Since he started playing for India, we added ~375 million citizens. If we made a country of just those who were born during this period (will be a larger number, accounting for the deaths) it would be the third largest country in the world. A country where every person grew up with a lot of uncertainties and changes, besides one. Sachin Tendulkar plays cricket. And plays it rather well.
As I join millions of others in wishing the right handed ODI opener a happy birthday, I thought of focusing on something that we love as a nation - records. Here's an extensive, but surely not exhaustive, list of records that the man has accumulated and broken over the years. These are almost entirely of statistical interest, not going to be led into any debated about how if anyone plays for this long he will end up having most of these records anyway. Also, there are plenty of more interesting records he holds which I have missed out on, if you can think of more please send them my way and I will add to the list.
Test Matches:
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Highest No. of
Matches played (198). Followed by Ricky Ponting (168)
Runs scored (15,837). Followed by Ricky Ponting (13,378)
100s scored (51). Followed by Jacques Kallis (44)
50s scored (67). Followed by Ricky Ponting (62)
90s scored (10). Jointly with Rahul Dravid & Steve Waugh
Innings batted (327). Followed by Ricky Ponting (287)
Balls Faced (21,367). Followed by Ricky Ponting (17,046)
100 partnerships (20, with Rahul Dravid). Followed by 16 (Gordon Greenidge & Desmond Haynes and Matthew Hayden & Ricky Ponting)
Partnership runs (6,920 with Rahul Dravid). Followed by 6,482 (Gordon Greenidge & Desmond Haynes)
Runs scored at any age during his career (besides at 27, Alistair Cook had 7,117 runs to Sachin's 6,720 when he turned 27). Sachin overtook Cook by the time he was 28 with 7,869 runs to Cook's 7,307.
1st Innings runs scored (5,608). Followed by Ricky Ponting (5,403)
2nd Innings runs scored (5,608**). Followed by Rahul Dravid (4,984)
100s scored in 2nd Innings (18). Followed by Rahul Dravid (15)
4th innings runs scored (1,625). Followed by Rahul Dravid (1,575)
Runs scored away (8,705 ). Followed by Rahul Dravid (7,690)
100s scored away (29). Followed by Rahul Dravid (21)
50s scored away (36). Jointly by Rahul Dravid (36)
ODIs
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Highest No. of
Matches played (463). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (445)
Runs scored (18,426). Followed by Ricky Ponting (13,704)
100s scored (49). Followed by Ricky Ponting (30)
50s scored (96). Followed by Ricky Ponting (82)
Innings batted (452). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (433)
100 partnerships (26, with Sourav Ganguly). Followed by 15 (Gordon Greenidge & Desmond Haynes)
Partnership runs (8,227 with Sourav Ganguly). Followed by 5,462 (Marvan Atapattu & Sanath Jayasuriya)
Single innings partnership (331, with Rahul Dravid). Followed by 318 (Rahul Dravid & Sourav Ganguly)
Runs scored at any age during his career after 23 years. (Shahid Afridi holds the records for the ages of 16-22)
1st Innings runs scored (9,706). Followed by Ricky Ponting (8,630)
100s scored in 1st Innings (32). Followed by Ricky Ponting (22)
2nd Innings runs scored (8,720). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (5,742)
100s scored in 2nd Inings scored (17). Followed by Chris Gayle (10)
Runs scored at home (6,976 ). Followed by Ricky Ponting (5,406)
100s scored at home (20). Followed by Ricky Ponting (13)
100s scored away (12). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (11)
Runs scored at neutral venues (6,385 ). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (5,463)
100s scored at neutral venues (17). Followed by Saeed Anwar (15)
Man of the Match awards (62). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (48)
Man of the Series awards (14). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (11)
World Cups
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Highest No. of
Runs scored (2,278). Followed by Ricky Ponting (1,743)
100s scored (6). Followed by Ricky Ponting (5)
50s scored (15). Followed by Jacques Kallis (9)
90s scored (3). Jointly with Michael Clarke.
Innings batted (44). Followed by Ricky Ponting (42)
1st Innings runs scored (1,622). Followed by Ricky Ponting (1,177)
100s scored in 1st Innings (5). Jointly with Ricky Ponting (5)
Man of the Match awards (9). Followed by Glenn McGrath (6)
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All of us must have been told at some time or the other to do anything, but to do it well. Sachin Tendulkar is perhaps one of the very few human beings who can confidently say he did one thing, and did it well. Here's wishing the Master a very happy 40th birthday!
NOTE: The only source for all records and stats was the redoubtable ESPN Cricinfo Statsguru
*All numbers valid as of April-24-2013
** Not a typo! He's actually scored the exact number of runs in the first innings (Tests) as in the second