Sachin Tendulkar has been the gold standard of batsmanship in the sport of cricket. Unarguably the most complete, technically sound, and hungriest batsman of the world, there is no list of cricketing records even remotely related to batting that would not feature the name of the Little Master.

Born on 24th April 1973, in Bombay, to a Maharashtrian family, Sachin showed keen interest in cricket at an age of merely four. Taking inspiration from India’s World Cup triumph under the leadership of Kapil Dev, Sachin developed a keen interest in the sport. As a three-year-old, he witnessed brother Ajit play cricket with his friends, and that is how he got himself introduced to the sport.

Early days

To help curb his brother’s mischievous side, Ajit took the 10-year-old to Ramakant Achrekar, a club-player turned renowned cricket coach. Impressed by the wunderkind’s potential, Achrekar advised Ajit to shift Sachin’s schooling to Sharadashram Vidyamandir High School in Dadar, due to the latter’s notable cricket team. A high-spirited and arduous student from the onset, he started his toil under the aegis of coach Achrekar and he would practice at the Shivaji Park in the mornings and evenings.

In no time, the tender-aged Sachin made a reputation for himself as a prodigy and became the talk of the town. He went on to play for the Cricket Club of India, and at the age of 14, and subsequently reached the MRF Pace Foundation to learn the nuances of fast bowling. The legendary Dennis Lille, however, suggested that Sachin should lay focus on his batting.

The teenager showed that he was a cut from a different cloth in the Lord Harris Shield match between Shardashram Vidyamandir and St Xaviers when he piled a mammoth 664-run stand alongside his childhood friend Vinod Kambli. Such incredible exploits in school cricket led him to Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy team for the 1987-88 season, and he was officially selected on November 14, 1987.

Even though he did not feature in any of the matches, he was often seen actively participating in the games as a substitute fielder. On December 11, 1988, Sachin finally played his first match for Mumbai (against Gujarat) at his home ground, aged only 15 years and 232 days.

The then-Bombay-captain Dilip Vengsarkar had witnessed a youngster comfortably maneuvering arguably the finest seam produce of India – Kapil Dev. Impressing everyone without exception through immensely incredible abilities, Tendulkar earned inclusion in the eleven and scored an unbeaten 100 to become the youngest Indian batsman to have scored a century on first-class debut. Following this with centuries in his first Deodhar and Duleep Trophies, the Little Master became the first and the only player to score a century on debut in all three of his domestic first-class tournaments (the Ranji, Irani, and Duleep Trophies).

Despite only a single Ranji season under his belt, the selectors were interested in selecting Sachin for India’s tour of the West Indies in 1988. Although, given the deadly and dominant fast bowling of the Caribbean bowlers at that time, he was avoided for selection. Tendulkar finally played his first tour with the Indian team to Pakistan in 1989 in Karachi, as a 16-year-old, and the rest is history.

He showed to the world what he was made of, in the very first series he ever played. In the fourth Test of his debut series against Pakistan, he continued batting like a warrior, with blood oozing out of his nose after taking a hit. But there was no stopping to the Master. He was never meant to stop.

The brand of Sachin Tendulkar

There is no combination of words in the world that could describe the legacy, the phenomena, of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. 15th November 1989 – 16th November 2013 is arguably the golden-most phase of cricket. Twenty-four years and a day is an era, and to play an international sport for is as indescribable as Sachin’s on-field feats. 664 international appearances, 34,394 runs, 100 centuries, 164 half-centuries, and countless records later, Sachin became the synonym of belief, courage, and conviction.

Over those 2.4 decades, he made innumerable records, garnered unparalleled love, became the definition of the sport, and quite deservingly, earned for himself the status of the “God of cricket”. People followed cricket only to witness the Little Master wield his magical wand. His dismissal meant the turning off of televisions for millions. His arrival at the crease meant deserted streets.

He mastered his craft like none other, demolishing the mightiest of all. From Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan to Makhaya Ntini, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Dale Steyn, you name it and he has conquered it all.

On 24th February 2010, the 36-year-old Sachin reached a territory that was never touched (not for the first time) when he scored a double century against South Africa in an ODI game. He dreamt to win the World Cup for his nation ever since he was a child. Having played 6 of those – the joint-most for any player – Sachin Tendulkar added that feather in his feather-filled cap in 2011, by contributing heavily himself before lifting the coveted trophy under the night sky at Wankhede Stadium, his home ground.

