 [edit] Early days of cricket
He attended Sharadashram Vidyamandir School where he began his cricketing career under the guidance of his coach and mentor Ramakant Achrekar. While at school, he was involved in an unbroken 664-run partnership in a Harris Shld game in 1988 with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli, who also went on to represent India. At the time, this was a record partnership in any form of cricket and in 2006 it was broken by two junior cricketers in a match held at Hyderabad in India.
[edit] Domestic career
In 1988/1989, he scored 100 not-out in his first first-class match for Bombay against Gujarat. At 15 years and 232 days he was then the youngest cricketer to score a century on his first-class début.
Sachin Tendulkar is the only player to score a century while making his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debut.
[edit] International career
Sachin played his first international match against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989, facing the likes of Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Abdul Qadir, and Waqar Younis. He made just 15 runs, being bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that match. It was an inauspicious start, but Tendulkar followed it up with his maiden Test fifty a few days later at Faisalabad. His One-day International (ODI) debut on December 18 was equally disappointing, where he was dismissed without scoring a run, again by Waqar Younis. The series was followed by a tour of New Zealand in which he fell for 88 in the Second Test. John Wright, who later became the coach of India, took the catch that prevented Tendulkar from becoming the youngest centurion in Test cricket. His maiden Test century came in next tour, to England in August 1990 at Old Trafford. Tendulkar further enhanced his development into a world-class batsman during the 1991-1992 tour of Australia that included an unbeaten 148 in Sydney (the first of many battles against Shane Warne who made his debut in the match) and a brilliant century on the fast and bouncy track at Perth. He has been Man of the Match 11 times in Test matches and Man of the Series twice, both times in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
Tendulkar's performance through the years 1994-1999, coincided with his physical peak, at age 20 through 25. Tendulkar was told to open the batting at Auckland against New Zealand in 1994 [2]. He went on to make 82 runs off 49 balls. His first ODI century came on September 9, 1994 against Australia in Sri Lanka at Colombo. It had taken Tendulkar 79 ODIs to score a century.
Tendulkar's rise continued when he was the leading runscorer at the 1996 Cricket World Cup, topping the batting averages whilst scoring two centuries.
This was the beginning of a period at the top of the batting world, culminating in the Australian tour of India in early 1998, scoring three consecutive centuries. These were characterised by a pre-meditated plan to target Australian spinners Shane Warne and Gavin Robertson, to whom he regularly charged down the pitch to drive over the infield. Following the series Australian spinner Shane Warne ruefully joked that he was having nightmares about his Indian nemesis[3].
A chronic back problem flared up when Pakistan toured India in 1999, with India losing the historic Test at Chepauk despite a gritty century from Tendulkar himself. Worse was to come as Professor Ramesh Tendulkar, Tendulkar's father, died in the middle of the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Tendulkar flew back to India to attend the final rituals of his father, missing the match against Zimbabwe. However, soon he returned back to the World cup scoring a century (unbeaten 140 off 126 balls) against Kenya in Bristol[4].
Tendulkar, succeeding Mohammad Azharuddin as captain, then led India on a tour of Australia, where the visitors were comprehensively beaten 3-0 [5] by the newly-crowned world champions. Tendulkar resigned, and Sourav Ganguly took over as captain in 2000.
Tendulkar made 673 runs in 11 matches in the 2003 World Cup, helping India reach the final. While Australia retained the trophy that it had won in 1999, Tendulkar was given the Man of the Series award. The drawn series as India toured Australia in 2003-2004 saw Tendulkar making his mark in the last Test of the series, with a double century in Sydney.Tennis elbow then took its toll on Tendulkar, leaving him out of the side for the first two Tests when Australia toured India in 2004. He played a part in the facesaving Indian victory in Mumbai, though Australia had already taken the series 2-1, with the Second Test in Chennai drawn.
On 10 December, 2005, at Feroz Shah Kotla, he delighted fans with a record-breaking 35th Test century, against the Sri Lankans. But doubts were raised once again when he averaged a mere 21 over three Test innings when India toured Pakistan in 2006.
On 6 February 2006, Tendulkar scored his 39th ODI hundred, in a match against Pakistan. He followed with a run-a-ball 42 in the second ODI against Pakistan on February 11, 2006, and then a 95 in hostile, seaming conditions on 13 February, 2006 in Lahore, which set up an Indian victory.
