Happy Birthday Sachin Tendulkar!
The greatest batsman in the history of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar is celebrating his 45th birthday today. The master blaster has entertained fans across the globe ever since he made his debut as a 16-year-old against Pakistan. From being a ball boy to slamming 100 international centuries, Sachin has had a memorable journey in cricket. Here are some lesser-known facts about the legend.
The leading Test run scorer.
— ICC (@ICC) April 24, 2018
The leading ODI run scorer.
A phenomenal 34,357 international runs, plus 200 wickets!
Happy birthday to India's little master, the legendary @sachin_rt! #Sachin45 pic.twitter.com/DZ7kkj1ZZc
In 1992, Sachin Tendulkar became the first international batsman to be given out by a third umpire. In the series against South Africa at Durban, Sachin was caught short of his crease and a throw by Jonty Rhodes did the damage. Third umpire Karl Liebenberg of South Africa watched the TV replay and adjudged Sachin Tendulkar out.
Sachin Tendulkar played with one of the heaviest willows in world cricket. Tendulkar's bat weighed 1.47 kg. At that time, only South Africa's Lance Klusener used a heavier bat in international cricket.
At 15 years and 230 days, Sachin scored a hundred on his Mumbai debut against Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy. He is the youngest Indian to do so on his first-class debut, a record which is yet to be broken. Sachin is the youngest Indian to play county cricket. Aged 19, Sachin made his debut for Yorkshire.
At the twilight of his career aged 37, Sachin won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. This is the most prestigious ICC award. Sachin was the second Indian after Rahul Dravid to win the accolade. Sachin has been dismissed 681 times in his professional career and for just over 60% of those dismissals, he was caught out.
Sachin holds the record for the most runs scored in an edition of World Cup when he scored 673 runs in 11 games in the 2003 tournament. The right-handed batsman also holds the record for slamming the most centuries in World Cups with 6 to his name. He also has the most number of half-centuries (15) in the history of World Cup.
Just like Rohit Sharma, Sachin's ODI career didn't have a great start. After 69 games he averaged about 30+. However, in his 70th game, he was promoted to open the innings and he scored 82 off 49 balls. From then on, Sachin became an ODI beast and ended his ODI career with an average a touch below 45.
