Sachin Tendulkar

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Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar pronunciation (help·info) (Marathi:) सिचन तेंडुलकर; affectionately called 'the little master', born 24 April 1973, is a current Indian cricketer who was rated by Wisden (2002) as the second greatest Test batsman ever^[1] after Sir Don Bradman. Wisden also rated him as the greatest ever ODI batsman. He holds multiple records such as the leading Test century scorer, Leading ODI century scorer and the most career ODI runs.

He made his international debut in 1989 and is a perennial crowd-favorite, he is the only Indian cricketer to receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honour for his performance in 1997-1998. Many commentators and fellow players regard him as one of the greatest batsmen the game has seen.

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Personal life

Tendulkar hitting a six off Sreesanth, Challenger Series 2006, M.A.Chidambaram Stadium

born to a middle class family of Rajapur Saraswat Brahmins in Bombay, now known as Mumbai. His father Ramesh Tendulkar, a Marathi novelist named him after his favourite music director Sachin Dev Burman. He was encouraged to play cricket by his elder brother, Ajit Tendulkar. He has 2 more siblings - brother Nitin Tendulkar and sister Savitai Tendulkar. Nitin's son Rohan Tendulkar born in 1990 is also a cricketer and represents Mumbai in junior Cricket tournaments.

In 1995, Sachin Tendulkar married Anjali Tendulkar (born 13 feb 1971), the paediatrician daughter of Gujarati industrialist Anand Mehta. They have two children, Sara (born 12 October 1997) and Arjun (Born 23 September, 2000).

Tendulkar sponsors 200 under-privileged children, every year through Apnalaya, a Mumbai-based NGO associated with his mother-in-law, Annaben Mehta. He is reluctant to speak about this, or other charitable activities, choosing to preserve the sanctity of his Personal life despite the overwhelming Media interest in him.

Career

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. During his Early days as a schoolboy cricketer he went to the MRF pace academy to train as a pace bowler but was sent back home. The man who turned him back was legendary fast bowler Dennis Lillee who told the young Tendulkar, 'Just focus on your batting'. This simple comment would result in the birth of one of the greatest batsmen of all time.

While at school, he was involved in unbroken 664-run partnership in a Harris Shield game in 1988 with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli, who also went on to represent India. The destructive pair reduced one bowler to tears and made the rest of the opposition unwilling to continue the game. Sachin scored over 320 in this innings and scored over a thousand runs in the tournament. This was the record partnership in any form of cricket, until 2006 when it was broken by two under-13 batsmen in a Match held at Hyderabad in India. When he was 14 Indian batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar gave him a pair of his used ultra light pads. "It was the greatest source of encouragement for me," he said nearly 20 years later after passing Gavaskar's top world record of 34 Test centuries.

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 is the youngest cricketer to score a century on his first-class debut.

Sachin Tendulkar is the only player to score a century while making his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debut.

international career

Tendulkar is ambidextrous, he bats, bowls and throws with his right hand, but prefers to write with his left hand. He also practices left-handed throws at the nets on a regular basis. Tendulkar played his first Test Match against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989. He made Just 15 runs, being bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that Match. 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 disappointing. 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. 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 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 run scorer 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. This technique worked as India beat Australia. Following the series Australian spinner Shane Warne ruefully joked that he was having nightmares about his Indian nemesis.^[3]

Indian Captain Mohd. Azharuddin was going through a lean patch and India were playing against Pakistan in Sharjah 1997. Sachin and Navjot Siddhu hit 100's to set a record partnership for the first wicket. Sachin returned back after getting out and found Azhar in two minds to bat out. Sachin boosted Azhar to bat and Azhar unleashed 29 runs in mere 10 balls. It enabled India post a score in excess of 300 runs for the first time. India went on to win that Match.

