After Sachin’s Perth hundred(114) in 1992, the famous London Times correspondent John Woodcock, in his ’70s, was moved enough to say: “Gentlemen, he is the best batsman I have seen in my life. And unlike most of you, I have seen Bradman bat.” Here are 50 Amazing Facts About Sachin Tendulkar.
1-10
1. Out of 2086 ODI cricketers, who have played till date, 2073 have not even managed to score half of Sachin Tendulkar’s career runs in their own ODI career. That is almost 99.37 % Cricketers.
2. He was named after music director Sachin Dev Burman by his father.
3. Sachin wanted to be a fast bowler and he even went to the MRF Pace Academy, but head coach Dennis Lillee asked him to concentrate on batting.
4. He loved competitions like I-can-eat-more-vada-pavs-than-you with his cricket buddies Vinod Kambli and Salil Ankola.
5. He wore his left pad first and had the tricolor pasted inside his kit bag.
6. He remembers every one of his test dismissal, especially the bowlers who dismissed him.
7. Although he bats with his right hand, he eats and autographs with his left.
8. He refused to shoot for a soft-drink ad of him smashing cricket balls with a fly swatter. He reportedly told the film maker “That would make me greater than the game.” The ad was later modified and he hit the balls with a stump.
9. He was without a bat contract during the 1996 World Cup and he emerged as the highest run-taker.
10. His coach Shardashram Ramakant Achrekar used to offer a rupee as a prize to any bowler, who could dismiss Sachin. If he remained not out, the coin belonged to Sachin. Tendulkar has13 coins from his coach.
11-20
11. He fielded for Pakistan as a substitute during a one-day practice match against India at the Brabourne Stadium in 1988.
12. He was a ball boy during the 1987 World Cup semi-final between India and England at Wankhede.
13. In school, he was once mistaken for a girl by his good friend Atul Ranade because of his long curls.
14. He sang and whistled with Vinod Kambli during their 664-run record stand in the Harris Shield in 1988 to avoid eye contact with the coach’s assistant who wanted to declare while the duo wanted to bat on.
15. When Sachin scored the historic 664-run stand with Kambli, he was wearing wet pants as it hadn’t dried after washing due to monsoon weather and he did not have a spare one. Being Superstitious, he used some water on his pants before going to the crease until recently.
16. He was known to be a bully at school but was kind to cats and dogs. His first captain, Sunil Harshe, said that he loved to pick a fight. Every time he was introduced to someone, his first reaction was, ‘Will I be able to beat him?
17. His colony watchman’s son Ramesh Pardhe, who was his playmate, said Sachin would ask him to dip a rubber ball in water and hurl it at him. He wanted to see the wet marks on his bat to find out whether he had middled the ball correctly.
18. A prankstar, he once put a hose-pipe into Saurav Ganguly’s room and then turned on the tap. Ganguly later found his gear floating.
19. He calls Ganguly ‘Babu Mosai’, and Saurav calls him ‘Chota Babu’.
20. In the 2004 Australia-India one day series, Sachin was bowled out by Brad Hogg. Sachin shook his head and said a wonderful line: “This won’t happen again.” After that match Sachin and Hogg faced each other 22 times and on none of the occasions could Hogg bowl out Sachin. Not even once.
21-30
21. Sachin Tendulkar was the first batsman to be given out by a third-umpire. In 1992, on the second day of the Durban Test, a Jonty Rhodes throw caught Tendulkar short of the crease. After watching TV replays, he was adjudged out.
22. In his childhood, during a vacation, Sachin fell down from a tree, and as a punishment for his antics, his brother Ajit registered him for a cricket coaching class.
23. “He hasn’t spent Diwali at home since we got married. But it really doesn’t matter that it’s Diwali, any time he spends at home is great!” – Anjali, his better half.
24. Once in a BBC interview when Sachin was asked about his dream women, Sachin answered ‘my wife’ without batting an eyelid.
