Former India captain and legendary batter, Sachin Tendulkar is celebrating his 50th birthday today (April 24). The 'God of Cricket' received a memorable present from the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) as a gate named after him and former West Indies captain Brian Lara was unveiled at the ground on April 24 (Monday). Sachin and Lara, who enjoyed immense success while playing in Australia, especially during their outings at the SCG, became the first non-Australian players to be commemorated in the aforementioned fashion.
"The Sydney Cricket Ground has been my favourite ground away from India. I have had some great memories at the SCG right from my first tour of Australia in 1991-92. It is a great honour to have the gates used by all visiting cricketers to access the field of play at the SCG named after me and my good friend Brian," Tendulkar said, as per Cricbuzz.
"I would like to thank the team at the SCG and Cricket Australia and for this kind gesture. I look forward to visiting the SCG soon," he added.
The Brian Lara-Sachin Tendulkar gates will be accessed by the visiting teams when they walk out on the field from the dressing room. This is the first Sachin will have his name engraved in a stadium outside India. The Master Blaster has a stand named after him at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Both Sachin, who is the leading run-scorer in international cricket with 100 centuries, and Lara, who along with the Indian batting great is regarded as the best batters the game has ever seen, played some of their best cricket in Australia.
Out of the 200 Test matches Sachin played, five of them came at the famous SCG. The right-handed batter scored 785 runs at the SCG at a mind-boggling average of 157. Lara scored 384 runs in four Test matches at the SCG and his knock of 277 runs at the venue is widely regarded as one of the best innings played by a batter in red-ball cricket.
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