47 Interesting Facts About Sachin Tendulkar

No cricketer has ever captured the hearts and minds and time of a billion people like the little man. No cricketer has matched the popularity and created so much mass hysteria. No cricketer has been the soul and spirit of a nation like he was for most of his career. No cricketer has set as many records and broken so many milestones as this diminutive genius.

As Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar turns 47, we look at 47 interesting insights and milestones of his cricketing career.

1) 16 Years and 205 Days: Age at which Tendulkar made his Test debut

Tendulkar is the fifth-youngest player in Test cricket history to make his Test debut – vs Pakistan at Karachi on 15^th November, 1989

2) 34357: Highest aggregate in International cricket history

3) 100: Maximum Hundreds in International cricket history

Ponting (71) and Kohli (70) are a distant two and three

4) 15921: Highest aggregate in Test cricket history

5) 51: Maximum Hundreds in Test cricket history

6) 53.78: Highest Average in Indian Test cricket history

7) 11: Hundreds against Australia in Test cricket (the best Test team during his career)

Only Bradman (19 against England), Gavaskar (13 against West Indies) and Jack Hobbs (12 against Australia) have registered more hundreds against a single opposition in Test cricket. Steven Smith has recorded 11 hundreds against England

8) 55: Tendulkar’s Average against Australia in Test cricket

9) 6: Maximum Number of Calendar Years in which aggregated 1000-plus Test runs

Tendulkar scored 1000-plus runs in Test cricket in a single year in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2010. No other batsman has achieved this feat

10) 51.3: Highest Test Average for an Asian batsman in SENA countries

11) 54.74: Highest Test Average for an Asian batsman in Away/Neutral venue

12) 154: Second-Fastest (in terms of innings) to reach 8000 Test Runs

Sangakkara reached the milestone in 152 innings

13) 40-plus: Tendulkar’s Batting Average is 40-plus against all the 9 Test teams in his career

Tendulkar averaged in excess of 50 against 6 opposition teams

14) 78.43%: Percentage of Tests India has won/drawn when Tendulkar has scored a hundred (40 of 51)

The corresponding percentage for Kohli is 74.07% (20 of 27 hundreds)

15) 17 Years and 107 Days: Tendulkar’s First Test Hundred (against England in Manchester in 1990)

Only Mohammad Ashraful and Mushtaq Mohammad have scored their first hundreds at a younger age.

16) 9: Maximum Dismissals by any bowler (James Anderson)

Tendulkar has been dismissed 9 times by James Anderson and 8 times by Muralitharan in Test cricket. Warne got the better of Tendulkar on just 3 occasions in 12 matches.

17) 136: Highest Impact Test Batting Performance (vs Pakistan in Chennai in 1999)

Tendulkar scored 136 in the 4^th innings against Pakistan in Chennai in 1999. Chasing 271, India fell 13 runs short and were bowled out for 258. Only two other batsmen registered double digits in the innings

18) 248 Not Out: Tendulkar’s Highest Test Score (vs Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2004)

19) 241 Not Out: Tendulkar’s Highest Test Score Outside the Sub-Continent (vs Australia in Sydney in 2004)

20) 6: Number of Double Hundreds Tendulkar has scored in Test cricket

21) 18426: Highest Aggregate in ODI cricket history

22) 15310: Highest Aggregate as an Opener in ODI history

Tendulkar started opening from the 27th of March, 1994 when he blasted 82 off just 49 deliveries against New Zealand in Auckland. This transformed his career and he scored 15310 runs opening the batting for India at an average of 48.29 and strike rate of 88.05

23) 49: Maximum Hundreds in ODI history

24) 96: Maximum Fifties in ODI history

25) 9: Maximum Hundreds against a single opposition

Tendulkar registered 9 hundreds against the best ODI Team during his career – Australia. Kohli has also registered 9 ODI hundreds but against the West Indies

26) 1894: Maximum Runs in a Calendar Year in ODI cricket (in 1998)

Tendulkar scored 1894 runs in 33 innings at an average of 65.31 and strike rate of 102.15 including 9 hundreds and 7 fifties in 1998

27) 8717: Runs scored by Tendulkar between 1st January, 1996 and 31st December, 1999 in international cricket

This was Tendulkar’s “Golden Period”. No one scored more runs in this time-frame in Tests or ODIs or combined

Tendulkar averaged 61.05 in Tests and recorded 14 hundreds

His average in ODI cricket was 47.84 with 20 hundreds

28) 62: Maximum Man of the Match Awards in ODI cricket

Jayasuriya (next highest) has 48.

