There are cricketers who consider it as their great fortune to have played the game they so love. But those moments are rare where one can say and feel with absolute surety that there are also certain individuals, not many, however, who the game is fortunate to have seen. And one such giant among the towering figures in international cricket is a certain Sachin Tendulkar.
To say that he was the most complete batter of his time would be touch incomplete and soulless in essence. Why? Becuse the game has never seen a better batter prior to and since the great Tendulkar. It might sound random or a touch funny to suggest that the cricket pitch was perhaps a home away from home for Sachin. Perhaps it’s still that way. Someone who fell in love with – and later- beautified the very art of batting commanding headlines and earning laurels from around the world for his outstanding skill with the willow- those who played with or against him became part of cricketing folklore. For such bright and inexhaustible has been Sachin Tendulkar’s aura.
As the great man, Mumbai’s son, India’s pride and world cricket’s most glowing enigma turns 53, it’s absolutely thrilling to visit some of his precious world records.
The following are the records of Sachin Tendulkar that may just stand the tests of time and may never be broken
World record for most international centuries
The equation, more or less, was always simple where it came to the blazing batting of the man called Sachin Tendulkar. He was tireless, passionate and almost unstoppable with the bat when he came out to serve Indian cricket. And in the process of raising the spirit and pure essence of the game, Tendulkar helped himself to an exact tally of 100 international centuries.
This included 51 centuries in red ball international cricket for India while 49 centuries came in fifty over cricket.
Also Read | Most centuries in the IPL
Record for most ODI fifties
Picture this. You play with pure class and sheer commitment to the game. You underline values such as total devotion to the team’s cause and go about out scoring some of the most promising and dependable names in international cricket and actually end up scoring no fewer than 96 fifties in international one day cricket.
How about that? Whether it was his exceptional batting whilst chasing a big total or helping his Indian team pile on the runs whilst batting first, Tendulkar donned the one day arena and holds the record for most half centuries in the ODI format, ever.
Record for most ODI appearances
From the onset of 1989, the year of his debut or arrival in international cricket to the year 2012, his last in international cricket, the great Tendulkar presided over a immensely long as well as a memorable career.
His storied and iconic career featured no fewer than 463 one day internationals, a record for most number of appearances in the ICC fifty over ODI game.
Due to the sheer magnanimity of this number, it can be predicted with a sense of slight certainty that the record may never be broken in the near future.
Not even the greats like Wasim Akram, Sourav Ganguly or the Waugh brothers ever reached such a milestone number.
Record for most international runs ever
It is one thing to go past 10,000 runs in any format of the game, irrespective of whether one plays one day internationals or Test match cricket. Most players dream to reach the towering number in any format of the game.
But then to have scored 34,000 plus runs in one’s international journey points to a feat that you would rightly dub as iconic. It’s exemplary and perhaps unheard of.
So to have scored 34,357 international runs (including both forms of the game), Sachin Tendulkar stands head and shoulders above any contemporary or past player that he played with or against.
Where it came to the art of batting, then Tendulkar converted an act of drudgery into pure beautify and magnificence and in his case it’s not just about the quantum of runs scored rather the classy fashion in which he went about run scoring.
A touch of class, a cut above the rest, truth be told, Sachin Tendulkar was and still is, the best!
