Though everyone names Sachin Tendulkar as the “God of Cricket” many don’t know the real reason behind this. The legendary Indian cricketer took up cricket at the age of eleven.
On 14 November 1987, the 14-year-old Tendulkar was selected to represent Bombay in the Ranji Trophy, India’s premier domestic first-class cricket tournament, for the 1987–88 season.
In 1992, at the age of 19, Tendulkar became the first overseas-born player to represent Yorkshire, which prior to Tendulkar joining the team, never selected players even from other English countries.
God of Cricket – Reason to Name Sachin Tendulkar Like This
Making a century or a double century in ODI and Test may look easier to this generation of players. But during Sachin’s young cricketing carrier he played against many legendary bowlers in a tough turf condition.
Sachin Tendulkar always remains calm in the field and usually answers with the bat for the sledging actions from the bowlers. This made him popular as in those times players will get into quarrel whenever they got sledged.
Apart from his attitude and his commitment Sachin Tendulkar creates multiple records in cricket with both bat and ball. These unmatched stats created by Sachin Tendulkar make him the God of Cricket.
Everyone starts to praise Sachin Tendulkar as “God of Cricket” after he started to break all the cricket records and brought waves in cricket books.
Eventually, the God of cricket Sachin Tendulkar also called as “Master Blaster”, and “Little Master”. Legend himself Brian Lara termed Sachin Tendulkar as “Bradman of modern era”
The “God of cricket” Sachin Tendulkar bags numerous records under his name which still stands a dream for many leading cricketers. We have listed some of the records of him:
Records of God of Cricket – Sachin Tendulkar
ODI Records – Centuries
- The highest number of centuries (49) and fifties (96)
- Most centuries in a calendar year (9 in 1998)
- The first person to score a double century
- Maximum 150+ run-scores
- The highest number of the Man of the Match awards (62)
- Most Man of the Series awards (15)
Test Records
- The highest number of centuries (51)
- Leading run-scorer (11,953)
- Joint-fastest cricketer to reach 10,000 runs in Test cricket with Brian Lara
- 1000+ Test runs in a calendar years (6 times – 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2010)
- Only player in the world to have scored 5 Test centuries before turning 20
Interesting Facts
- At the 1987 World Cup, Tendulkar served as the ball boy. India was playing against England then.
- Sachin Tendulkar actively involves himself in philanthropic activities. He sponsors underprivileged children through the NGO Apnalaya. He operates this NGO along with his mother-in-law.
- Tendulkar’s autobiography “Playing It My Way” broke all records to become an instant bestseller. There are several books on his inspiring life. Also, Sachin: A Billion Dreams, his Biopic made it big in Bollywood.
- In April 2012, Sachin Tendulkar became a Rajya Sabha member after being nominated by the President. He donated the salary and allowances he earned as a Rajya Sabha MP in six years to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
- Sachin Tendulkar was a devout disciple of guru Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi. He cancelled his birthday celebrations after his guru’s death.
Awards
- Arjuna Award – 1994
- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award – 1997
- Padma Shri – 1999
- Maharashtra Bhushan Award – 2001
- Padma Vibhushan – 2008
- Bharat Ratna – 2013
- “Most Influential People in the World” – Time 100 List
- Laureus Award for best sporting moment for the last 20 years.
Famous Quotes by cricketers on Sachin Tendulkar
Peter Roebuck
Peter Michael Roebuck (6 March 1956 – 12 November 2011) was an English cricketer with consistent county performer with over 25,000 runs, and “one of the better English openers of the 1980s. He quotes that
“On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt at one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing a century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This genius can stop time in India!”
Time magazine’s quote on Sachin Tendulkar in 2011
“When Sachin Tendulkar travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam.
When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to “open” the Nehruvian economy.
It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will.”
BBC
“Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don’t know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives- BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar.”
Sir Donald Bradman
“I saw him (Sachin) playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two…his compactness, technique, stroke production… it all seemed to gel”
Matthew Hayden
“I have seen God, he bats at no. 4 for India”
Hashim Amla
“Nothing bad can happen to us if we’re on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it”
Andy Flower
“There are two kinds of batsmen in the world. One, Sachin Tendulkar. Two, all the others”
Brian Lara
“The only batsman I would love to see by paying for the tickets and sitting in the stand just to watch him is none other than Sachin Tendulkar” and “Sachin is a genius. I’m a mere mortal”
Mark Taylor
“We did not lose to a team called India, we lost to a man called Sachin (after the two famous innings in Sharjah in 1998)”
A placard at the Sydney Cricket Ground
“Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching”
Dennis Lillee
“If I’ve to bowl to Sachin, I’ll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard”
Andrew Flintoff
“When you bowl at him you are not just trying to get him out, you are trying to impress him. ‘I want him to walk off thinking ‘that Flintoff, he’s all right isn’t he? I feel privileged to have played against him”
Abdul Qadir
Qadir recalled how a teenaged Tendulkar took on the challenge of the Pakistan bowlers and even hit him for four sixes in a 30-over exhibition match in Peshawar.
“I had a sense of affection for Sachin because he was a kid and he played very well,” Quadir said in the second session called ‘Spin is King’ at the Salaam Cricket 2018 held at the Hotel Address Boulevard in Dubai on Monday.
“Actually what happened was it was a one-day game and at the end of the day because of the rain, there was a huge crowd which had gathered, so the organisers decided to make it a 30-overs per side game,” Qadir recalled.
“India won the toss and elected to bat. Out came Kris Srikkanth and Sachin Tendulkar. When I came in to bowl Srikkanth was on strike. I bowled a maiden to Srikkanth.
“After the over I went to Sachin and said, “this is not a one-day international match so you should try and hit me for a six in the next over. And if you succeed you will become a star”. He didn’t say anything to me but the next over he hit me for three sixes,” Qadir recalled.
Tendulkar scored 53 runs off 18 balls in the match including an over in which he scored 27 runs (6, 4, 0, 6, 6, 6) off Qadir.
“I was fielding in the covers when Tendulkar came out to bat in his debut Test at Karachi. I still remember Waqar Younis was in peak form at that time. Tendulkar tried to drive Waqar through the covers off his very first ball in Test cricket but was beaten all ends up. But I walked to captain Imran Khan and told him ‘this kid looks very good’ and Imran agreed with me.”
