Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar is India's most popular cricketer and the world's best batsman. He has been playing International cricket over the last 24 years and is scheduled to retire from the game towards the 18thof November, 2013.

He was born on 24th of April in the year 1973 and was coached in his childhood days by Ramakanth Achrekar. Sachin's early ambition was to become a fast bowler when he grew older but fortunately he turned out to be a much better batsman during his teen years.

During his school days he set a national and world record partnership of 664 runs along with batting mate Vinod Kambli during an inter-school tournament in 1988. He represented the Shardashram School in Dadar which is very close to this practice ground - Shivaji Park.

His coach used some innovative techniques to help Sachin improve his concentration while batting. One of the most prominent techniques was to put a 1 rupee coin on top of the stumps and award it to the bowler who could get him clean bowled while Sachin's job was to remain at the crease and bat as long as possible without getting bowled.

Sachin Tendulkar went on to start his domestic career with a century on debut in all the top 3 tournaments in India - The Irani, Duleep and Ranji trophies. So far no one else has been able to crack this record in domestic cricket.

During his teen years, Sachin was a fan of US Tennis player John McEnroe and would go through great efforts to get a headband and wristband just like the ones John McEnroe wore so that he could pose for snaps with them and show them off in his colony too.

As an International cricketer, Sachin had his debut ODI and Test (1989) matches against the same team - Pakistan. He quickly rose as a top batsmen for India and went on to score 7 Test hundreds before he finally scored his 1st One day century.

His deep commitment and discipline could be seen at almost every single stage of his career. One of these examples was when he came back from a grueling 120 days tour of Australia (soon after the 1992 World Cup) and went straight to play for Kirti College in an Inter-college tournament.

Sachin used a rather heavy bat to play during the first 15 years of his International career. The weight of his bat is said to be over 3 pounds. Only 1 more cricketer (Lance Klusener) used a bat slightly heavier than his while batting.

Sachin Tendulkar is the cricketer to have appeared in the most advertisements ever. His first ad campaign was for the health drink 'Boost' where he was featured along with Kapil Dev from the year 1990.

During his school days he was considered a big bully and was quite naughty too. He would often go fishing for guppies and tadpoles in the streams that would run through the compound in Sahitya Sahawas (Bandra East) where he lived for most of his childhood and teen years. His nanny (Sachuchi Bai) had loads of stories to say about Sachin's naughty childhood days.

He even made his Mom search for a Frog Bhaji recipe so he could relish the little creature along with a Chapati. He loved playing Tennis, Football, Darts and (of course) Cricket during his childhood days. He was (and still is) a huge fan of Diego Maradona, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Michael Schumacher and (later) Roger Federer.

Coming back to his Cricket career now. He became the youngest cricketer to have scored 1000 runs in Test matches in 1992. Records, awards, wickets and runs are as common a part of his career as sleep is to a common man.

Perhaps it is his favorite snack (the Vada Pav) that gives him his power and his enormous energy on the field. Or maybe it was the first car he drove (a Maruti 800) or his huge collection of perfumes, deodorants, and watches. Whatever it is - there is obviously no other player in India (or the world) who is as interesting, passionate and energetic as he is. He comes out onto the playing field with the same energy and passion today (he is over 40) like he did when he walked out onto a playing field during his first Ranji trophy game led by his (then) captain Ravi Shastri.

Fame often comes at a tiny price though. In 1995, he ventured to a movie house to catch the flick 'Roja' and disguised himself to appear as a bearded man with dark glasses on. Unfortunately, panic spread across the cinema hall when his dark glasses fell down and everyone around noticed who he actually was.

Sachin Tendulkar loves good music, movies, cars, and much more. He is a big fan of Kishore Kumar's music as much as he is a fan of the Dire Straits and some other big International bands. On one of his birthdays, he got a surprise visitor (Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits) to wish him Happy Birthday. It was during a TV programme he was shooting for ESPN-Star Sports. Another person he admires (Michael Schumacher) gifted him a Ferrari 360 Modena in the year 2002 for equaling Don Bradman's record of 29 Test centuries. He is possibly the only cricketer to have won so many gifts, awards and titles over the years.

Even though it would give him a lot of money, Sachin Tendulkar refused a large liquor company's ads because it was against his values and ethics. It is quite surprising to note that he played without a bat contract till the end of the 1996 World Cup after which MRF sponsored his bat.

He is the only cricketer to be awarded the Padma Shri, the Arjuna Award and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna by the government of India. He is certain to get any other national awards he can get as a sportsmen who has dedicated most of his teenage years and adult life to playing Cricket for India. And nobody else deserves it more or even comes close to the Master.

It seems like decades ago when he walked out onto a playing field to represent Yorkshire in County cricket at the young age of 19 years thus becoming the youngest ever Indian cricket player to play Country cricket.

It seems like half a century ago when he brought in to field as a substitute for Pakistan during a practice match against the Indian team at the Brabourne stadium in the year 1988. It was during his debit Test match that he was smart (and nice) enough to wear the pads gifted to him by another cricket legend (Sunil Gavaskar).

