Sachin Tendulkar, the master blaster of Indian cricket has been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. Along with Sachin, there are former South African pacer Allan Donald and former Australian woman fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick awarded with the same at a ceremony on Thursday.
The 6th Indian
Sachin Tendulkar is the fifth Indian to be awarded with the framed cap. The first five were Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar in the inaugural year 2009, Kapil Dev in 2010, Anil Kumble in 2015, and Rahul Dravid in 2018. Sachin in his 23 years of illustrated career scored 15921 runs in 200 tests and 18426 in 463 ODIs which are still records. He hit 51 ODI tons, 68 half-centuries in test cricket and in ODI the numbers are 49 and 96. The leading run-scorer of the game in both formats is the only cricketer to score more than 30000 runs. He is the 16th player and the first Indian to score 50000 runs in all forms of domestic and international recognized cricket. Sachin registered innumerable records to his name which will be tough to be broken in the near future.
Sachin’s numbers can justify his cricketing career but cannot measure the impact he has in Indian cricket till now. His appearance in 1989 changed the dimension of Indian cricket and global cricket as well. Sachin became the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2010. Now, this is another prestigious ICC honor he has been acknowledged with.
According to the ICC rules, the basic norm of being considered for ICC Hall of Fame is staying away from international cricket for a minimum of five years after the official retirement from international cricket. Tendulkar retired in November 2013 and hence awarded in 2019. The legend on receiving the award said, “It is an honor to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, which cherishes the contribution of cricketers over generations. They have all contributed to the growth and popularity of the game and I am happy to have done my bit.”
ICC Rules
ICC borrowed a list of 55 yesteryear’s players from the Hall of Fame of Federation of International Cricket Players’ Association (FICA) and launched its own honoring legends like W G Grace, Don Bradman, and Richie Benaud among others. ICC laid down strict criteria for the induction into the elite fame league. The first and foremost condition to be eligible for the Hall of Fame is the absence of a player in any kind of international matches for at least five years. This automatically removes the eligibility of the current greats as they can be considered only after five years of their retirement from international cricket. Apart from this, for each segment ICC has drawn certain selection parameters for the players to be inducted into the club.
For a batsman, the criteria are to register at least 8000 runs and 20 ODI hundreds in any of the two major formats of the game or should average 50 in the either. A Bowler must have more than 200 wickets in any one of the formats with strike-rate being 50 and 30 respectively. A wicketkeeper will be qualified with 200 dismissals in both or either format. A captain must have led the team in at least 25 Tests and/or 100 ODIs with a win percentage of 50 percent or more in either or both to be qualified for ICC Hall of Fame. Thanks to such delicate criteria that we can easily see the greats of the game in the elite list. In the case of yesteryear’s players who passed away, their relatives are awarded the memento. The recipients after induction take part in the selection process of the new Hall of Famers.
Sachin’s partners
Tendulkar has got two more partners receiving the award along with him. One of the finest South Africa cricketers and arguably the best fast bowler from the country Allan Donald has been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame yesterday. He is only the third South African to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, after Graeme Pollock and Barry Richards who were inducted in 2009. Donald’s tally 330 test and 272 ODI wickets again aren’t sufficient to validate his contribution to South African cricket. After South Africa’s return to international cricket in 1991, Donald’s brilliance in cricket kept the game alive and popular in that nation. No wonder that Donald became the first South African post-isolation to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
The Australian fast bowler, Fitzpatrick became the 8th woman to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The fastest bowler of women’s cricket for a period of 16 years recorded a total of 180 wickets in 109 ODI matches, a record then and 60 wickets from 13 test matches to her name. She was instrumental in Australia’s two Women’s World Cup triumphs as well. In 2010, Rachael Heyhoe Flint, former England women’s cricket team captain who led the team to victory in the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1973, became the first woman in the Hall of Fame