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, he returned with a bang to the World cup scoring a century (unbeaten 140 off 101 balls) in his very next Match against Kenya in Bristol. He dedicated this century to his father.^[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. After another Test series defeat, this time by a 0-2 margin at home against South Africa, 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, which was also the last Test appearance of one of cricket history's most successful captain Steve Waugh. 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 Face-saving Indian victory in Mumbai, though Australia had already taken the series 2-1, with the Second Test in Chennai drawn.

Sachin is an integral part of Think-Tank. He's often found discussing with the captain and involved in building strategies. current Captain, Rahul Dravid publicly acknowledged that it was Sachin, who suggested to promote Irfan Pathan to #3. Pathan's swash buckling batting did impress every one, but he was later removed from that position, as his bowling started to be less effective and he would need to concentrate more on his bowling.

On 10 December, 2005, at Feroz Shah Kotla, he delighted fans with a record-breaking 35th Test century, against the Sri Lankans.

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. In January 2007 Tendulkar scored a 76-ball century against the West Indies which makes it his 41st ODI century. He reached a hundred on the last Ball of the Indian innings. Tendulkar now has 17 more ODI tons than Sanath Jayasuriya who is second on the list of ODI century-makers.^[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.

At Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies, Tendulkar and the Indian cricket team, led by Rahul Dravid had a dismal campaign. Tendulkar, who was pushed to bat lower down the order by the Coach Greg Chappel had scores of 7 (Bangladesh), 57* (Bermuda) and 0 (Sri Lanka). As a result, former Australian captain Ian Chappell, brother of current Indian coach Greg, called for Tendulkar to retire in his column for Mumbai's Mid Day newspaper^[9]

Tendulkar was named the man of the Series in the subsequent Test series against Bangladesh.

He scored two consecutive scores of 90+ in the Series against South Africa.^[10]

He is now the only cricketer to complete 13,000-14,000 and 15,000 runs in ODI form of the game.

Bowling

While not a regular bowler, Tendulkar has taken 41 wickets in 137 Tests and 152 wickets in 388 ODIs. He can bowl medium-pace,leg spin and off-spin with equal ease. He often bowls when two batsmen have been batting together for a long period, and can often be a useful partnership breaker. Though his Test bowling average is around 48 and his ODI bowling average above 40, he is considered^[11] as the man with the Golden arm^[12] who breaks partnerships.^[13]

On more than one occasion,^[14] he has had a strong influence on an Indian victory with his bowling. Notable among his bowling exploits are:

• 5 wicket haul against Australia^[15] at Kochi in the 1997-98 Series . set 269 runs to win, Australia were cruising comfortably at 203/3 in the 31st over. Sachin turned the Match for India taking wickets of Michael Bevan, Steve Waugh, Darren Lehmann, Tom Moody and Damien 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.^[16]
• performance of 4/34 in 10 overs against West Indies^[17] in Sharjah where the Windies were bowled out for 145.
• He single handedly won the ICC 1998 quarterfinal 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.
• The googly that got Moin Khan's wicket during the first Test Match in Multan is still considered to be most memorable delivery bowled by Sachin in test matches.

Criticism

• Despite his record of scoring the most Test centuries, none of Tendulkar's innings found a place in the Wisden 100, a statistics-based list released by Wisden in 2001 of the 100 "greatest Test batting performances". Wisden stated that most of his best performances had come in draws and defeats, and so received a much lower weighting as they did not contribute to a victory.^[18]

• His two tenures as captain of the Indian cricket team were not particularly successful. When Sachin took over as Captain in 1996, it was with huge hopes and expectations. However, by 1997 team prospects were quite bad. Azharuddin was credited with saying "Nahin jeetega! Chote ki naseeb main jeet nahin hai!",^[19] which translates into : "He won't win! It's not in the Shorty's destiny". During his second run, after constantly complaining that the national selectors weren't giving him the team he wanted, he resigned after a disastrous tour of Australia where India lost 0-3 in the Tests and managed to win only one of 8 ODIs. Incidentally, he was named man of the series for the Test matches.

