Sachin Tendulkar,God Of Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar

India

Full name Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

Born April 24, 1973, Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra

Current age 36 years 267 days

Major teams India, Asia XI, Mumbai, Mumbai Indians, 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	162	265	28	12970	248*	54.72			43	54		52	104	0
ODIs	440	429	40	17394	186*	44.71	20249	85.90	45	93	1901	182	134	0
T20Is	1	1	0	10	10	10.00	12	83.33	0	0	2	0	1	0
First-class	264	416	44	21859	248*	58.76			70	100			172	0
List A	527	514	54	20946	186*	45.53			56	111			169	0
Twenty20	25	25	3	750	69	34.09	599	125.20	0	5	95	17	14	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	162	129	3982	2298	44	3/10	3/14	52.22	3.46	90.5	0	0	0
ODIs	440	267	8020	6817	154	5/32	5/32	44.26	5.10	52.0	4	2	0
T20Is	1	1	15	12	1	1/12	1/12	12.00	4.80	15.0	0	0	0
First-class	264		7347	4190	69	3/10		60.72	3.42	106.4		0	0
List A	527		10196	8445	201	5/32	5/32	42.01	4.96	50.7	4	2	0
Twenty20	25	8	93	123	2	1/12	1/12	61.50	7.93	46.5	0	0	0

Profile

Sachin Tendulkar has been the most complete 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 in 2008 he passed Brian Lara as the leading Test run-scorer and the first to 12,000 runs. 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.