A look at Sachin Tendulkar’s 10 unique records on his 47th birthday

Sachin Tendulkar is unarguably the greatest all-format batsman of all time considering the feats he achieved and the milestones he reached during his 24 year long international career for India. He was just 16 years old when he played international cricket for the first time and since then, he has been residing in the heart of every Indian fan. Tendulkar, although retired now, is still the most worshipped cricketer in India and as he turns 47 years old today, we take a look at ten of his most unique records which will probably stand the test of time.

• Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer in both Test and ODI cricket history. While he has 15921 Test runs to his name, the corresponding figure in ODIs read 18426. Overall, he is the only player in the entire cricketing history to have more than 30,000 runs (Tests, ODIs and T20Is combined) under his belt.

• He is also the only batsman with 100 international hundreds ( 51 in Tests and 49 in ODIs) to his name. He achieved the feat against Bangladesh during the 2012 edition of the Asia Cup.

• Sachin was just 17 years and 197 days old when he scored his maiden Test century and he is still the youngest Indian batsman to achieve the feat.

• He was the first player to score a double ton in ODIs. He reached the milestone against South Africa at home in 2010.

• Tendulkar’s achievements aren’t limited to his batting only. He was an equally capable spinner with over 150 ODI wickets to his name and he is the only player till date to have defended six or fewer runs in the last over twice in ODI history.

• Nobody has played more Tests and ODIs than Tendulkar’s tally of 200 and 463 matches respectively.

• Tendulkar also holds the world record for scoring 1000+ runs in a calendar year a total of six times (1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2012).

• He scored a total of 673 runs during the 2003 World Cup and it is still the highest tally of runs by a batsman in a single edition of the tournament. Tendulkar was rightly adjudged the Player of the tournament as well.

• Sachin has been a part of 72 Test wins and 234 ODI wins, the most for an Indian cricketer.

• He also holds the record for the most 150+ scores in Test cricket. Tendulkar has gone past the 150-run mark a total of 20 times in his Test career.

Written by : Prasenjit Dey