• Sachin was also allegedly criticized by erstwhile Indian coach Greg Chappell on his attitude.^[20] As per the report, Chappell felt that Tendulkar would be more useful down the order, while the latter felt that he would be better off opening the innings which he has been doing for major portion of his career. Chappell also believed that Tendulkar's repeated failures were hurting the team's chances. In a rare show of emotion, Tendulkar hit out at the comments attributed to Chappell by pointing out that no coach has ever mentioned about his attitude being incorrect. On April 7, 2007, the Board of Control for cricket in India issued a notice to Sachin Tendulkar asking for an explanation for his comments made to the media. ^[21]

Controversies

Sachin has always made effort to stay out of controversies and he did have fair amount of success in staying away from trouble. However, on & off the field, he had rare 'bad days' which doesn't reflect on the true nature of the batting maestro.

• Ferrari Custom Duty Incident: In commemorating Sachin Tendulkar's feat of equalling Don Bradman's 29 centuries in Test Cricket, automotive giant Ferrari invited Sachin Tendulkar to its paddock in Silverstone on the eve of the British Grand Prix (23 July 2002) to receive a Ferrari 360 Modena from the legendary F1 racer Michael Schumacher.^[22] On September 4, 2002 India's then finance minister Jaswant Singh wrote to Sachin telling him that the government will waive custom's duty imposed on the car as a measure to applaud his feat.^[23] However the rules at the time stated that the customs duty can be waived only when receiving an automobile as a prize and not as a gift. It is claimed that the proposals to change the law (Customs Act) was put forth in Financial Bill in February 2003 and amended was passed as a law in May 2003. Subsequently the Ferrari was allowed to be brought to India without payment of the customs duty (Rs 1.13 Crores or 120% on the car value of Rs 75 Lakhs).^[24] When the move to waive customs duty became public in July 2003, political and social activists protested the waiver^[25] and filed PIL in the Delhi High Court. With the controversy snowballing, Sachin offered to pay the customs duty and the tab was finally picked up by Ferrari.^[26] Tendulkar has been seen taking his Ferrari 360 Modena for late-night drives in Mumbai.

Main article: Mike Denness and Indian cricket team incident

• ball Tampering Charges: Television cameras picked up images of Sachin cleaning the seam of the cricket ball, amounting to altering the condition of the Ball in the second test match between India and South Africa at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth.^[27] The Match referee Mike Denness found Sachin Tendulkar guilty of ball tampering charges and handed him a one Test Match ban.^[28] With Mike Denness taking action against 5 other Indian cricketers on various charges, the incident escalated to a larger issue and led to Mike Denness being barred from entering the venue of the third Test Match. ICC revoked the official status of the match and on the recommendations of a review commission, the ban on Sachin Tendulkar was revoked. Sachin's ball tampering charges & Sehwag's ban for excessive appealing triggered a massive backlash from the Indian public that the real facts of the case was never reviewed and the matter put to rest appropriately.

• Stranded on 194: In the first Test Match of India's historic tour of Pakistan in 2004 at Multan, the acting captain's (Rahul Dravid) decision to declare the innings with 16 overs remaining on Day 2 and when Sachin was playing with a score of 194 NO ignited controversy. In meeting with the press that evening, Sachin Tendulkar responded to a question on missing 200 against Pakistan by stating that he was disappointed and that the declaration had taken him by surprise.^[29] Reflecting his stature in Indian cricket & his penchant for avoiding issues, the nature of the statement and ex-cricketers debating the merits of the decision as a reflection on Tendulkar & Rahul's relationship fueled the controversy. The controversy was so huge that it completely overshadowed one of Indian cricket's landmark innings by a young Virender Sehwag - a score of 309 which is the highest ever by an Indian in Tests. Many former cricketers^[30] commented^[31] that Dravid's declaration was in bad taste. the media noted at the time that the decision had apparently been made by Sourav Ganguly,^[32] and Ganguly himself later admitted that it had been a mistake.^[33] The wording of the statement indicating that it had not been Dravid's call. The controversy was put to rest when Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and the Coach - John Wright spoke to the media after the team's victory and stated that the matter was spoken internally and put to rest.^[34]

records

Sachin Tendulkar's career performance graph.

