Essay on Sachin Tendulkar
India is a cricket crazy country and there is a saying in India 'Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God'. People in India are mad about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar for he is the greatest ever One Day International player and one of the greatest Test Cricket player. The Master Blaster, holds several batting records, including the most Test centuries and the most one-day international centuries, and was rated in 2002 by Wisden as the second greatest Test batsman ever, after Sir Don Bradman. He received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honour, for 1997-1998, and the civilian award Padma Shri in 1999. Tendulkar was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997. Sachin was born on 24 April 1973 in Mumbai (then Bombay) into a middle-class family. His parents Ramesh and Rajni Tendulkar named him after his family's favourite music director Sachin Dev Burman. Sachin was sent to Sharadashram Vidyamandir School where he started his cricketing career under Coach Ramakant Achrekar. While at school, he was involved in a mammoth 664 run partnership in a Harris Shield game with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli. At the age of 14 Sachin became the youngest player ever selected for Mumbai in the West Zone Ranji Trophy league and tine legend was born. Subsequently, b-e was selected for the Sportster Trophy for boys under 17. His scores of 15-8, 97 and 75 also won him the Man of the Series award and took his team (Dattu Phadkar XI) to victory. In 1988/ 1989, he scored 100 not-out in his first first-class match, for Bombay against Gujarat. At 15 years and 232 days he was the youngest to score a century on debut. He is, in fact, the only player to score a century while making his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debut. Sachin played his first international match against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989, facing the likes of Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Abdul Qadir, and Waqar Younis . However, his maiden Test century came in England's tour in 1990 .