On 19 March 2006, after scoring an unconvincing 1 off 21 balls against England in the first innings of the third Test in his home ground, Wankhede, Tendulkar was booed off the ground by a section of the crowd[6], the first time that he has ever faced such flak. While cheered on when he came for his second innings, Tendulkar, was the top scorer in the second innings [7] and yet was to end the three-Test series without a single half-century to his credit, and news of a shoulder operation raised more questions about his longevity.
Tendulkar was operated upon for his injured shoulder forcing him to skip the tour of West Indies in 2006.
On 23 May 2006, after deciding not to undergo a scheduled fitness test, he announced he would miss the tour of the Caribbean for the Test series. However he agreed to play 5 games for Lashings World XI in order to regain fitness for a possible August comeback. He had scored 155, 147(retired), 98, 101(retired) & 105 in the 5 matches for Lashings XI with strike rate of well above 100 and was the top scorer in all the matches.
Also in his first Twenty20 match with international opposition, although unofficial, Tendulkar hit 50 not out off 21 deliveries to blast the International XI to 123 after 10 overs against the Pakistan XI.
However as of July,2006 The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the longest-serving international cricketer has overcome his injury problem following a rehabilitation programme and is available for selection.
He then came for the DLF cup in Malaysia and became the only Indian batsman to shine. In his most recent comeback match, against West Indies on 14th September 2006, Tendulkar responded to his critics who believed that his career was inexorably sliding with his 40th ODI century. Though he scored 141*, West Indies won the rain-affected match by the D/L method. Tendulkar now has 18 more ODI tons than the players who are second on the list of ODI century-makers, Sourav Ganguly and Sanath Jayasuriya [8].
Wisden named Tendulkar one of the Cricketers of the Year in 1997, the first calendar year in which he scored 1,000 Test runs. He repeated the feat in 1999, 2001, and 2002. Tendulkar also holds the record for scoring 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year. He has done it six times - 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003. In 1998 he made 1,894 ODI runs, still the record for ODI runs by any batsman in any given calendar year.
Continuing his comeback, Sachin performed creditably in the Champions Trophy in October 2006, although India failed to advance beyond the first round.
[edit] Bowling
While not a regular bowler, Tendulkar has taken 37 wickets in 132 Tests and 142 wickets in 365 ODIs. He bowls when the specialist bowlers are lacking success, often providing useful breakthroughs. Though his Test bowling average is above 50 and his ODI bowling average above 40, he is considered [9] as the man with the Golden arm [10] who breaks partnerships. [11].
On more than one occasion [12], he has had a strong influence on an Indian victory with his bowling. Notable among his bowling exploits are:
5 wicket haul against Australia[13] at Kochi in the 1997-98 Series . Set 269 runs to win, Australia was cruising comfortably at 203/3 at the 31st over. Sachin turned the match for India taking wickets of MG Bevan, SR Waugh, DS Lehmann, TM Moody and DR Martyn for just 32 runs in 10 overs.
Final over control against South Africa in 1993 Hero-cup semifinals. South Africa needed 6 runs to win the match in the final over. Sachin bowling 3 dot balls in that over, conceded just 3 runs to help India win the match and reach the Finals of the tournament. [14]
Performance of 4/34 in 10 overs against West Indies [15] in Sharjah where the Windies were bowled out for 145.
He single handedly won the ICC 1998 QuarterFinals at Dhaka to pave way for India's entry into the Semifinals, when he took 4 Australian wickets after scoring 141 runs in just 128 balls.
Tendulkar took three wickets on the final day of the famous Kolkata Test against Australia in 2001, which India won after following on, 274 runs behind on the first innings. Tendulkar took the key wickets of Matthew Hayden - who made a hundred in the previous Test at Mumbai and a double century in the next - and Adam Gilchrist, another centurion at Mumbai.
[edit] 2006
Tendulkar has missed four Tests and eleven ODIs through injury in 2006. However, he has done well in the ODIs that he has played, hitting two centuries and two fifties. He was the top scorer in 6 of the past 11 matches he has played this year. His Test form has been uncharacteristically poor, having failed to reach a single fifty this year. In fact, Tendulkar has not hit a half-century in his last 11 innings - the longest he has gone without reaching fifty since making his Test
|