Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sachin
Sachin
attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car,
Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Pete Sampras had never
won a Grand Slam, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his
nappies and the Berlin Wall was still intact. Here is a tribute to a man who has
entertained all of us for more than two decades.
INTRODUCTION
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (stn tndulkr/; born 24 April 1973) is a
former Indian cricketer widely acknowledged as one of the greatest
batsmen of the modern generation, popularly holding the title "God
of Cricket" among his fans. Some commentators, such as former
West Indian batsman Brian Lara, have labeled Tendulkar the
greatest cricketer of all time. He took up cricket at the 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
batsman to score a double century in a One Day International, the
only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in international
cricket and the 16th player and first Indian to aggregate 50,000 runs
or more in all forms of domestic and international recognized cricket.
In 2002, Wisden Cricketers' Almanac 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. 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' Almanac.
In December 2012, Tendulkar announced his retirement from
ODIs. He retired from Twenty20 cricket in October 2013 and
subsequently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket,
retiring on 16 November 2013 after playing his 200th and final Test
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RECORDS
Test Records
ODI Records
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HONOURS
Tendulkar received the Arjuna Award in 1994 for his outstanding
sporting achievement, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 1997,
India's highest sporting honour, and the Padma Shri and Padma
Vibhushan awards in 1999 and 2008, respectively, India's fourth and
second highest civilian awards. After a few hours of his final match
on 16 November 2013, the Prime Minister's Office announced the
decision to award him the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian
award. He is the youngest recipient to date and the first ever
sportsperson to receive the award. He also won the 2010 Sir Garfield
Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the ICC awards. In 2012,
Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of
the Parliament of India. He was also the first sportsperson and the first
person 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 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.
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And then along came Sachin. The son of a poet, wielding a chunk of
willow. A teenager yes a mere teenager who was already
among the best in the world at the only sport Indians care about. He
played with flair and without fear.
The boy genius grew into a man until, on his day, even the most
skilled bowling attacks just gave up on his wicket and focused on
getting out the batsmen at the other end. Shane Warne, no less, had
little answer to Tendulkars talent and spoke of lying in bed suffering
nightmares of being hit over his head for six.
But in the early days it was Tendulkar who led the way into the bright
new dawn. He showed that an Indian could not only compete with
the best, but actually be the very best on the planet as he was for
much of his career. Even if Indian people didnt know what he
meant to them, they felt it.
And while at first it sometimes seemed like it was just him on his own,
in time he was joined by other bold and gifted characters out in the
middle the likes of Ganguly, Dravid, Sehwag and Dhoni. Together
they propelled the country to No 1 in the Test rankings for the first
time and won another World Cup, where the final image was the 37year-old Tendulkar carried around Mumbais stadium on the
shoulders of adoring teammates.
One day someone might even overtake Tendulkars tally of 34,000
international runs and 100 centuries. But that will not in any way
diminish his significance.
No cricketer since Bradman has so embodied the aspirations not
merely in the realm of sport - of an entire nation at a key juncture in
its history.
Tendulkar is India. Not some tiny island, but a vast country of over a
billion people reawakening to memories of historical greatness.
And that is the measure of his own greatness.
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BHARAT RATNA
Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India or Gem of
the Republic of India's highest civilian award.
India in
English)
is
Until 2011, the official criteria for awarding the Bharat Ratna
stipulated it was to be conferred "for the highest degrees of national
service. This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific
achievements, as well as "recognition of public service of the highest
order." In December 2011, the Government of India modified the
criteria to allow sportspersons to receive the award; since then, the
award may be conferred "for performance of highest order in any
field of human Endeavour."
Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex is
eligible for the award. The recommendations for an award of the
"Bharat Ratna" are made by the Prime Minister of India to
the President of India; a maximum of three awards may be made in
a given year. The holders of the Bharat Ratna rank 7th in the Indian
order of precedence; however, the honour does not carry a
monetary grant. The honour does not confer any pre- or postnominal titles or letters; recipients are constitutionally prohibited from
using the award name as a title or post-nominal. However, if they
desire, recipients may state they are Bharat Ratna awardees in their
curriculum vitae, on letterheads or on business cards. Total number of
Bharat Ratna recipients is 43 including a tally of 11 posthumous.
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much impact as a gawky teenager as you can as being the old wise
one. Do remember however that its always way too early in
anyones life to accept a Rajya Sabha nomination.
5) Lastly, it does not matter how you look, how tall you are or even
how silly your hairstyle really is. If you do the task at hand well
enough, your face will adorn a million posters and you can even
endorse rival cola brands. If you are extremely good looking but
otherwise incompetent, then a career in films is where you should be
headed. However if you are ugly and also incompetent, then politics
is where you will truly flourish.
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