Sachin Tendulkar 50th Birthday: Sachin Tendular is among the greatest cricketers to ever play the game. The entire world commemorates this living legend’s birthday today, April 24, who has accomplished so much in such a little amount of time. Sachin Tendulkar is adored by people all around the world. Here are 30 fascinating facts about the ‘Little Master’ as one of the most distinguished Indian cricketers turns 50 today. Follow sports NEWS & LIVE updates with InsideSport.IN
1. At 14 years old, Sachin Tendulkar formerly held the record for being the youngest player to join the Ranji team.
2. Sachin Tendulkar was a ballboy for the 1987 Cricket World Cup.
3. Superstition is a trait of Sachin Tendulkar. While padding up, he would put on his left pad first and then his right.
4. Both sleeptalking and sleepwalking were habits of Sachin Tendulkar. Excerpts from Sandeep Patil and Clayton Murzello’s book Caught Told: Humorous Cricketing Anecdotes.
5. Dennis Lillee, a legendary Australian fast bowler, turned down Sachin Tendulkar’s desire of becoming one at the MRF Pace Academy in Chennai in 1987.
6. Sachin Tendulkar brought his textbooks on the trips with the Bombay Ranji team so he wouldn’t put off his studies.
7. For a player on the losing team, Sachin Tendulkar has received six man-of-the-match accolades, which is a record.
8. When Sachin scored his first Test century in 1990, he was awarded a champagne bottle as the man-of-the-match trophy. He was under the legal drinking age in the United Kingdom of 18 years, thus he was unable to open it. Later, in 1998, on her daughter Sara’s first birthday, he finally opened it.
9. During an inter-school match in 1988, Sachin Tendulkar and former India star Vinod Kambli set a record by partnering for 664 runs.
10. Sachin Tendulkar, who was the first foreign cricketer for Yorkshire in 1992, is the youngest Indian (19 years old) to play county cricket in England.
11. Sachin Tendulkar is the first player ever to be dismissed by a third umpire following a TV review. This occurred during India’s 1992–1993 tour of South Africa.
12. All three of the major domestic first-class tournaments—the Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, and Irani Cup—saw centuries from Sachin Tendulkar on his debut.
13. The batting pads that Indian icon Sunil Gavaskar wore throughout the match were given to Sachin Tendulkar for his Test debut in Karachi.
14. In his international career, Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed 23 times in the 90s. While Sachin has 200 wickets in his international career (45 in tests, 154 in ODIs, and one in T20s).
15. Sachin Tendulkar is the first player to ever receive the honorary rank of Group Captain from the Indian Air Force on September 3, 2010.
16. When Sachin Tendulkar took the oath as a Rajya Sabha member on June 4, 2012, he officially became a member of parliament.
17. Sachin Tendulkar and Pakistan’s Javed Miandad, who participated in every World Cup from 1975 to 1996, each had six appearances in the 50-over World Cup between 1992 and 2011.
18. Two times in Kochi, Sachin Tendulkar has taken five wickets in an ODI: 5/32 in 1998 against his beloved team, Australia, and 5/50 in 2005 against Pakistan.
19. Twenty of Sachin Tendulkar’s 51 Test hundreds have come in victories, while 11 have been in losses. His remaining twenty tonnes have all come through drawn tests.
20. Sachin Tendulkar has not recorded a Test century in Zimbabwe.
21. 33 of Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI hundreds have led to victories, 14 have resulted in defeats, one has ended in a tie, and one was made in a game that ended in a draw.
21. Three times in ODIs, Sachin Tendulkar was removed for 99 runs, all of which occurred in 2007.
22. Sachin Tendulkar is the only other batter to surpass 2,000 runs in World Cup cricket. In 45 games, he has 2,278 runs under his belt.
23. English fast bowler Alan Mullally claimed that Tendulkar’s bat was wider than a typical willow during Sachin’s first test match.
24. In 1995, he went to see the movie Roja while wearing a disguise, but it didn’t go well because the audience in the theatre recognised him.
25. Tendulkar, a great follower of the legendary tennis player John McEnroe, grew out his hair and wrapped a band over it in an attempt to look like him.
26. Sourav Ganguly refers to Sachin as “Babu Moshai,” while Ganguly refers to him as “Chhota Babu.”
27. Famous sports figures that admired Tendulkar include footballer Diego Maradona from Argentina, tennis players Pete Sampras and Boris Becker, and many others.
28. With nine ODI hundreds in 1998, Sachin still retains the record for the most centuries in a year.
29. In his early years, he used to go tadpole and guppy fishing in the creek that flowed past the Bandra East premises of the famous Sahitya Sahawas.
30. Tendulkar was extremely possessive of his Ferrari and even forbade his wife Anjali from driving it.
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