25. “Sachin has promised me that he would provide me with the tickets of all international matches played in our country, and he is living up to his words“-Chaudhary. His name is Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary. Sachin provides tickets of all international matches in India to him. He is the guy you notice in every Indian game, the one painted in tricolor.
26. Sachin Tendulkar was most fascinated by band-aids. If there is a hint of a wound, he would plaster it all over the injury.
27. Also, the first advertisement in which Sachin featured was for a sticking plaster (Band-Aid).
28. Sachin Tendulkar uses a very heavy bat at the crease, weighing 3.2 pounds. Only South Africa’s Lance Klusener used a heavier bat in world cricket.
29. Sachin Tendulkar went to watch the movie Roja in 1995 with a beard, in disguise. It all went wrong when his glasses fell off and the crowd in the cinema hall recognised him.
30. On Dec 14, 1989, on the last day of the last Test of his first Test series, in Sialkot, he got hit on the nose by Waqar Younis (also in his first series). Sachin fell down, got up, and wiped away the gushing blood. Medical assistance was declined and he eventually was out for 57.
31-40
31. On Mar 27, 1994, he opened in an ODI for the first time against New Zealand. He went on to make 82 off 49 balls.
32. On Sept 2010, Tendulkar was the first individual without an aviation background to be awarded the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force.
33. At World Cups, he has been more prolific than anywhere else. His total tally at WCs (2278 Runs) is 30.6% greater than his closest and arch rival Ricky Ponting (1743 runs). If you think he has played more, he has played 1 match less than Ponting in WCs. He has also hit 6 centuries and 21 half tons in them.
34. On the night before his match, he sets the alarm to wake up between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. to drink water to keep his body hydrated.
35. He stimulates his body to conditions and weather ahead of a game. A day before the 2010 Colombo Test, he stood by the pitch, all padded up, for close to two hours in the sun, to let his body absorb the head. He scored a double century in that test.
36. He is the only player to score a century on his debuts in all three Ranji, Irani and Duleep trophies.
37. Throughout his test career (190 tests), he has been stumped only once by Ashley Giles in the 3rd test vs England at Bangalore in 2001.
38. Sachin sponsors 200 under-privileged children every year through Apnalaya, a Mumbai based NGO.
39. Sachin has never endorsed a liquor brand.
40. When Sachin won the man-of-match award for his first Test century in 1990, he was given a champagne bottle. He could not use it as he was below 18 and age limit for alcohol was 18. He opened that champagne bottle on his Daughter’s first birthday in 1998.
41-50
41. Sachin became the first overseas-born player to represent Yorkshire, which prior to Tendulkar joining the team, never selected players even from other English counties.
42. Sachin holds the record for most man-of-the-match awards won by a player on losing side, which is 6 times.
43. Gifted by Fiat through Michael Schumacher, Sachin’s Ferrari 360 Modena became infamous when Tendulkar was given customs exemption. Since the car was originally a gift upon Sachin crossing the tally of 29 test centuries made by Sir Don Bradman, Fiat paid the dues to end the controversy.
44. Top 3 scores of him while chasing, 175, 143, 141 came in defeat because no one else in his team supported him.
45. Removing his runs he scored in India, do not remove him from Top 5 run getters of all time in ODIs as he would still have 11400 runs scored outside India.
46. He scored 19.24% of the total bat runs that India scored in the matches he played in his entire ODI career (18,426 runs out of 95,765).
47. For a 20 year career from Jan 1991 to Jan 2011, his avg reaches 58.04. It is the second highest avg after Jack Hobbs(60) for a continuous 20 year career with qualification of 4000 runs. (Bradman would also be there but his career length is 19 year 262 days).
48. In test matches, he has away avg of 54.74 better than home avg of 53.79.
49. Sydney Cricket Ground is his favorite.
50. Teammate Paveen Amre bought him his first pair of international quality cricket shoes and he still has them.
