MY FAVOURITE SPORTSPERSON

MY FAVOURITE SPORTSPERSON

INTRODUCTION

            Everyone has their own favourite sportsperson or celebrity. I like the sport cricket a lot. My favourite sportsperson is a cricket player. He is a world famous Indian cricketer. Yes! You got it right! It's Sachin Tendulkar.

           Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is a former Indian cricketer and captain, widely regarded to be one of the greatest cricketers of all time and by many as the greatest batsman of all time. He took up cricket at the age of eleven, made his Test debut on 15 November 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi at the age of sixteen, and went on to represent Mumbai domestically and India internationally for close to twenty-four years. He is the only player to have scored one hundred international centuries, the first batsman to score a double century in One Day Internationals, holds the record for most number of runs in both ODI and Test cricket, the only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in international cricket.

CHILDHOOD

           Sachin used to live in Indravadan. Sachin has spent an important part of his childhood here and still keeps visiting his original house in Indravadan to meet his beloved Aaji, Kaka and Kakoo. Sachin, the son of Sau Rajani and Shri Ramesh Tendulkar was born on April 24, 1973. As a child too, Sachin was quite popular in the whole of Indravadan for his unique long and curly hairstyle. Since his childhood, he used to play cricket with his elder brother, who himself is a  good player and an avid lover of this game.

           In 1985,  he changed his school and was admitted to Dadar,s Shardashram Vidyamandir. The cricket team of Shardashram was best known for dominating Mumbai's school level cricket under the able guidance of its cricket coach, Shri Ramakant Achrekar.

PLAY STYLE

           Tendulkar is cross-dominant: he bats, bowls and throws with his right hand, but writes with his left hand.He also practices left-handed throws at the nets on a regular basis. Cricinfo columnist Sambit Bal has described him as the "most wholesome batsman of his time". His batting is based on complete balance and poise while limiting unnecessary movements and flourishes. He appears to show little preference for the slow and low wickets which are typical in India, and has scored many centuries on the hard, bouncy pitches in South Africa and Australia.^[1] He is known for his unique punch style of hitting the ball over square. He is also renowned for his picture-perfect straight drive, often completed with no follow-through. The straight drive is often said to be his favourite shot. In 2008, Sunil Gavaskar in an article he wrote in the AFP, remarked that "it is hard to imagine any player in the history of the game who combines classical technique with raw aggression like the little champion does".

            

ACHIEVEMENTS

          Sachin Tendulkar is the leading run scorer in Tests, with 15,921 runs, as well as in One-Day Internationals, with 18,426 runs. He is the only player to score more than 30,000 runs in all forms of international cricket (Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals). He is the 16th player and the first Indian to score 50,000 runs in all forms of domestic and international recognised cricket (First-class, List A and Twenty20). He achieved this feat on 5 October 2013, during a Champions League Twenty20 match for his IPL team Mumbai Indians against Trinidad and Tobago.

He also holds the record of the highest number of centuries in both Tests (51) and ODIs (49) as well as in Tests and ODIs combined (100). On 16 March 2012, Tendulkar scored his 100th international hundred. It came against Bangladesh in the league matches of Asia Cup 2012. He is also the only player to score fifty centuries in Test cricket, and the first to score fifty centuries in all international cricket combined. He also holds the world record for playing the highest number of Test matches (200) and ODI matches (463). Tendulkar has been part of most wins by an Indian in both Test cricket with 72 wins and ODIs with 234 wins and is third in the world in ODI victories after Ricky Ponting(262 wins), Mahela Jayawardene(241 wins).

Tendulkar has scored over 1000 runs in a calendar year in ODIs 7 times, and in 1998 he scored 1,894 runs, the record for the highest number of runs scored by any player in a single calendar year for One-Day Internationals. He is the first male cricketer to score a double-century in one-day cricket.

He has been Man of the Match 13 times in Test matches and Man of the Series four times, out of them twice in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. The performances earned him respect from Australian cricket fans and players. Similarly he has been Man of the Match 62 times in One day International matches and Man of the Series 15 times. He became the first batsman to score 12,000, 13,000, 14,000 and 15,000 runs in Test cricket, having also been the third batsman and the first Indian to pass 11,000 runs in that form of the game. He was also the first player to score 10,000 runs in one-day internationals, and also the first player to cross every subsequent 1000-run mark that has been crossed in ODI cricket history. In the fourth Test of the 2008–09 Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia at Nagpur on 6 November 2008, Tendulkar surpassed Australia's Allan Border to become the player to cross the 50-run mark the most number of times in Test cricket history, and also the second ever player to score 11 Test centuries against Australia, tying with Sir Jack Hobbs of England more than 70 years previously. On 8 November 2011, Tendulkar became the first batsman to score 15,000 runs in Test Cricket.

Here is a list of some of his achievements:

National honours

• 1994 – Arjuna Award, by the Government of India in recognition of his outstanding achievement in sports.
• 1997–98 – Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest honour given for achievement in sports.
• 1999 – Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.
• 2001 – Maharashtra Bhushan Award, Maharashtra State's highest Civilian Award.
• 2008 – Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award.
• 2014 – Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Other honours

• 1997 – Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
• 2002 – In commemorating Tendulkar's feat of equalling Don Bradman's 29 centuries in Test Cricket, automotive company Ferrari invited him to its paddock inSilverstone on the eve of the British Grand Prix on 23 July, to receive a Ferrari 360 Modena from the F1 world champion Michael Schumacher.
• 2003 – Player of the tournament in 2003 Cricket World Cup.
• 2004, 2007, 2010 – ICC World ODI XI.
• 2009, 2010, 2011 – ICC World Test XI.
• 2010 – Outstanding Achievement in Sport and the Peoples Choice Award at The Asian Awards in London.
• 2010 – Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World.
• 2010 – ICC Award-Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for cricketer of the year.
• 2010 – LG People's Choice Award.
• 2010 – Made an Honorary group captain by the Indian Air Force.
• 2011 – BCCI Cricketer of the Year award.
• 2011 – Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year award.
• 2012 – Wisden India Outstanding Achievement award.
• 2012 – Honorary Life Membership of Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG)
• 2012 – Honorary Member of the Order of Australia, given by the Australian government.
• 2013 – Indian Postal Service released a stamp of Tendulkar and he became the second Indian after Mother Teresa to have such stamp released in their lifetime.
  
  

-by Aditya