From: pvr@argo.rice.edu (PVR Narasimha Rao)
Subject: Re: Who is Sachin Tendulkar (The Rising Star)!
Followup-To: <1992Apr14.164638.1408@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Organization: Rice University, Houston, Texas
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 01:28:11 GMT


In article <1992Apr14.164638.1408@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, mhusain@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Muqtada Husain) writes:

|>    I received this thru a personal mail from one of my friends. I don't know
|> who wrote this originally, but I am posting it as it is makes an interseting 
|> reading about an emerging star of nineties (Sachin Tendulkar). Hope you will
|> enjoy this.

Thanks for posting it.

|>    Sachin Tendulkar is named after the famous films music director S.D.
|> Burman. He has 4 brothers and sisters, he is the youngest. His elder brother 
|> and sister were SD. Burman fans so the name. His father is a retired teacher
|> cum poet, not interested in cricket, same is with the mother, not interested

Though his father and mother are not interested in cricket, one of his brothers
was. He, in fact, played club cricket.

|> in cricket. Sachin started playing cricket from the age of 5 in Bandra (East)
|> at the age of 7 his elder brother noticed the way Sachin would center the ball
|> everytime he hit it and suggested Sachin join Sardashram School where the noted
|> (I forget the name)coached. According to the coach Sachin had all the 

His coach's name is Achrekar. He also coached Praveen Amre.

|> ingredients he just needed polish.
|> 
|>    Sachin averaged 100 practice sessions every year in school and in his final
|> year was noticed by the Bombay Ranji squad after he had scored 2500 runs that
|> year which included two 300s and a 200 he was only 13. He played for Bombay 

I also said that by miskake once earlier. But, he was 14 then, not 13. It was
during the 1987-88 season. Along with those two 300s and one 200, there were 8
centuries.

|> when he was 15. He scored century in his first match for Bombay. He holds the 
|> record to score a century in his debut in the Ranji, Duleep, and the Wills 
|> Trophy. He represented india in test matches after he had established himself 
|> as the main run getter for Bombay in the Ranji Trophy.

Let me also add that during his first season in first class cricket, he had an
average of over 50 (at an average of 15!).

|> size (ST is 1.65 mts) the pads should fit him. Sachin wore the pads throughout
|> the series. He was 18 when he represented India in international matches.
|> Gavaskar was 21 when he made his debut.

Tendulkar was only 16 when he first represented India in an international match
(in tests and in ODIs, both). He represented India in India at 17 (he played in
India after 3 overseas tours with 10 tests).

|>    Gavaskar really admires Sachin's ability to learn. According to Gavaskar
|> "Nobody can be perfect in cricket but the person who can learn quickly has
|> got a bright future in the game".

Sunil Gavaskar:

        There are no masters in this game, only students. And Sachin is a rare
        cricketer who is learning all the time. He is growing at a phenominal
        rate and the sky is the limit.

|>   In Australia Gavaskar advised him to wait for the ball to come to him and not
|> vice versa the result 100 after 100 after 100. He started dominating so much

Sorry to be picky. It was only 114 after 148*. There was no third 100. But never
mind, there will be 100s after 100s after 100s very soon. If the Indian batting
improves, there will even be 200s. Sachin has the temperament needed and he is
very talented.

|>    Sachin according to the famous Channel 9 anchor of australian TV (I think
|> Richie  Benaud)represents the modern day picture of an all round cricketer.
|> He says " he is so good now,what would he do when he matures?!

Benaud also said this:

Richie Benaud :

        He is the best young batsman I have ever seen in my life.

|>    Sachin has played in 19 testmatches so far (an update would be appreciated)
|> and is averaging 42.3 runs per match. His 1-day average is 33.0 (and this
|> excludes his run rate, which is considerably higher)

Sachin has played in only 16 matches (4 in Pak, 3 in NZ, 3 in Eng, 1 vs SL, 5 in
Aus). He made 956 runs. Also, his average is not 42.3. It's only 41.57.