Test cricket

Game Appearances:

• On his Test debut, Sachin Tendulkar was the third youngest debutant (16y 205d). Mushtaq Mohammad (15y 124d) and Aaqib Javed (16y 189d) debuted in ODI matches younger than Tendulkar. Since then, there has been 2 players who were younger than Sachin on their Test Cricket debut: Hasan Raza - Pakistan (14y 227d), the current youngest debutant, and Mohammad Sharif - Bangladesh (15y 128d).^[35]

• Tendulkar has played the most number of Test Matches for India (Kapil Dev is second with 131 Test appearances).
  • Tendulkar is fourth on the list of players with most Test caps. Steve Waugh (168 Tests), Allan Border (158 Tests), Shane Warne (145 Tests) have appeared in more games than Tendulkar^[36]

Runs Scored:

• 4th highest tally of runs in Test cricket (10,922). Second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to make over 10,000 runs in Test matches.^[37]

• Tendulkar and Brian Lara are the fastest to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket history. Both of them achieved this in 195 innings.^[38]

• On 3 January 2007 Sachin Tendulkar (5751) edged past Brian Lara's (5736) world record of runs scored in Tests away from home. Tendulkar achieved this in 75 away Test matches while Lara had scored his runs in 66 away Tests.

• Career Average 55.44 - the highest average among those who have scored over 10,000 Test runs.

• Tendulkar has 4 seasons with 1000 or more runs - 2002 (1392 runs), 1999 (1088 runs), 2001 (1003 runs) and 1997 (1000 runs).^[39] Gavaskar is the only other Indian with four seasons of 1000+ runs. Only Hayden and Lara have five seasons with 1000+ runs in international cricket.

Centuries:

• Highest number of Test centuries (37), overtaking Sunil Gavaskar's record (34) on 10 December 2005 vs Sri Lanka in Delhi. Brian Lara has also scored 34 Test Centuries.^[40]

• When Tendulkar scored his maiden century in 1990, he was the second youngest to score a century. Only Mushtaq Mohammad had scored a century at a younger age by 1990. Tendulkar's record was bettered by Mohammad Ashraful in 2001/02 season.^[41] the record for previous youngest Indian centurion was held by Kapil Dev.

• Tendulkar's record of five centuries before he turned 20 is a current world Record.^[41]

• Tendulkar holds the current record (217 against NZ in 1999/00 Season) for the highest score in Test cricket by an Indian when captaining the side.^[42] Gavaskar held the previous record (205 against West Indies in Bombay - 1978/79 season)

• Tendulkar has scored centuries against all Test playing nations.^[40] He was the third batman to achieve the distinction after Steve Waugh and Gary Kirsten. The current list also includes Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Adam Gilchrist and Marvan Attapattu.

• Sachin's 37th ton against Bangladesh during the 2007 series 2nd Test, made history as the 1st time the top four batsman of any team had all scored centuries in a single innings. Dinesh Karthik made 129, Wasim Jaffer 138 and Rahul Dravid 129 were the other centurions.

ODI

Highlights of Tendulkar's ODI career include:

Game Appearances:

• Matches Played: 388
  • Consecutive ODI Appearances: 185^[43]
  • Most Stadium Appearances: 90 different Grounds

• On his debut, Sachin Tendulkar was the second youngest debutant. Only Aaqib Javed debuted in ODI matches younger than Sachin Tendulkar. Since then, there has been 4 players who were younger than Sachin on their ODI debut: Hasan Raza (Pakistan) - the current youngest debutant, Mohammad Sharif (Bangladesh), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) and Ramveer Rai (UAE)

Runs Scored:

• Most Runs: 15,051 Runs (as of 29th June, 2007). He is the leading run scorer in the ODI format of the game and the only player ever to cross the 15,000 run mark. he reached this milestone with a stunning knock of 93 against South Africa to help win the Match.

