Sachin Tendulkar

A fighting start

Tendulkar was included in the national team at the age of 16 years 205 days, becoming India’s youngest Test (international) cricketer when he made his debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November 1989. Although he struggled against the Pakistani pace bowling attack in the first match, he bounced back in the second match of the series to score his first half-century. He was hit on the nose by a short-pitched ball in the fourth Test match but continued batting. In a 20-over unofficial exhibition game following the Test series, he hit 58 off 18 balls, which earned him recognition in India.

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His first Test century came against England in 1990, making him the youngest Indian to reach the milestone. He followed it with two centuries in Australia (148 in Sydney and 114 in Perth) in 1991–92, quickly adapting to fast and bouncy tracks by hitting the ball late and on the back foot.

Peak performance

Tendulkar performed consistently through the 1990s and early 2000s. In early 1994 he moved up from the middle order to open the batting in ODIs and scored his first century in the format later that year. Although India was defeated in the semifinals of the 1996 Cricket World Cup, Tendulkar was the tournament’s top run scorer, with 523 runs, including two centuries. In August 1996, at age 23, he was made captain of the national team but was abruptly removed in 1997 after a run of poor team results. His second stint as captain, starting in 1998, was also mostly unsuccessful, and he quit as skipper in 2000, handing the reins to fellow batter Sourav Ganguly.

In 1998 he was instrumental in India’s Test series win over Australia, batting aggressively in an intense contest against Shane Warne, Australia’s most successful spin bowler. Soon after, in a triangular ODI tournament (cricket matches involving three teams), Tendulkar scored 143 off 131 balls—considered one of his greatest knocks—against the same opposition under difficult conditions caused by a sand storm. He hit another century in the final match to help India win the tournament. He made 12 centuries across formats that year—the most by any batter in a calendar year.

During the 1999 World Cup Tendulkar flew back from England to Mumbai for his father’s funeral, but he returned to score a century against Kenya, which he dedicated to his father. India was, however, knocked out before the semifinals. In the 2003 World Cup Tendulkar scored a match-winning 98 runs against Pakistan to take India to the finals despite battling multiple injuries. Although India was defeated by Australia, Tendulkar was named the Player of the Tournament.

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Lean patch and comeback

Tendulkar’s performance dipped in the mid-2000s partly because of a string of injuries, most notably a tennis elbow. Still, he continued to score runs and made history in a game against Sri Lanka in December 2005 when he notched his record-breaking 35th century in Tests, going past the prolific Indian run scorer Sunil Gavaskar. Tendulkar considered retirement after India’s early exit from the 2007 World Cup, which he saw as a low point in his career, but decided to keep playing after a conversation with West Indian cricketer Viv Richards.

Tendulkar returned to form following a major surgery in 2008, crossing 12,000 runs in Tests to become the highest run scorer in the format, breaking the record set by West Indian batting legend Brian Lara. In 2010 Tendulkar was named the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year. In the period under consideration for the award (August 2009–August 2010), he racked up more than 1,000 Test runs and scored a historic “double century” against South Africa, becoming the first male cricketer to score 200 runs in a single ODI innings. He also was India’s top run scorer in the 2011 World Cup-winning campaign. He has often said that winning the World Cup is the crowning achievement of his career.

After scoring a century during the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar was one short of 100 international centuries. However, he went 33 innings without reaching the milestone, drawing public scrutiny. Tendulkar finally scored his record-setting 100th international century—which includes both Tests (51 centuries) and ODIs (49 centuries)—in an ODI match against Bangladesh in March 2012. He later admitted that the long wait had been challenging. He retired from ODI cricket later that year and from Test cricket in 2013, ending his playing days with records for the most career ODI runs (18,426) and Test runs (15,921).