Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is to Indian Cricket what Don Bradman was to Australian cricket. He is a holder of almost most of the major batting records - most centuries Test, most one-day centuries, most runs in one-day cricket and so on. Sachin Tendulkar is a holder of almost all of the major batting records. Sachin Tendulkar has been the face of Indian cricket for most part of his career. Inspite of his huge stature in the arena of cricket, Tendulkar`s humility remains impressive. It is his great innings that had made him the `god of cricket`.

Early Life of Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar was born on 24th April 1973 in Mumbai. Ramesh Tendulkar, his father, was a Marathi novelist. Sachin Tendulkar has an elder brother, Ajit and two other siblings, Nitin (brother) and Savita (sister). Sachin attended Sharadashram Vidyamandir where he began his cricketing career under the guidance of Ramakant Achrekar. He attended the MRF Pace Foundation to train as a fast bowler. However, Australian fast bowler, Dennis Lillee suggested Sachin to concentrate on his batting instead of bowling.

Early Career of Sachin
Tendulkar started playing for domestic cricket at the age of 15 in the year 1988. He had a century against Gujarat and this made him the youngest Indian to score a century in his debut match. He finished the season as Mumbai`s highest run-scorer. As a young player, Sachin would practice for hours in the nets. During this time it was Ramakant Achrekar who motivated and helped him to hone his skills in cricket.

Tendulkar played his first international test match against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989 at the age of sixteen. He made scored only fifteen runs in the first match but was determined and scored 215 runs in the Test series. This was followed by a tour of New Zealand in which he scored 117 runs. On his tour to England he became the second youngest cricketer to score a Test century at Old Trafford. Sachin Tendulkar further enhanced his development during the Australian tour between1991-1992 which included an unbeaten 148 in Sydney and a century on a fast, bouncing pitch at Perth.

Tendulkar`s performance improved with each match and he made records consecutively. He scored his first one day international century in the year 1994 against Australia in Sri Lanka at Colombo. It had taken him 79 one day internationals to score a century. Tendulkar`s career graph rose when he became the leading run scorer at the 1996 Cricket World Cup, scoring two centuries.

Sachin Tendulkar as a Captain
Tendulkar did serve as a captain for the Indian team in the year 1996. When he took over as the captain there were huge hopes and expectations. However, by 1997 the team was performing in a very poor manner.

Tendulkar took over as the captain succeeding Mohammad Azharuddin as captain for the second time, and led India on a tour of Australia where India faced a crushing defeat. Tendulkar resigned, and Sourav Ganguly took over as captain in the year 2000. However, he remains an integral part of the Indian team`s strategy. He has been credited to promote players like Irfan Pathan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and few more. In 2007, Tendulkar was appointed as vice-captain to captain Rahul Dravid.

Decline in Sachin Tendlkar`s Form
Tendulkar performed well in test in 2001 and 2002. Tendulkar took three wickets on the final day of the famous Kolkata Test against Australia in 2001.Tendulkar took the key wickets of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist in that test. In the 2002 series in West Indies, Tendulkar played well. Then in the matches thereafter he was unable to score at all. However, India had lost the series. This is considered to be the phase of decline in his career which lasted for quite some time.

He had made 673 runs in eleven matches in the 2003 Cricket World Cup which helped India reach the final. He scored heavily in one day international cricket that year. The drawn series of India in the Australian tour in 2003- 04 saw Tendulkar scoring 241 in Sydney. Prior to this he had had a horrible form, failing in all six innings in the preceding three tests. Year 2003 was his worst year in test cricket, as the average was only 17.25 with one half century.

Then injuries took a toll on his career. In the year 2005 at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi, Tendulkar scored his record-breaking 35th Test century, against team Sri Lanka. In the test series in Pakistan in 2006, Sachin failed to score well. Critics and the Media had declared that Tendulkar`s batting prowess had declined and his career graph witnessed a decrease. In the year 2006 Tendulkar was operated upon for his injured shoulder. Eventually he was selected for the next series. Tendulkar`s comeback came in the DLF cup in Malaysia was commendable. He responded to his by scoring the 40th one day international century. At the Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies, Tendulkar who was pushed to bat lower down the order by Coach Greg Chappell and had scored very badly. He was inconsistent. He seemed to have lost the ability to play many shots. He also stopped scoring highly and became defensive. He was advised by many to retire.