The painful goodbye

The ravages of time led to a shaken belief in his ability to play further. However, at Mirpur against Bangladesh, in the 2012 edition of the Asia Cup, amidst the growing voices of “Endulkar” while he was stranded on 99 international centuries for more than a year, he showed that a lion might be old, but is a lion nonetheless as he finally breached the unthinkable barrier by recording his 100th international century. A 51-run knock against Pakistan in the same tournament eventually turned out to be his last appearance in the 50-over game as he announced his ODI retirement in the following December.

He continued to represent the nation in the longest format for another year before he declared that the West Indies’ 2013 tour to India would be his last. In that series, Tendulkar named himself another unequaled record that might go onto last till eternity – he played his 200th Test at Mumbai, and on 16th November 2013, he left billions, including himself, in tears as he waved the one final time as an international player.

The greatest ambassador of the game, Sachin was the pinnacle of success, although his career witnessed countless downs too. But every time he faced a challenge, whether on the field or off it, he spectacularly straight drove it with the straightest bat in the world for a boundary. Over these 24 years, the chants of “Sachin… Sachin” became a beloved anthem for every Indian. Millions played before him, alongside him, and there will be as many after him, but there never was, and never will be, another Tendulkar.

Here is a list of all of Sachin Tendulkar’s centuries in cricket

Sachin Tendulkar Test Centuries

S.No.	Date	Against	Score	Venue	Result
1	9-Aug-1990	England	119*	Manchester	Drawn
2	2-Jan-1992	Australia	148*	Sydney	Drawn
3	1-Feb-1992	Australia	114	Perth	Lost
4	26-Nov-1992	South Africa	111	Johannesburg	Drawn
5	11-Feb-1993	England	165	Chennai	Won
6	27-Jul-1993	Sri Lanka	104*	Colombo	Won
7	18-Jan-1994	Sri Lanka	142	Lucknow	Won
8	1-Dec-1994	West Indies	179	Nagpur	Drawn
9	6-Jun-1996	England	122	Birmingham	Lost
10	4-Jul-1996	England	177	Nottingham	Drawn
11	2-Jan-1997	South Africa	169	Cape Town	Lost
12	2-Aug-1997	Sri Lanka	143	Colombo	Drawn
13	9-Aug-1997	Sri Lanka	139	Colombo	Drawn
14	3-Dec-1997	Sri Lanka	148	Mumbai	Drawn
15	6-Mar-1998	Australia	155*	Chennai	Won
16	25-Mar-1998	Australia	177	Bangalore	Lost
17	26-Dec-1998	New Zealand	113	Wellington	Lost
18	28-Jan-1999	Pakistan	136	Chennai	Lost
19	24-Feb-1999	Sri Lanka	124*	Colombo	Drawn
20	10-Oct-1999	New Zealand	126*	Mohali	Drawn
21	29-Oct-1999	New Zealand	217	Ahmedabad	Drawn
22	26-Dec-1999	Australia	116	Melbourne	Lost
23	18-Nov-2000	Zimbabwe	122	New Delhi	Won
24	25-Nov-2000	Zimbabwe	201*	Nagpur	Drawn
25	18-Mar-2001	Australia	126	Chennai	Won
26	3-Nov-2001	South Africa	155	Bloemfontein	Lost
27	11-Dec-2001	England	103	Ahmedabad	Drawn
28	21-Feb-2002	Zimbabwe	176	Nagpur	Won
29	19-Apr-2002	West Indies	117	Port of Spain	Won
30	22-Aug-2002	England	193	Leeds	Won
31	30-Oct-2002	West Indies	176	Kolkata	Drawn
32	2-Jan-2004	Australia	241*	Sydney	Drawn
33	28-Mar-2004	Pakistan	194*	Multan	Won
34	10-Dec-2004	Bangladesh	248*	Dhaka	Won
35	10-Dec-2005	Sri Lanka	109	New Delhi	Won
36	18-May-2007	Bangladesh	101	Chittagong	Drawn
37	25-May-2007	Bangladesh	122*	Mirpur	Won
38	2-Jan-2008	Australia	154*	Sydney	Lost
39	24-Jan-2008	Australia	153	Adelaide	Drawn
40	6-Nov-2008	Australia	109*	Nagpur	Won
41	11-Dec-2008	England	103*	Chennai	Won
42	18-Mar-2009	New Zealand	160	Hamilton	Won
43	16-Nov-2009	Sri Lanka	100*	Ahmedabad	Drawn
44	17-Jan-2010	Bangladesh	105*	Chittagong	Won
45	24-Jan-2010	Bangladesh	143	Mirpur	Won
46	6-Feb-2010	South Africa	100	Nagpur	Lost
47	14-Feb-2010	South Africa	106	Kolkata	Won
48	26-Jul-2010	Sri Lanka	203	Colombo	Drawn
49	9-Oct-2010	Australia	214	Bangalore	Won
50	16-Dec-2010	South Africa	111*	Centurion	Lost
51	2-Jan-2011	South Africa	146	Cape Town	Drawn

