Sachin Tendulkar

No one has captured the imagination of the cricketing world as this MAN has over the last three decades. Making his mark in international cricket at the tender age of 16, he holds almost all batting records to his name. The 'Master Blaster' is still the leading run-getter in both Test cricket and ODIs in the history of cricket, despite hanging his boots seven years back.

The 15-year-old batting prodigy scored a century in his domestic first-class debut for Bombay in December 1988, making him the youngest player to do so. Prior to his feats for Mumbai, he stitched a record partnership with Vinod Kambli at the school level, to make rounds in the sphere of the sport. Just eleven months after his maiden domestic cricket appearance, he made his international debut for India against Pakistan, where he famously declined medical assistance despite getting hit in the face by Waqar Younis. 

Being just 17-years-old, Sachin delivered a match-saving 119 not out against England to become the second-youngest player to record a century in Test cricket. After finishing the 1996 World Cup as the event's leading scorer, Tendulkar was named captain of the Indian national team. Although he was a brilliant batsman, his captaincy skills were not equally good, in fact as a Test captain, Sachin just won 4 matches out of 25 and hence in 1998, the batting maestro stepped down as the skipper of team India.

In 2001, Tendulkar became the first player to score 10,000 runs in ODIs, and the following year he surpassed the great Don Bradman on the all-time list with his 30th Test century. The Ramakant Achrekar disciple was again the leading run-scorer during the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, earning 'Man of the Series' honours despite India's unforgettable loss to Australia in the final of the premier tournament.

Tendulkar's dominance in cricket continued even as he moved into his 30s. He delivered an unbeaten 241 against Australia in January 2004 and notched his record-breaking 35th century in Test cricket in December 2005. Three years later, Sachin broke another record and this time him victim was Brian Lara. He entered the record books by blowing past Lara's mark of 11,953 Test runs. On the back of the first-ever double century in ODIs against South Africa in 2010, Sachin was awarded as the 'Cricketer of the Year' by ICC in 2010.

In his long career of 24 years, it was in 2011, his dream of winning the World Cup became true. During the tournament, he again demonstrated he was a class apart from anyone else by becoming the first batsman to score over 2000 runs and six centuries in World Cup.

In 2012, Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha at the Parliament House in New Delhi. November 16, 2013, was one of the saddest days in post-Independent India. He retired from the ODI competition in December, and the following October, the legendary batsman announced he was calling it quits in all formats. Tendulkar played his 200th and final Test match in November 2013, finishing with a jaw-dropping accumulation of statistics that included more than 34,000 runs and 100 centuries in international play. 

He has played a crucial role in the MI set-up since the inception of the tournament even reaching a three-figure mark in IPL 2011. Sachin retired from the IPL in May 2013 after winning the IPL for the first time. Post-retirement, Sachin has generally remained distant from the game and has made sporadic appearances on the cricket field. Tendulkar captained 'India Legends' in the 'Road Safety World Series' during the triumphant 2021 edition. 

(As of July 2021)