Sachin must be probably thanking Dennis Lillee for rejecting him from joining the MRF Pace Foundation as a fast bowler in the year 1987. It was Lillee who advised Sachin to forget about pace bowling and focus on his batting instead. Thank Heavens for his great advice and more importantly for Sachin Tendulkar to accept it so graciously and wisely.

He has a few superstitions and one of them is to put on or wear the left pad before he puts on the right one. He would even go to sleep with his cricket gear during his early playing days.

Unfortunately for him, in 1992 his superstitions did not pay off and he became the first ever player to be given out by a Third Umpire. It was in a Test match at the ground at Durban against South Africa where a throw by Jonty Rhodes caught him a tiny inch outside his batting crease.

Tendulkar always wore the Number 10 jersey during International One Day and T20 matches. It was a number he loved ever since Diego Maradona wore it while playing for the Argentinian soccer team. Something else that he loves and treasures till today are the 13 Re.1 coins he won from his coach (Ramakanth Achrekar) by not being dismissed for an entire session 13 times during his childhood days.

Sachin has come a long way indeed. At the age of 14 years, he was a ball boy during an India-Zimbabwe match at Wankhede stadium during the ongoing World Cup of 1987. Today, he is the only cricketer (playing) to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

Now just a little bit about his family and his likes. His wife's name is Anjali Tendulkar while his daughter's name is Sarah and son's name is Arjun. He has 3 siblings whose names are Savitai, Nitin Tendulkar & Ajit Tendulkar. His mother's name is Rajni while his father's name was Ramesh Tendulkar.

He is a firm believer in God, Lord Ganesha, Sai Baba, re-birth and the concept of Heaven and Hell. His favorite cricket ground is the Sydney cricket ground. His favorite actors are Nana Patekar and Amitabh Bachchan. He likes the movie 'Coming To America' while listening to music and collecting CDs are his hobbies.

In Cricket, he admires Sandeep Patil, Sir Viv Richards, Sunil Gavasker, Brian Lara, and Imran Khan. Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, John McEnroe, Diego Maradona and Michael Schumacher are his other sports idols.

His favorite eating places are the Otters Club, Bukhara (Maurya Sheraton) and Tendulkars. He loves eating a nice hot Steak while sipping on some Apple or Orange juice. Listening to music he loves, spending time with his friends, driving around in fancy cars and living a great life is what he likes most.

He has done immense charity work over the years and his recent campaigns on NDTV to help save the tiger and improve our schools in villages and towns across the country are most noticeable. He likes to keep things simple and does not go out of his way to inform the media about charity causes he supports or donates his time (or money) to.

There is a lot more to say about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar but we are not seasoned experts here on Likhoji. The statistics and figures along with the runs he has made or the number of wickets he has taken are clearly mentioned on hundreds of websites so there is no point in repeating the same here. It is best to just sit back and watch any of the Test matches he has played till now during which he has scored his dozens and dozens of centuries and you will realize what a genius he is and how we will be losing out on the greatest person to ever walk onto a playing field for India when he finally retires on November 26th, 2013.

He has been the only player to have played Cricket at 92 different grounds during his career so far. What more can we say. If God was a cricketer then Sachin would be his name. And if ever we are fortunate enough to have another Cricketer anywhere close to him than we can consider ourselves to be the luckiest of the lucky people living in this world. We shall miss you Sachin. Like a great song says 'Nothing compares to You'. And actually NOTHING does compare to Sachin Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar put on his left pad before his right one for one last time in the domestic Ranji trophy season as the Mumbai team matched off against Haryana in a sleepy little town called Lahli. Thousands of fans drove down to Lahli to watch the Master play for one last time in his domestic career. Zaheer Khan was the Mumbai captain who walked onto the pitch along with Sachin Tendulkar for the last time in domestic cricket.

Sachin plays his 199th Test match tomorrow at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Hundreds of people greeted him when he stepped down from the team bus for a practice session. Big celebrations are planned at the Eden Gardens to give him a fitting farewell from one of his favorite grounds in the country. It is expected that the stands will be full from the very first day of this Test match as thousands of Sachin fans have traveled from all over the country to watch him bat for the 2nd last time in his International career as a Cricketer.

November 14th to 18th is the last time fans get to see Sachin Tendulkar play for India as the mighty Indians take on the West Indians. The Test match will be played till November 18th (might be over on the 17th) and one can expect at least 50,000 fans present there on the final day to say goodbye to Sachin right here on his home ground.

It is extremely difficult for me to close this incredible chapter of my life (as a mere spectator of the great Master) but I must go on....I want to say more but I know that I cannot just keep writing and writing on Likhoji and pretend that there is no November in my calendar. So I close this page and leave it for the readers to add their comments or share their views on Sachin Tendulkar. Hope you liked what I have shared on this page about him. Goodbye!