 Sachin Tendulkar ODI Centuries

S.No.	Date	Against	Score	Venue	Result
1	9-Sep-1994	Australia	110	Colombo	Won
2	28-Oct-1994	New Zealand	115	Vadodara	Won
3	11-Nov-1994	West Indies	105	Jaipur	Won
4	9 Apni 1995	Sri Lanka	112*	Sharjah	Won
5	18-Feb-1996	Kenya	127*	Cuttack	Won
6	2-Mar-1996	Sri Lanka	137	New Delhi	Lost
7	5-Apr-1996	Pakistan	100	Singapore	Lost
8	15 Apni 1996	Pakistan	118	Sharjah	Won
9	28-Aug-1996	Sri Lanka	110	Colombo	Lost
10	14-Dec-1996	South Africa	114	Mumbai	Won
11	9-Feb-1997	Zimbabwe	104	Benoni	Won
12	14-Mar-1997	New Zealand	117	Bangalore	Won
13	7-Apr-1998	Australia	100	Kanpur	Won
14	22-Apr-1998	Australia	143	Sharjah	Lost
15	24-Apr-1998	Australia	134	Sharjah	Won
16	31-May-1998	Kenya	100*	Kolkata	Won
17	7-Jul-1998	Sri Lanka	128	Colombo	Won
18	26-Sep-1998	Zimbabwe	127*	Bulawayo	Won
19	28-Oct-1998	Australia	141	Dhaka	Won
20	8-Nov-1998	Zimbabwe	118*	Sharjah	Won
21	13-Nov-1998	Zimbabwe	124*	Sharjah	Won
22	23-May-1999	Kenya	140*	Bristol	Won
23	29-Aug-1999	Sri Lanka	120	Colombo	Won
24	8-Nov-1999	New Zealand	186*	Hyderabad	Won
25	17-Mar-2000	South Africa	122	Vadodara	Won
26	20-Oct-2000	Sri Lanka	101	Sharjah	Lost
27	8-Dec-2000	Zimbabwe	146	Jodhpur	Lost
28	31-Mar-2001	Australia	139	Indore	Won
29	4-Jul-2001	West Indies	122*	Harare	Won
30	5-Oct-2001	South Africa	101	Johannesburg	Lost
31	24-Oct-2001	Kenya	146	Paarl	Won
32	4-Jul-2002	England	105*	Chesterle-Street	No Result
33	11-Jul-2002	Sri Lanka	113	Bristol	Won
34	23-Feb-2003	Namibia	152	Pietermaritzburg	Won
35	26-Oct-2003	Australia	100	Gwalior	Won
36	15-Nov-2003	New Zealand	102	Hyderabad	Won
37	16-Mar-2004	Pakistan	141	RawalpIndi	Lost
38	12-Apr-2005	Pakistan	123	Ahmedabad	Lost
39	6-Feb-2006	Pakistan	100	Peshawar	Lost
40	14-Sep-2006	West Indies	141	Kuala Lumpur	Lost
41	31-Jan-2007	West Indies	100*	Vadodara	Won
42	2-Mar-2008	Australia	117*	Sydney	Won
43	8-Mar-2009	New Zealand	163*	Christchurch	Won
44	14-Sep-2009	Sri Lanka	138	Colombo	Won
45	5-Nov-2009	Australia	175	Hyderabad	Lost
46	24-Feb-2010	South Africa	200*	Gwalior	Won
47	27-Feb-2011	England	120	Bangalore	Tied
48	12-Mar-2011	South Africa	111	Nagpur	Lost
49	16-Mar-2012	Bangladesh	114	Mirpur	Lost

Sachin Tendulkar IPL Centuries

S.No.	Date	Against	Score	Venue	Result
1	15-April-2011	Kochi Tuskers Kerala	100	Mumbai	Lost