It should be noted that his performance in ODIs was good (average of 45.67 in 17
ODIs) on the tour, but he didn't really do well in tests (average: 46). However,
he will do much better in future. It was, after all, his first series to Aus.

I don't know his ODI average, but it'll be (slightly) more than 33.

|>    Sachin loves Phil Collins, Dire Straits and Pink Floyd, but hates hard rock
|> as too mucmmh noise. He has a red maruti that was presented to him after he

Let me add that among the Hindi film singers, his favorite is Kishore Kumar.

|>    His mentality for the game is most evident when he played in Pakistan, 
|> undoubtedly the most difficult and hostile playing grounds in the world. At a 
|> time when Imran Khan Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram (Probably the best trio of 
|> pace attack in the world) are at their hostile best, and where Imran is 
|> reported to have said '" ... abe hindustani pehle cricket khelna seekh...", 

Reported by whom? Pl avoid such statements.

Imran didn't take the new ball in a test when it was due becuase he "reportedly"
wanted to use it when Sachin would come.

Imran was also "reported" to have said, "Sky is the limit for Sachin."

|> where all the indian batsmen had failed, Sachin was a headache to all the 
|> Pakistani bowlers. So much so that Waqar Younis even tried to get him injured 
|> by bowling a barrage of bouncers, Imran was totally useless,even with his 

Manjrekar made more than 600 runs in 4 tests on that tour. Azhar made a century.
Sidhu made a matchsaving 97. So, it's unfair to elevate Sachin saying, "where
all the Indian batsmen failed, Sachin was a headache to the Pakistani bowlers."

However, he was invloved in two matchsaving partnerships (his contribution being
an half-century in each case) and some useful 30s.

|> bouncers! Sachin played on even with blood on his face, he couldn't care less. 
|> I think he scored 67.

He scored 59 (in the fourth test at Sialkot). It was his second 50. It was the
first 50 of Sachin that I saw (the first 2 tests weren't shown in India, but with
the Indian team doing well to draw all the matches, with Manjrekar batting very
well and Prabhakar bowling very well, the Indian TV (DD) got the last 2 matches).

He got unjured (in the nose) by a bouncer from Waqar Younis (or was it Aaqib?)
and played a very good innings. Having come at 37/4 in the second innings on the
fourth day, he played very lusty innings. He scored 2 nice boundaries in the same
over in which he got injured.

You are speaking as if bowling bouncers was a dirty thing. Well, you can't accuse
the bowlers for bowling bouncers just because they did that to your hero.

|>    I have always felt that Pakistan plays dirty cricket in Pakistan,but not for
|> Sachin after the test series he considered the Pakistani bowlers to be,lets say
|> very good and very difficult, nothing else.

What do you mean by _dirty_ cricket?

Sachin said what you said.

|>    In the seventies we had Gavaskar. In the eighties we had Kapil. The Nineties
|> will surely be Sachin Tendulkar.
|>
|>    I would be happy if somebody could post the entire statistics of Sachin's

So would I be. Someone pl confirm whether he has 5 or 6 half-centuries in tests and post his stats in ODIs. I am giving his stats in tests:

Tests: 16,   Innings: 25,   NO: 2,    Runs: 956,   Average: 41.57,  MoM: 1,

Highest: 148* ,   Centuries: 3 (148*, 119*, 114),   Half-centuries: 5 or 6 ?

(He must've played around 32 onedayers. His average might be around 33-35. He made
11-12 half-centuries (plus two 48s) in ODIs. He was the MoM on 5-7 occasions.)

|> career. It would be worth following his career,for those of us who were too
|> young to have appreciated Gavaskar when he was beginning his career. We under-
|> stood the merit of Gavaskar when he was already established, we took him for
|> granted. It would be fun to stay with Sachin through all his best and of course
|> his worst. I am sure when he retires some of us will have a story to tell our
|> grand children, of Gavaskar and Sachin.

Well said. It will be really fun to stay with an all-time great from his first
match till his retirement. There are definitely great times ahead for the fans
of SRT.

|> Muqtada Husain

--------
PVR Narasimha Rao