29) 14: Maximum Man of the Series Awards in ODI cricket

Jayasuriya (next highest) has 11

30) March 31, 2001: Tendulkar becomes first batsman to score 10000 runs in ODI cricket history

31) 7: Maximum Number of Calendar Years in which Aggregated 1000-plus ODI Runs

Tendulkar scored 1000-plus in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2007. Kohli is the only other batsman to achieve this feat.

32) 5359: Tendulkar’s ODI aggregate during 1996-1999

Tendulkar scored 5359 runs at a stunning average of 47.84 and strike rate of 90.08.

There was daylight between him and all the other batsmen in this period in terms of a combination of runs scored and strike rate. Only Saeed Anwar with an average of 44.93 and strike rate of 86.77 came close. Ganguly, Mark Waugh, Kirsten and Ponting all averaged in excess of 40 but at a strike rate of less than 80. Tendulkar recorded 20 ODI hundreds during these 4 years, 11 more than any other batsman.

33) 90.7 vs 71.57: Tendulkar vs World Standard in ODI Strike Rate between 1994-1999

From 27^th March, 1994, when he started opening till the end of the decade, Tendulkar had a strike rate of 90.7. The average strike rate of the Top 4 batting positions during this period was just 71.57.

34) 67.35%: Percentage of ODIs India has won when Tendulkar has scored a Hundred (33 out of 49 times)

35) 124: Tendulkar’s Highest Impact ODI innings (against Zimbabwe at Sharjah in 1998)

Tendulkar’s highest impact ODI innings came against a strong Zimbabwe unit in the final of the Coca-Cola Champions Trophy at Sharjah in 1998. Chasing a modest 197 for victory, India blasted the Zimbabwe attack and romped home within 30 overs without losing a wicket. Tendulkar scored 124 off just 92 deliveries smashing 12 fours and 6 sixes. In a low-scoring match, he had scored almost 63% of India’s total in the final of a series

36) 71: Tendulkar’s Fastest ODI Hundred (against Zimbabwe at Sharjah in the Final in 1998)

37) 167.34: Tendulkar’s Highest Strike Rate in an Innings (70-plus)

Tendulkar smashed 82 off just 49 deliveries against New Zealand in Auckland on the 27^th of March, 1994, in his maiden innings as an opener.

It was the 5^th fastest above-75 knock till then.

38) 200 Not Out: Tendulkar’s Highest Score in ODI cricket

On the 24^th of February, 2010, Tendulkar became the first batsman in history to record an ODI double hundred when he scored an unbeaten 200 against South Africa in Gwalior

39) 5: Number of 150-plus scores registered by Tendulkar in ODI cricket

40) 5-32: Tendulkar’s Best Bowling Figures in ODI cricket (vs Australia at Kochi in 1998)

Tendulkar ran through the Australian middle order getting rid of Bevan, Steve Waugh, Lehmann, Moody and Martyn to hand India a 41-run victory.

Interestingly, his only other fifer in ODIs also came at Kochi 7 years later against Pakistan in 2005

41) 2278: Maximum Aggregate in World Cup Cricket History

Tendulkar scored 2278 runs in just 44 World Cup innings at an average of 56.95 and strike rate of 88.98.

42) 673: Most Runs in a Single Edition of a World Cup (2003)

43) 6: Maximum Number of Hundreds in World Cup Cricket

Rohit Sharma has also registered 6 World Cup hundreds.

44) 3: Highest Scorer for India in three World Cup editions

Tendulkar was the highest scorer of the 1996 and 2003 editions. He was the second-highest scorer in 2011. He was also India’s second-highest scorer in the 1992 World Cup

45) 1: The Number of T20Is played by Tendulkar

46) 2334: Fourth-Highest Aggregate for Mumbai Indians in IPL

47) 618: Most Runs in IPL 2010