SACHIN TENDULKAR

Sachin Tendulkar was born on April 23, 1973 at the Nirmal Nursing Home
in Dadar, Mumbai. His father was one of the most famous novelists of
Maharashtra, Ramesh Tendulkar, and his mother Rajni was an insurance
professional. His father named Sachin after Sachin Dev Burman who happened
to be his favorite music director. He was the youngest among 4 siblings elder
brothers Nitin and Ajit and elder sister Savita.
Early Childhood
The first few years of Sachins life were spent at the Sahitya Sahawas
Cooperative Housing Society in Bandra East. As a young kid Sachin was
completely opposite to how he is nowadays at school he was not averse to
picking a fight or two against children who had come there for the first time and
this led him to be regarded as a bully of sorts.
In his teens Sachin was a big fan of John McEnroe, one of the prominent tennis
stars from the US who was also known for his fits of temper. Ajit decided to do
away with the bullying and mischievous nature of Sachin and so he introduced
him to cricket during 1984. He took Sachin to Ramakant Achrekar, who was one
of the most well known club cricketers of his time as well as a top coach. He used
to teach at Shivaji Park, Dadar.
Achrekar liked what we saw with the young Sachin and asked him to change his
school to Sharadashram Vidyamandir (English) High School, which was located
in Dadar itself. The school was a top name in local cricketing circles and had
gifted many famous cricketers at that time. Before this, Sachin had been studying
at the Indian Education Societys New English School in Bandra East.
The Cricketing Journey Starts
Achrekar started by coaching Sachin in the mornings before school and in
the evenings after his school got over. Tendulkar used to practice for hours at end
and whenever he became tired Achrekar used to place a one rupee coin at the top
of his stumps. The condition was that Sachin could keep them if he did not get
out and Sachin collected 13 coins this way, which he still regards as being among
his most treasured possessions. It was at this time that he decided to stay with his
uncle and aunt who lived close to Shivaji Park in order to deal with a tiring
schedule.
Sachin The Child Prodigy
At school Sachin was regarded as a child prodigy and was a common point
of discussion in the cricketing circles of Mumbai. He was a constant feature for
his school team in the well known Matunga Gujarati Seva Mandal Shield. Along
with school cricket, Sachin made his mark in club cricket as well with

appearances at the prestigious Kanga League. His first club was the John Bright
Cricket Club and then he switched to the Cricket Club of India (CCI).
Sachin attended the MRF Pace Foundation in Madras at the age of 14 so that he
could train and become a fast bowler. However, Dennis Lillee who was heading
the proceedings was not impressed at the least by the young kid and asked him to
focus on his batting instead. It was during this time that Sachin was not able to
win the Best Junior Cricketer Award of the Mumbai Cricket Association and was
distraught but he received a pair of ultra light pads from a certain Mr. Sunil
Gavaskar who wrote to him as well and said that he himself had not been able to
win it as well as that age. In an effort to gee up the young talent he also stated
that he had not done too badly as a cricketer himself. Sachin stated after he had
eclipsed Gavaskars record of 34 test centuries that it had acted as possibly the
greatest encouragement for him at that point in time.
First brushes with International Cricket
Sachins first experience of international cricket came when he appeared
as a substitute for Imran Khans team at an exhibition game that was being staged
at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai as a commemoration of the golden jubilee
of CCI where Sachin used to play. When India played England in the semi final
of the 1987 World Cup in Mumbai Sachin played the role of a ball-boy in that
game.
First Glimpses of his Talent
Sachin had an exceptional season in 1988 and hammered a century in each
and every match he played. With former friend and team India colleague Vinod
Kambli he took part in an unbeaten partnership of 664 runs against the St.
Xaviers High School in a Lord Harris Shield interschool contest. Their
dominance was such that the opposition was not keen on going ahead with the
match and one bowler was actually crying. Tendulkar notched up a 326 in that
game and also scored in excess of 1000 runs in that tournament. His partnership
was to stay unbroken till 2006 when a couple of under-13 batsmen eclipsed it at
a game held in Hyderabad.
They say that morning shows the day and this was absolutely true for
Sachin as well. With sheer diligence and hard work coupled with unfathomable
natural talent and unsurpassed hunger for runs the young Mumbaikar
demonstrated the qualities that propelled him to the national team at the tender
age of 16 to face Pakistan which was one of the toughest teams at that time and
had a formidable bowling attack. Sachin acquitted himself well on that tour and
the rest as they say is history!