Sachin Tendulkar joins Twitter, gets rousing welcome

New Delhi:

After conquering the cricket field, India's ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar has stepped on to a new field to win the hearts of his fans. The master blaster has joined Twitter, an online social platform.

It is a platform where his fans can communicate directly with him. But Twitter, which is a hub of celebrities, will never be the same again after having the Little Master on board. A fan inspired by Pt Nehru's speech of independence, wrote, "At the stroke of the midnight when most Indians were sleeping, Sachin joined Twitter.

Sachin, whose Twitter ID is http://twitter.com/sachin_rt, made his presence public in his first tweet. It said, "Finally the original SRT is on twitter n the first thing I'd like to do is wish my colleagues the best in the Windies".

Sachin got a warm welcome on Twitter. Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty said: "Finally on twitter, The God of cricket himself. A big welcome shout for SACHIN TENDULKAR himself @sachin_rt spread the word".

His friend, Atul Kasbekar tweeted: "Ladies n Gentlemen it is my proud privilege to introduce Finally to Twitter, SACHIN TENDULKAR, @sachin_rt, follow the King now, go go go !!!"

His fans want him to break all records on this new ground as well.

"The only record left for him to break is maximum number of followers. Welcome the one and only and my favourite Sachin Tendulkar," tweeted Deepika Padukone.

"Sachin Tendulkar is on Twitter. We want him to beat Ashton Kutcher hollow. Spread the word. Follow Sachin," said Riteish Deshmukh.

"The original rock star is here. Welcome Sachin Tendulkar. He is here. Give him all the love he deserves," read Arjun Rampal's post.

"A big welcome shout for the Sachin Tendulkar himself. Enjoy!" said celebrated director Karan Johar.

Welcome messages also came from actors Rahul Bose and Arbaaz Khan and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur.

Actress Sameera Reddy was also excited about Tendulkar's joining.

"Twitter got more awesome. Let's welcome the undisputed king of cricket! We Love u Sachin! Sachin Tendulkar."

Apart from the filmstars, Tendulkar, who already has more than 43,000 followers on the popular site within a day of opening his account, also got welcome messages from tennis star Sania Mirza.

"Good to see you here," said Sania, a self-confessed fan of Tendulkar.

Specials: Sachin @ 37 | Sachin's 47 Test tons in pics

Sachin, who turned 37 in April, completed 20 years in the international cricket last November. Sitting on the pinnacle of Tests and ODIs, Sachin opted to stay from the Twenty20 format. However, he made it clear that he would continue to play in the IPL.

In 166 Test matches he has garnered a mind-boggling 13,447 runs at 55.56 per innings and in 442 ODIs the corresponding figures read 17598 and 45.12.

He is only two Tests short of equalling retired Australian batsman Steve Waugh in the highest number of appearances and it's just a matter of when he will achieve this distinction.

He has also under his belt 93 international hundreds, including 47 in Tests, and looks all set to complete a hundred hundreds before hanging up his bat.