It did not take much for the cricket pundits tospot a genius in Sachin Tendulkar after he made his international debut in aTest match in Karachi Nov 15, 1989. He was 16 then. More than two decadeslater, he has gone on to become one of the greatest batsman the world will eversee.
Twenty-three years, one month, and eight days from hisdebut, the five-feet-five-inch cricketing genius has called time on aglittering one-day career. With 18,426 runs from 463 matches at an average of44.83, Tendulkar has most batting records under his belt in the 50-over formatas also in Tests.
He holds the record for the maximum number of appearancesand is the highest run-getter and century-maker in both versions. He has turnedout in six World Cups at a stretch, playing a key role in winning the title in2011 and finishing runners-up in 2003.
The 'Liitle Master', as he is often called, is the only manto hit 100 centuries - 51 in Tests and 49 in ODIs - and also the first man toscore a double-century in the 50-over format.
However, it was not all smooth sailing for the championbatsman in his initial ODIs. It took him all of five years and 78 matches toscore his maiden hundred.
But experts never lost faith in him. Another Indian cricketlegend Sunil Gavaskar commented that once he gets his first one, there will beno stopping him. Finally the big day came Sep 9, 1994, when Tendulkar struck ablazing 110 against Australia in Colombo.
The jinx broken, Tendulkar celebrated with two morethree-figure knocks in the next two months. From then on, there was no lookingback.
The memories of Tendulkar tearing into one of the greatestspinners of all-time, Shane Warne, at Sharjah, will forever be etched in theminds of cricket fans. In that tournament, he hit two back-to-back centuries(143; 134) against Australia -- the first helped India qualify for the finalbased on a better Net Run Rate and the second, in the finals -- which was playedon Tendulkar's 25th birthday, helped India beat Australia to win the title.
After the tournament, Warne claimed that he had"nightmares" at the thought of bowling to Tendulkar after beingdominated by him.
An abiding image of Tendulkar would be the hundred he scoredin the 1999 World Cup match at Bristol. Ramesh Tendulkar, a novelist andprofessor, who had deeply inculcated in his son the virtues of modesty andhumility, died when India were in the midst of the Cup campaign.
Tendulkar flew home to attend his father's last rites, andreturned to the tournament, beating the Kenyan bowlers to pulp scoring 140 off101 balls, and dedicated his innings to his father. On completing the hundred,Tendulkar looked at the sky, praying for his father, and has done likewiseafter reaching every milestone of his glittering career since then.
With the left-handed Sourav Ganguly, Tendulkar formed thegreatest opening partnership in limited overs cricket, and the pair holds theworld record for the most number of runs - 6609 in 136 matches that includes 21century and 23 half-century stands. In 40 other matches, batting together butnot as openers, the duo partnered another 1668 runs, taking their totalaggregate partnership to 8277.
"These were the moments of my career I always cherish.My batting with Sachin in one-day internationals at the top was a huge learningexperience," Ganguly once said.
But the greatest adulation for the Mumbaikar came from thelegendary Don Bradman - considered the greatest batsman of all times. Sir Dononce asked his wife to take a look at the Indian as he felt Tendulkar playedlike him.
It was Tendulkar's technique, compactness, and shotproduction that endeared him most to the Aussie, according to Roland Perry, whoauthored the book 'Don's Best'.
But in a revelation that even the 'god of cricket' has hishuman frailties, it took Tendulkar 370 days to get over an agonisingcentury-less period after the 99th international hundred he got March 12, 2011facing South Africa in Nagpur during the World Cup.
In recognition for the laurels he brought to the country,Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha as an eminent personality by thenpresident Pratibha Patil in April this year - the first sports personality toget the honour.
Mentored in his early cricketing days by his elder brotherAjit, Sachin later honed his skills under celebrated coach Ramakant Achrekar.
Tendulkar's talent stood out since his school days, andpartnered by his friend Vinod Kambli the duo made the cricketing circles sit upand take notice after an unbroken 664-run stand in a Lord Harris Shieldinternational school game in 1988.
The rest as they say is history.