15 Sachin Tendulkar records that make him the God of Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar was a prodigal child in cricket. He started overperforming more experienced players from a very young age. In fact, Sachin is the only player to score a century in the debut matches of the all the 3 premier domestic cricket tournaments in India: Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, and Irani Trophy. 

Sachin made his international debut against Pakistan at a very young age of 16 years in Karachi. He was a fearless boy who scored fluently against the fierce Pakistani pacers of that time. In fact, he is the youngest Indian debutant in both ODIs and Tests. Impressed from the great batting skills of the young Indian boy, he was picked by the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. He is the first overseas-born player for the prestigious club. 

Sachin is still the only cricketer to score 5 test centuries in international cricket before turning 20 years old. The 5 scores were 119* against Eng,148* against Aus,114 against Aus, 111 against SA, and 165 against Eng. He also earned man of the match awards in the 2 matches against Eng. 

Rising through the ranks, Sachin showed the signs to be one of the best of all time right from the start of his international career. He is among the most consistent Indian batsmen to have played the game – both in terms of form and fitness. And rightfully so, Sachin played in 239 (54 test 185 ODI) matches without missing a single game for 8 years from 25th April 1990 to 24th April 1998. He still remains the only player to achieve the feat.

Sachin Tendulkar consistently scored match-winning knocks and big scores, converting 50s to 100s in both Test and ODI matches. Over a 24 year long career, it was very rare that Sachin was unable to score at least one century in a series. Eventually, Sachin became the only man in the world who has scored 100 centuries across all formats in international cricket. On 12 March 2012, Sachin scored his 100th 100 and the only century against Bangladesh. After this one, Sachin had scored a century against all the test playing nations.

Being in the argument of the best batsman ever, Sachin has the most runs at the biggest stage in the World of Cricket. He has scored 2278 runs at an average of 56.95 in 45 matches in his 6 World Cup appearances. In fact, Sachin is the only player to score more than 2000 runs in the history of the mega event, followed by Ricky Ponting with 1743 runs.

Sachin also holds the record of most runs scored in a single World Cup. He scored 673 runs in 11 matches in the 2003 ICC World Cup, South Africa. Although India lost to the defending champs Australia in the Finals, Tendulkar bagged the Man of the Tournament honours for his incredible performance. He scored 6 half-centuries and 1 century in the process. His highest score of 152 came against Namibia. He was also dismissed twice in the nervous nineties at 98 against Pak and 97 against Sri Lanka. While the record may be eclipsed in the upcoming World Cups with a League and Robin round in place (where at least 9 games are played), Sachin’s record in the original format will probably be untouched.

On 24 Feb 2010, Sachin Tendulkar scored the World’s first ever double-century in the history of ODI cricket against South Africa at Gwalior, India. He scored an unbeaten 200* off 147 balls propelling the Indian score to 401/3. Sachin struck 25 fours and 3 sixes in the process. SA went on to lose the match by 153 runs in spite of AB de Villiers’ unbeaten 114 run effort.  

Sachin Tendulkar is the only batsman to score more than 15000 international ODI runs to date. He stands at the top with a career 18426 runs in 463 appearances in ODI cricket at an avg of 44.83 and strike rate of 86.23. Sachin also struck 2016 fours and 195 sixes, totalling to most boundaries in ODI cricket by any batsman. 

Sachin also holds the record of most ODI runs in a calendar year till now. He amassed 1894 runs in the 1998 calendar year at an average of 65.31. Interestingly this record is unbroken yet, in spite of more and more batting friendly pitches in the modern era. This fact speaks for the greatness of the God of Cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar is also the most capped player ever. Over his 24-year career, he appeared in 463 ODIs and 200 Test matches. He went down in the history books as one the most consistent performers ever with his dominant irreplaceable spot in the Indian squad over the years.

Sachin Tendulkar was probably the most perfect batsman to have ever lived. The ease and class in his batting reflect in his numbers in the longest format of the game. Sachin also holds the record of most runs in Test cricket, scoring 15921 runs in the 200 appearances. Sachin batted at number 4 for most of his career and was replaced rightfully by Virat Kohli after his retirement from the game. 

Apart from his dominance with the bat, Sachin also used to bowl frequently for the Indian side. In fact, Sachin has 154 wickets to his name in the ODI cricket. He has produced plenty of match-winning performances over the years with his batting and bowling skills. While doing so, Sachin grabbed record 62 man of the match awards in his 462 ODI appearances. 

Sachin was a problem for the opposition for a long time in his career in the longest format of the game. His ability to consistently convert the 50s to 100s and 100s to 150s made him a lethal threat. Sachin also holds the record of the highest number of 150+ scores in Test cricket scoring big hundreds in 20 occasions in his career.     

Being the most consistent performer for the Indian cricket over more than a couple of decades, Sachin emerged as the most impactful player in many ODI series. He earned 15 man of the series honours in the format throughout his career, which is the most by any player ever.