Sachin Tendulkar is widely considered in the cricketing fraternity as the ‘The God of Cricket’. Tendulkar has been a role model to many budding cricketers as well as international stars across the world. India’s ‘Master Blaster’ played for 24 years for the national team and during this period, he created and also broke many records.
On the occasion of his 49th birthday, we take a look at 49 different records that are under Tendulkar’s kitty as we reminisce over India’s biggest cricketing icon’s career in the game.
ODI Records
- First person to score a double century in One Day Internationals.
- Highest number of centuries - 49.
- Highest number of fifties - 96.
- Highest number of 150+ scores - five.
- Most runs in a calendar year - 1,894 runs in 1998.
- Most centuries in a calendar year - nine in 1998.
- Most centuries against a single opponent - nine ODI centuries against Australia.
- Most boundaries (4s) scored - 2,016.
- Most ODI’s played by a cricketer - 463.
- First player to score 10,000 right up to 18,000 ODI runs.
- Most Man of the Match (MoM) awards - 62.
- Most Man of the Match awards in World Cup Matches - nine.
- Most Man of the Series (MoS) awards - 15.
- Sachin has scored 1,000+ runs in a calendar year on seven different occasions - 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2007. This is a world record.
- Highest partnership for any wicket in ODIs - 331 runs with Rahul Dravid (vs. New Zealand at Hyderabad on November 8, 1999).
Test Records
- Highest number of centuries in the history of Test cricket - 51.
- The first, and only cricketer to score 50 Test hundreds. Sachin achieved this feat against South Africa at the SuperSport Park in the Centurion on December 19, 2010.
- Leading run-scorer in Test cricket - 15921.
- Joint-fastest to reach the milestone of 10,000 runs in Test cricket - 195 innings.
- First man to reach 12,000 right up to 15,000 runs in Test cricket.
- Most capped player in Test Cricket - 200.
- Most Test centuries by an Indian batter in a calendar year - seven.
- Most number of 150+ scores in Test cricket - 20.
- Highest Man of the Match awards for an Indian - 14.
- 1,000+ Test runs in a calendar year on six occasions - 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2010 - another world record.
- Highest Test score made by an Indian captain - 217 against New Zealand in the 1999/00 season. This record was then broken by MS Dhoni in February 2013, when he scored 224 against Australia.
- Youngest Indian to have scored a Test hundred - 17 years and 197 days old.
- Most number of century partnerships by a single pair in Test cricket - Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid on 19 hundred-plus stands. Another world record for the Master Blaster.
- Most overseas Test hundreds - 29.
- Only player other than Graham Gooch to score 12 hundreds after the age of 35.
- Only player in the world to have played in 200 Test matches.
Other Records
- The only player to have scored five Test centuries before the age of 20.
- The only batter in the world to have scored 2,000+ runs in World Cup matches.
- Most runs in a single World Cup - 673 in the 2003 World Cup.
- The only cricketer to have a unique double of scoring 15,000+ ODI runs and taking 150+ ODI wickets.
- First batter to score 50 international centuries (Test and ODI).
- First batter to score 60 international centuries (Test and ODI).
- The only batter to score 70 international centuries (Test and ODI).
- The only player to have scored 30,000 international runs (Tests and ODIs).
- The only player to have scored a hundred on his Ranji Trophy debut, Duleep Trophy debut, as well as his Irani Trophy debut.
- Most number of hundreds in World Cups - six.
- In World Cup matches, Sachin has crossed the 50-run mark on 21 occasions (including his six World Cup centuries).
- After combining Test, ODI, as well as T20 batting records and statistics, it comes as no surprise to see that Sachin has hit the most boundaries in international cricket.
- Most Man of the Match and Man of the Series awards in international cricket (all three forms combined) - 76 (14 in Tests, 62 in ODIs).
- Most Man of the Series awards - 20 (five in Tests, 15 in ODIs).
- Sachin and Sourav Ganguly have been involved in 38 hundred-plus partnerships in international cricket (all three forms combined). This is a world record.
- The 12,400 runs scored by this pair is also a world record.
- Between 25th April 1990 and 24th April 1998, Sachin Tendulkar represented India in a total of 239 matches (54 Tests and 185 ODIs) without missing a single game. To date, this remains a world record for the most number of consecutive matches for a team.
And the biggest record of them all…
Sachin is the first and only player to hit 100 international hundreds (Test and ODI). He reached this massive milestone on March 16, 2012, against Bangladesh in the fourth ODI of the Asia Cup in Mirpur. This was his 49th century in the 50-over format of the game and also his last in international cricket. By comparison, second on the list is former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting. Among the current players, Virat Kohli comes the closest with 70 centuries under his kitty.