age of 14, however the Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee, who took a world record 355 Test wickets was unimpressed, and he suggested that suggesting that Tendulkar focus on his batting instead.

Few months later, former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar gave him a pair of his own ultra light pads and consoled him to not get disheartened for not getting the Mumbai Cricket Association's "Best junior cricket award"(Sachin Tendulkar was 14 years that time). Nearly 20 years later after surpassing Gavaskar's world record of 34 Test centuries Sachin said that "It was the greatest source of encouragement for me". The year 1988 was extraordinary for Sachin Tendulkar who scored a century in every innings he played. He was involved in an unbroken 664-run partnership in a Lord Harris Shield inter-school game against St. Xavier's High School in 1988 with his friend and team-mate Vinod Kambli, who would also go on to represent India.

At the age of just 15 years and 232 days on 11th December 1988, Sachin Tendulkar the God of Cricket made his debut for Mumbai against Gujarat at home and scored 100 not out in that match, making him the youngest Indian to score a century on First-class debut. Sachin followed this by scoring a century in his first Deodhar and Duleep Trophies, which are also Indian domestic tournaments. Sachin Tendulkar was the highest run-scorer for Mumbai during 1988–89 season. He also made an unbeaten century in the Irani Trophy match against Delhi at the start of the 1989–90 season, playing for the Rest of India. Sachin was picked for young Indian team to tour England twice,under the Star Cricket Club banner in 1988 and 1989. In the famous 1990–91 Ranji Trophy final, in hich Haryana defeated Mumbai by two runs after leading on the first innings, Tendulkar's 96 from 75 deliveries was key to giving Mumbai a chance of victory as it attempted to chase 355 from only 70 overs on the final day.

Sachin made his first double century (204) for Mumbai while playing against the visiting Australian team at the Brabourne Stadium in 1998. He is the only player to score a century on debut in all three of his domestic first-class tournaments (the Ranji, Irani, and Duleep Trophies). Another double century of 233 was against Tamil Nadu in the semi-finals of the 2000 Ranji Trophy, which he regards as one of the best innings of his career.

Tendulkar made his International Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November 1989 at the young age of 16 years and 205 days. He made just 15 runs, being bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that match, but was noted for how he handled numerous blows to his body at the hands of the Pakistani pace attack.  In a 20 over exhibition game in Peshawar, Sachin Tendulkar made 53 runs off 18 balls, including an over in which he scored 27 runs off leg-spinner Abdul Qadir.This was later called "one of the best innings I have seen" by the then Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth. In the same tournament Sachin was dismissed without scoring a run in the only One Day International he played. Thus Sachin Tendulkar the God of Cricket became the youngest player to debut for India in Tests at the age of 16 years and 205 days and also the youngest player to debut for India in ODI's at the age of 16 years and 238 days