Sachin Tendulkar

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Man of the Match Awards

Test Cricket (10)

He seems to play his best cricket against the best teams, however he has been criticized for not leading India to more test match victories away from home. However, for a good part of his career, the Indian team was not very competitive and he was the only redeeming quality about it. There were times where he has brought India to the verge of victory only to be let down by his teammates.

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Sachin's batting in ODIs really took off after he was invited to open the innings at Auckland against New Zealand in 1994http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/1993-94/IND_IN_NZ/IND_NZ_ODI2_27MAR1994.html after he had played nearly 70 matches. At the Auckland ODI Tendulkar slammed the ball all around the stadium with a firepower that was not seen in cricket in those days. He went on to make 82 runs in 49 balls. Tendulkar's considerably better performance as an opener dawned upon everyone else. He was to stay as India's opener for long time after that. His first hundred came later that year against Australia in Colombo. He now scores a century every six innings that he plays.

Related Topics:
Auckland - 1994 - Colombo

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Tendulkar has a shrewd cricketing brain and has a good arm from the outfield. Sachin's record as captain, however, has not been as outstanding as his batting performance. His contribution to the game and his role in attracting a following to the game goes beyond his record. His game is characterized by style, aggression and often dazzling brilliance. Sachin has earned respect from fans and cricketers around the world due to his down-to-earth nature which he maintains despite being treated as a national icon.

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Tendulkar had an excellent fitness record but in 1999 he suffered a career-threatening back injury. This was followed by another fitness problem. Tendulkar had to miss out on two tournaments in as he was recovering from tennis elbow. He was struggling to be fit for the home test series against Australia. However, he has overcome the injury well, as he displayed in the recent double hundred against Bangladesh.

Related Topics:
Tennis elbow - Australia

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Sachin's fame in his own country is such that he is virtually a prisoner in his own home with his appearances in public causing near-riots amongst fevered fans. He is known to take his car for late-night drives around the city as one of the few chances to escape the protective bubble in which he is forced to exist. Sachin is married to his childhood friend Dr. Anjali. He has a five year old daughter Sara and a son Arjun, who is three.

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Perhaps the biggest reminder of his fame, Sachin was recently made a textbook lesson in Indian schools so that children can draw inspiration from his achievements.

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Australian bowling great Shane Warne who is among Wisden's list of five greatest cricket players in 21st century has had a particularly bad time against Tendulkar. He described incidents when he got up in the night from nightmares where Tendulkar was smashing him around the ground.

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For last couple of years Sachin has been less aggressive than what he was during his peak time. His once flamboyant style is seldom seen now and has himself admitted that he would be toning down his approach to the game with Virender Sehwag taking on the mantle of the aggressor. Experts have opined that it could be due to age, though surprisingly his average in tests has been at an all time high indicating the capacity of his new self to gather runs instead of plundering runs.

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