Sachin TendulkarSachin Ramesh Tendulkar (Listeni/ˈsætʃɪn tɛnˈduːlkər/; born 24 April 1973) is a former Indian cricketer widely acknowledged as the best batsman of his generation. He took up cricket at age of eleven, made his Test debut against Pakistan 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 player to score a double century in a One Day International, and the only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in international cricket.[4] In October 2013, he became the 16th player and first Indian to aggregate 50,000 runs in all recognized cricket ([first-class cricket]|first-class]], List A and Twenty20 combined).
In 2002, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Don Bradman, and the second greatest ODI batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards.[8] Later in his career, Tendulkar was a part of the Indian team that won the 2011 World Cup, his first win in six World Cup appearances for India. He had previously been named "Player of the Tournament" at the 2003 edition of the tournament, held in South Africa. In 2013, he was the only Indian cricketer included in an all-time Test World XI named to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.
Tendulkar has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan award, India's second highest civilian award, and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honour. Tendulkar won the 2010 Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the ICC awards.[14] In 2012, Tendulkar was nominated to Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.[15] He was also the first sportsperson (and the first without an aviation background) to be awarded the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force. In 2012, he was named an Honorary Member of the Order of Australia.
In December 2012, Tendulkar announced his retirement from ODIs and from Twenty20 format in May 2013. He announced his retirement from Test matches in October 2013, and retired from cricket altogether on 16 November 2013, after playing his 200th Test match, against the West Indies in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.Within a few hours of ending of his final match, the Prime Minister's Office announced the conferring of the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, for Tendulkar making him the first sportsperson ever and youngest recipient to date.
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