Sachin Tendulkar, in full Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, (born April 24, 1973, Bombay [Mumbai], India), Indian expert cricket player, considered by many to be among the greatest batsmen of all time. In 2012 he became the first cricketer to score 100 centuries (100 runs in one inning) in international play.
Tendulkar was given his first bat after he was 11 years of age. As a 14-year-old, he used it to score 329 from a world-record stand of 664 in a college match. A year after he scored a century on his first-class debut for Bombay (Mumbai), also at age 16 years 205 days, he became India's youngest Test (international) cricketer, making his debut Pakistan at Karachi in November 1989.
When he was 18 he scored two decades at Australia (148 in Sydney and 114 at Perth), and in 1994 he scored 179 against the West Indies. In August 1996, at age 23, Tendulkar was made captain of his country's team.
In 1998 he had been selected for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the maximum award given to an Indian athlete, due to his outstanding performance in 1997--98 season.
India was defeated by Australia in the 1999 World Cup, failing to advance past the round of six, and has been soundly defeated by both Australia and also South Africa in string later that year. From the 2003 World Cup, however, Tendulkar helped his team progress as far as the finals.
Though India was defeated by Australia, Tendulkar, who averaged 60.2, was appointed the man of this tournament.
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