Sachin Zone - Features

Achrekar took Tendulkar from IES School, Bandra to Shardashram Vidyamandir (English) where he was the coach as he learnt the nuances of the game.

Statistics, they say, never tell the whole story. But they don't lie either. Cricket is a game of numbers and so to take up Sachin's cause let us play the 'Number Game'. Not that Sachin needs any support as his record speaks for itself, but purely to destroy the myth of him not being a match winner.

For 23 years, everything Sachin did was a measure of our self-worth. If he failed, we failed. If he succeeded, we were ok. He was ours to knock down, blame, curse, applaud, gasp at, look up to, cherish, be frustrated with, admire.

Tendulkar was an unorthodox bowler and has 154 wickets from his 463 matches. Tendulkar has two five-wicket hauls and his best was 5 for 32 against Australia in Kochi, 1998.

23 years, 49 centuries, more than 18 thousand ODI runs...while all these records can be counted and quantified, how can one ever measure the number of joyous moments Little Master Sachin Tendulkar gave us on the field?

23 years ago, Sachin Tendulkar made his ODI debut vs Pakistan in 1989. Interestingly, his ODI retirement comes with an ODI series against Pakistan around the corner. But what made the Master Blaster decide that it's time to bring the curtains down on his ODI career?

Feared and respected by opponents, Tendulkar changed the definition of Indian batting, shrewdly combining orthodox and unorthodox shots to dominate any attack on any surface at home or abroad.

From Sachin Tendulkar's debut in 1989 to his retirement 23 years later, a look at the big moments in a glittering career.

But without an iota of doubt, Tendulkar, the only batsman to score 100 international centuries -- 51 in Tests and 49 in ODIs, would be remembered as the greatest batsman to have played the game after Bradman even though his glittering career was not without its low ebbs.

While his retirement plans were intensely debated in recent times through a long patch of poor form, the decision has saddened the world cricket nevertheless. The most prolific run getter in the world ever is 39 years of age.