22 April,2024 01:12 PM IST | Mumbai | Sujay Shivalkar
Sachin Tendulkar (Pic: AFP)
In the era when pace bowlers created havoc in the game, there stood a courageous Indian batsman named "Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar." Among the big names of Indian cricket such as Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni, Tendulkar had his own identity of fearlessly smashing boundaries to world-class bowlers.
During Tendulkar's era, people used to pray to god for not letting him lose his wicket early. During India's matches, Tendulkar never walked out to bat alone. He carried the hopes of 141.72 crores Indians with him. Facing bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis was not everyone's cup of tea.
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Pakistan in the late 90s was known to have a deadliest bowling attack. Many batsmen used to fear Pakistan's pacers due to their fierce pace and aggression. In that period, a 16-year-old boy walked in from India's end to face these pacers. A vicious bouncer hit Tendulkar's nose. His nose was bleeding due to the injury. The Indian physio suggested Tendulkar to return to the dugout. But he with a dream to make his country proud said "Mein Khelega...Mein Khelega." That was the moment when the world cricket witnessed the arrival of the greatest batsman.
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The very next ball bowled by Waqar Younis was a yorker. Tendulkar standing two feet inside the crease smashed it for a four. Younis being a pacer gave him a solid stare, but Tendulkar with a broken nose stared into Waqar's eyes. The brave Indian batsman scored an unbeaten 57 runs against Pakistan's aggressive bowling attack.
Sachin Tendulkar is the first player to score 100 international centuries. Despite scoring 100 centuries, Tendulkar has scored 90s for 17 times in One-Day Internationals and 10 times in Test cricket.
He also has a unique record for the longest career in international cricket which is 22 years and 91 days. He in his prime registered several records which are still unbroken.
In ODI, the Mumbai lad was the first-ever batsman to complete 18,000 runs. A player like Sachin Tendulkar is truly born once in an eternity.