Sachin`s Return to Old Form
In the series against Bangladesh in 2007 Sachin returned to his opening position and became Man of the Series. In series against South Africa he continued by scoring two consecutive scores of over ninety. He was adjudged the Man of the Series. Tendulkar became the third cricketer to complete 11,000 Test runs. In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy he showed exceptional form by becoming the leading run scorer with 493 runs in four Tests. In the controversial New Years Test at Sydney he scored an unbeaten 154. In the One-Day International Commonwealth Bank Tri-Series Tendulkar became the first and only batsman to complete 16,000 runs in one day internationals. Before starting the three-Test series in Sri Lanka in mid-2008, Sachin needed just 177 runs to go past Brian Lara`s record of 11,953 runs in test cricket. However, he failed to do so at that time. However, during the following Australia tour of India, he scored heavily thereby breaking the record for most number of Test runs held by Brian Lara. He also reached the 12,000 run mark. In the year 2010, October Sachin Tendulkar became the first man to score 14,000 runs in Test cricket during the second Test against Australia in Bangalore.

Tendulkar`s Style of Playing
Sachin Tendulkar is a right-handed batsman. His batting is completely balanced and poised. He does not prefer slow and low wickets which are typical in India, and has scored many centuries on the hard and bouncy pitches abroad. He is known for his extraordinary punch style of hitting the ball over square. He is also known for his perfect straight drive. Sir Donald Bradman considered Tendulkar to have a batting style similar to his.

Former Australian cricket team coach John Buchanan believes Tendulkar has a weakness while playing left-arm pace. During the early part of his career he was a more attacking batsman and scored centuries frequently. Tendulkar has included several modern and unorthodox strokes into his batting style recently like paddle sweep. This has helped him to scoring consistently. He has himself admitted that he cannot bat that aggressively as he did earlier as his body has undergone changes and cannot sustain such aggressive shots. He is praised for his ability to adapt to his body needs yet scoring consistently.

While he is not a standard bowler he is able to bowl at medium pace, leg spin, and off spin with ease. He can often be a useful partnership breaker. He has helped securing victory on several occasions. Sachin Tendulkar has scored over 14000 runs in Test Cricket and 17000 runs in ODIs.

At a time when most of his contemporaries have retired or contemplating one, Tendulkar remains indispensable from the national cricket team. Recognizing his contribution to sports Tendulkar has been granted the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award, Padma Shri Award and Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India.

Cricket Statistics
Batting and Fielding Averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	184	303	32	15183	248*	56.02			51	63		66	110	0
ODIs	453	442	41	18111	200*	45.16	20980	86.32	48	95	1981	193	136	0
T20Is	1	1	0	10	10	10.00	12	83.33	0	0	2	0	1	0
First-class	288	456	48	24102	248*	59.07	59.07		78	109			178	0
List A	541	528	55	21684	200*	45.84			59	113			171	0
Twenty20	60	60	8	2069	100*	39.78	1659	124.71	1	13	268	26	23	0

Bowling Averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	184	139	4174	2445	45	3/10	3/14	54.33	3.51	92.7	0	0	0
ODIs	453	269	8044	6838	154	5/32	5/32	44.40	5.10	52.2	4	2	0
T20Is	1	1	15	12	1	1/12	1/12	12.00	4.80	15.0	0	0	0
First-class	288		7539	4337	70	3/10		61.95	3.45	107.7		0	0
List A	541		10220	8466	201	5/32	5/32	42.11	4.97	50.8	4	2	0
Twenty20	60	8	93	123	2	1/12	1/12	61.50	7.93	46.5	0	0	0

Personal Life of Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar is married to Anjali Mehta, a paediatrician by profession. The marriage took place in 1995. The couple is blessed with two kids, Sara and Arjun.

Achievements of Sachin Tendulkar
* ICC Award-Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for cricketer of the year 2010
* Padma Vibhushan, India`s second highest civilian award, 2008
* ICC World ODI XI: 2004, 2007
* Rajiv Gandhi Awards - Sports: 2005
* Player of the tournament in 2003 Cricket World Cup
* Maharashtra Bhushan Award, Maharashtra State`s highest Civilian Award in 2001
* Padma Shri, India`s fourth highest civilian award, 1999
* Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India`s highest honour given for achievement in sports, 1997-98
* Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 1997
* Arjuna Award, by the Government of India in recognition of his outstanding achievement in sports, 1994.
* In October 2010 he was awarded for Outstanding Achievement in Sport and the Peoples Choice Award at The Asian Awards in London
* On 28 January 2011, he won the `Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year` award.
* `BCCI Cricketer of the Year` award on 31 May 2011
* On 3 September 2010 he was made a Honorary Group captain by the Indian Air Force