• First player to reach 10,000-11,000-12,000-13,000-14,000 and 15,000 ODI runs.

• Highest individual score among Indian batsmen (186* against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999). The score of 186* is listed the fifth highest score recorded in ODI matches

• 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.

• After he became the first cricketer to cross 10,000-run mark in ODI's. Only six other players have managed to also cross the milestone since then: (Sanath Jayasuriya, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, and Inzamam ul Haq). Sachin was the fastest to reach 10,000 runs taking 259 innings and has the highest batting average among batsmen with over 10,000 ODI runs

Centuries & Fifties record:

• Most centuries: 41
  • Only player to have over 100 innings of 50+ runs (41 Centuries and 79 Fifties)(as of 2007)
  • Fifties: 79. Inzamam-ul-Haq (83) is the only batsmen who has scored more Fifties. Rahul Dravid (79) is tied with Sachin.^[44]

• Most centuries vs. Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

ODI Awards:

• Most Man of the Match Awards: 54 Man of the Match Awards

• Most Man of the Series Awards : 14 Man of the Series Awards

Calendar Year record:

• Most ODI runs in a calendar year: 1,894 ODI runs in 1998.

• Most Centuries in a calendar year: 9 ODI centuries in 1998

Partnership records:

• Sachin Tendulkar with Sourav Ganguly hold the World record for the maximum number of runs scored by the opening partnership. They have put together 5,621 runs in 117 matches that includes 16 century partnerships and 21 fifty run partnerships.^[45] The 16 century partnerships for opening pair is also a world record.

• Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid hold the World record for the highest partnership in ODI matches when they scored 331 runs against New Zealand in 1999 at the LBS, Hyderabad^[46]

• Sachin Tendulkar has been involved in six 200 run partnerships in ODI matches - a record that he shares with Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting.^[47]

World Cup

• Most runs (1,796 at an average of 59.87 as on 20th Mar 2007) in World Cup Cricket History including 4 centuries & 13 fifties with a best score of 152* against Namibia in 2003 world cup
• 673 runs in 2003 cricket World Cup, highest by any player in a single Cricket World Cup
• Player Of the World Cup Tournament in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

Miscellaneous

• Tendulkar was the first batsman in history to score over 50 centuries in international cricket. He has now scored 78 (37 in Tests, 41 in ODIs).

• Has the most overall runs in cricket, (ODIs+Tests+Twenty20s), as of 30th June 2007 he had accumulated almost 26,000 runs overall.

• Tendulkar was the first overseas cricketer to play for Yorkshire CCC in 1993, in more than 100 years of the club's history.

• Sachin Tendulkar was the first batsman in Test Cricket to be declared as run out by a third umpire (using television replays) in 1992 against South Africa in South Africa.

• During India's 1999-2000 tour to Australia, he was declared out LBW after ducking and being hit by bouncer that kept low by umpire Daryl Hair, which lead commentators to coin the term "shoulder before wicket".^[48][49]

Achievements

Awards

• 1994: Arjuna Award Receipient for achievements in Cricket^[50]
• 1997: Tendulkar was one of the five cricketers selected as Wisden Cricketer of the Year^[51]
• 1997/98: Sachin Tendulkar received India's highest sporting honour - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna^[52]
• 1999: Awarded Padma Shri - India's civilian medal of recognition^[53]

Media Recognition

• In August of 2003, Sachin Tendulkar was voted as the "Greatest Sportsman" of the country in the sport personalities category in the Best of India poll conducted by Zee News.^[54]

• In November 2006, Time magazine named Tendulkar as one of the Asian Heroes.^[55]

• The current India Poised campaign run by The Times of India has nominated him as the Face of New India next to the likes of Amartya Sen and