War of CricketSachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar played international cricket for 24 years, from a Test debut at 16 against Pakistan's Imran Khan and Wasim Akram in 1989 to his 200th and final Test in November 2013, and finished as the only batsman ever to score 100 centuries in international cricket. He remains the leading run-scorer in both Test cricket (15,921) and one-day internationals (18,426), records that have stood since his retirement and, given how the modern game is scheduled, may never be threatened.
A career judged in real time as historic
Halfway through Tendulkar's career, in 2002, Wisden already ranked him the second-greatest Test batsman ever behind Don Bradman and the second-greatest ODI batsman behind Viv Richards — an unusual thing for an almanack built on hindsight to say about an active player with a decade still to play. That the ranking held up, rather than being overtaken by his own later form, is itself part of the case for him: Tendulkar scored more Test runs in the second half of his career than the first, and became the first batsman to pass 12,000, 13,000, 14,000 and 15,000 Test runs, reaching the last of those milestones in November 2011.
The 100th century, and the weight of expectation
No batting achievement in the sport's history was chased in public as visibly as Tendulkar's hundredth international hundred. He reached his 99th in March 2011, at the World Cup India went on to win, and did not add a hundredth for another year — through an Australian tour, an English tour, and mounting commentary, including from former teammate Kapil Dev, that the pursuit was becoming a distraction for the team. He finally reached it on 16 March 2012 against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup, becoming the first player in the game's history to reach three figures. Tendulkar later admitted the year-long wait had been one of the most mentally difficult stretches of his career.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | 100s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 200 | 15,921 | 53.78 | 51 |
| ODIs | 463 | 18,426 | 44.83 | 49 |
The World Cup he had chased for two decades
Tendulkar played six World Cups without winning one before India, co-hosting in 2011, finally lifted the trophy at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai — the ground nearest his childhood home. Teammate Virat Kohli carried him on his shoulders around the field afterwards, telling reporters Tendulkar had "carried the burden of the nation for 21 years" and it was time the team carried him. It was the emotional high point of a career built, unusually, on being both the most scrutinised cricketer of his generation and one who rarely put a foot wrong off the field.
Retirement and recognition
Tendulkar retired from ODIs in December 2012 and from all cricket after his 200th Test, played in Mumbai in November 2013 in front of a stadium chanting his name for a final innings. Days later the Indian government announced he would receive the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour — making him the first sportsperson ever to receive it and, as of the most recent list, still its youngest recipient. He had already received the Arjuna Award (1994), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (1997) and the Padma Vibhushan (2008), served as a nominated member of India's Rajya Sabha from 2012 to 2018, and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2019.
Legacy
Tendulkar's case does not rest on a single innings or a single record the way some of his contemporaries' do — it rests on the sheer duration and consistency of a career that started as a schoolboy prodigy and ended, 24 years later, still the man India built its batting order around. For the complete career record, see the Sachin Tendulkar player profile.