Sachin Tendulkar
India
Full name Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

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

Current age 40 years 204 days

Major teams India, Asia XI, Mumbai, Mumbai Indians, Yorkshire

Nickname Tendlya, Little Master

Playing role Top-order batsman

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm offbreak, Legbreak googly

Height 5 ft 5 in

Education Sharadashram Vidyamandir School

In a nutshell Perhaps the most complete batsman and the most worshipped cricketer in the world, Tendulkar holds just about every batting record worth owning in the game, including those for most runs and hundreds in Tests and ODIs, and most international runs. More

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
Batting and fielding averages
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s Ct St
Tests 199 328 33 15847 248* 53.71 51 67 69 115 0
ODIs 463 452 41 18426 200* 44.83 21367 86.23 49 96 2016 195 140 0
T20Is 1 1 0 10 10 10.00 12 83.33 0 0 2 0 1 0
First-class 309 489 51 25322 248* 57.81 81 115 186 0
List A 551 538 55 21999 200* 45.54 60 114 175 0
Twenty20 96 96 11 2797 100* 32.90 2310 121.08 1 16 359 38 28 0
Bowling averages
Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10
Tests 199 144 4228 2484 46 3/10 3/14 54.00 3.52 91.9 0 0 0
ODIs 463 270 8054 6850 154 5/32 5/32 44.48 5.10 52.2 4 2 0
T20Is 1 1 15 12 1 1/12 1/12 12.00 4.80 15.0 0 0 0
First-class 309 7593 4376 71 3/10 61.63 3.45 106.9 0 0
List A 551 10230 8478 201 5/32 5/32 42.17 4.97 50.8 4 2 0
Twenty20 96 8 93 123 2 1/12 1/12 61.50 7.93 46.5 0 0 0
Career statistics
Test debut Pakistan v India at Karachi, Nov 15-20, 1989 scorecard
Last Test India v West Indies at Kolkata, Nov 6-8, 2013 scorecard
Test statistics

ODI debut Pakistan v India at Gujranwala, Dec 18, 1989 scorecard
Last ODI India v Pakistan at Dhaka, Mar 18, 2012 scorecard
ODI statistics

Only T20I South Africa v India at Johannesburg, Dec 1, 2006 scorecard
T20I statistics

First-class debut 1988/89
Last First-class India v West Indies at Kolkata, Nov 6-8, 2013 scorecard
List A debut 1989/90
Last List A India v Pakistan at Dhaka, Mar 18, 2012 scorecard
Twenty20 debut South Africa v India at Johannesburg, Dec 1, 2006 scorecard
Last Twenty20 Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals at Delhi, Oct 6, 2013 scorecard
Recent matches
Bat & Bowl Team Opposition Ground Match Date Scorecard
1/5, 10, 0/18 India v West Indies Kolkata 6 Nov 2013 Test # 2101
5, 79* Mumbai v Haryana Rohtak 27 Oct 2013 FC
15 Mum Indians v Royals Delhi 6 Oct 2013 T20
35 Mum Indians v Trinidad & T Delhi 5 Oct 2013 T20
0 Mum Indians v Scorchers Delhi 2 Oct 2013 T20
5 Mum Indians v Lions Jaipur 27 Sep 2013 T20
15 Mum Indians v Royals Jaipur 21 Sep 2013 T20
38* Mum Indians v Sunrisers Mumbai 13 May 2013 T20
15 Mum Indians v Warriors Pune 11 May 2013 T20
48 Mum Indians v KKR Mumbai 7 May 2013 T20
Profile
Sachin Tendulkar has been the most complete batsman of his time, the most prolific runmaker of all time, and arguably the biggest cricket icon the game has ever known. 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 at each of the full range of orthodox shots (and plenty of improvised ones as well) and can pull them out at will.

There are no apparent weaknesses in Tendulkar's game. He can score all around the wicket, off both front foot and back, can tune his technique to suit every condition, temper his game to suit every situation, 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: 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. His 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, in 2008 he passed Brian Lara as the leading Test run-scorer, and in the years after, he went past 13,000 Test runs 30,000 international runs, and 50 Test hundreds.

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. Incredibly, he retains a divine enthusiasm for the game: at 36 years and 306 days he broke a 40-year-old barrier by scoring the first double-century in one-day cricket. In 2012, when just one month short of his 39th birthday, he became the first player to score 100 international centuries, which like Bradman's batting average, could be a mark that lasts for ever. Later that year, though, he announced his retirement from ODIs after a disappointing 18 months in international cricket. In October 2013, having played 198 Tests, Tendulkar announced that he would quit the longest format after playing his 200th Test, at home against West Indies.

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 in each innings 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.
Sambit Bal

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Rahul Bhattacharya on Sachin Tendulkar
Man-child superstar
The cricketer seemingly emerged fully formed when he first picked up a bat. So too perhaps did the luminary
Stats analysis
Master of the game
He has such staggering numbers in both Tests and ODIs that it's conceivable some of those records may never be broken