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Today the master blaster turns 49, and on this special occasion, this article will provide you an in-depth detail of Sachin Tendulkar and his evolution into India’s legendary cricketer.

Sachin Tendulkar has been the heart of Indian cricket, and his legacy has influenced my young talents to become a great cricket player for India. Sachin picked up the bat and embarked on an unbelievable journey at just a very young age. 

He made his test match debut at the age of sixteen on 15 November 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi, and the rest is history. 

Journey and evolution into a greatest Indian batsman 

Every Indian cricketer started his journey first by playing in the Ranji Trophy; just like this, Sachin began his expedition to play Ranji Trophy, India’s domestic first-class cricket tournament.

However, he was an unused player who warmed benches and barely played any matches most of the time. But in the subsequent year, he was included in the Bombay team in a match against Gujarat in Wankhede Stadium; aged 15 and 232 days, Sachin made a century not out for Bombay, becoming the youngest player to do so in first-class cricket.

Bombay captain Dilip Vengsarka eventually selected him; the master blaster ended the tournament being the highest scorer, 583 runs at an average of 67.7. as he kept evolving, he got to captain Mumbai against the rest of the Indian team.

Sachin’s growth into the best batsman was so quick he got to represent Yorkshire, where he smashed 1070 runs at an average of 46.52. 

After being monitored by the Indian Cricket Team, he was picked by them for the test match against Pakistan, where he was exposed to pacy bowlers and was even hit on the nose, but he declined the medical assistance and continued to bat with a bleeding nose. 

Keeping his calm in the match, he made 53 runs off 18 balls; this made him the most outstanding player for India and heaped praises as well. Subsequently, he became the permanent batsman for the Indian Cricket team. He fared in his first world cup in 1996, where he was the top scorer and was the only batsman to perform well against Sri Lanka.

In their next match against Australia, Sachin met the dominating bowler of cricket Shane Warne, who was the world’s leading spinner. Both at the peak of their career came head-to-head in a test series, where Sachin scored 111 runs in 16 over as Australia lost the match in three days. 

The 49-year-old was on his way to becoming one of the finest batsmen cricket has ever seen. In 1996 he was handed the captaincy, but unfortunately, it was a massive failure for  Sachin, regardless he maintained his excellent form. Sachin insisted on offering the captaincy to Dhoni, who achieved success. 

But Sachin carried his charisma and delivered on the big stage; however, there was a sharp decline in Sachin’s career for a brief period of time as he scored 0,8,8,0 in the next four innings. But before 2003, he got back and helped India reach the WC, where they lost to Australia.   

Another loss in the 2007 World Cup where Sachin went through a series of downfall, as his performance deteriorated and he had a confrontation with Indian coach Greg Chappel. Later Greg resigned, and Sachin was criticized for his performance. 

He contemplated retiring from cricket, but Viv Richards and Ajit Tendulkar made him change his decision. The year 2007 was the worst year of his career.

Nonetheless, Sachin made amends, and in 2011 India finally won the Cricket World Cup. Sachin Tendulkar was reaching his retirement, but before all this, he kept making records, and in the match against Bangladesh, he scored his 100th international hundred on 16 March 2012 at Mirpur against Bangladesh.

After playing for a few more years and all forms of cricket, Sachin finally kept his bat in the ground and announced he would retire from all cricket on 10 October 2013. Many big personalities around the world paid their tribute to the master blaster.

Indian Premier League

Sachin captained Mumbai Indians in IPL 2008, and there he’d break records and score runs for fun, winning awards. It was like a walk in the park for the 49-year-old. Although Sachin failed to win the IPL trophy, he maintained his high status, and subsequently retired from IPL in 2014 but remained the team’s icon. 

He belted 2,334 runs during the time of his retirement and is the fifth-highest run-scorer in the competition’s history; as a tribute to his retirement, Mumbai retired his number 10 jersey.

Sachin Tendulkar’s milestones, records he holds, and Major Honours

- Sachin has the most runs in the calendar year in one-day international (1894).

- Sachin Tendulkar has the most runs in test matches (15921).

- Sachin Tendulkar scored two unbeaten fifties in a test match. 

- Sachin Tendulkar has scored a hundred nine times against a single team. 

- Sachin Tendulkar has the most player of the series award in T20 and ODI. 

- 2003 – Player of the tournament in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

- 2020 – Laureus World Sports Award for Best Sporting Moment (2000–2020)

- 2019 – Inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame

His current role in the sports or cricket

After his retirement, he was appointed Cricket Advisory Committee by the BCCI alongside  VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly. However, there was an allegation of conflict of interest him and he left the post. In 2019 he was a commentator during the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.

 In 2012 he became the mentor of the MI, and now he is acting as an icon for the MI team and a supporting staff.