'The God' turns 47: Interesting unknown facts about Sachin Tendulkar's life

Not every player in the world is called the 'God of Cricket'. Only one has lived up to the expectations of 1.2 billion to be labelled that - Sachin Tendulkar. He was not just a player for Indians but an emotion that made them filled with joy and in times of his dismissals, it made them cry too.

The Master Blaster who ruled the 22-yard cricket pitch with his heart on sleeve turned 47th on Friday. Tendulkar made his debut in 1989 against arch-rivals Pakistan, whose fierce bowling line-up comprised of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. The Pakistan bowlers tried their best to intimidate the 16-year-old Sachin, but he didn't go there just to take some blows. Tendulkar scored only 15 in his first match and was dismissed by Waqar. In the second Test match of the series, Tendulkar hit back at Pakistan's bowlers and give a shout out to world why he was their on the field. He scored 59 runs and faced 172 balls to take the team out of the panic situation. 

On 16th November 2013, Tendulkar bid adieu to his international career and after that, his absence was felt in every cricket fanatics heart.

Here are some of the interesting facts and stats that you need to know about Sachin Tendulkar:

1. When Sachin was young, he wanted to be a fast bowler and even went to the MRF Pace Academy, where the head coach and Australian great Dennis Lillee asked him to concentrate on his batting.

2. Before making his international debut for India, Tendulkar played for the Pakistan cricket team. He fielded for the Pakistan team as a substitute during a one-day practice match against India at the Brabourne Stadium in 1988.

3. Sachin Tendulkar is the first and the only player to score 100 international centuries in world cricket.

4. The Mumbai-born player is famous for his batting records, but he has also created some magic with the ball, as he has more five-wicket hauls (2) than the arguably the greatest leg-spinner Shane Warne (1) in ODI cricket.

5. During the 1987 World Cup, Sachin was a ball boy for the match between India and Zimbabwe at the Wankhede Stadium. He was 14 then.

6. The 'Master Blaster' was the first batsman to break the 200-run barrier in an ODI match when he scored 200 against South Africa in 2010.

7. At the age of 19, Sachin became the youngest Indian to play English county cricket.

8. Sachin Tendulkar's debut Test against Pakistan in 1989 was also legendary allrounder Kapil Dev's 100th match in whites for India.

9. His father Ramesh Tendulkar named him after legendary music director Sachin Dev Burman.

10. It was in the last Test match of his career when Sachin’s mother saw him play from the stands for the first time.

11. Sachin also made a name for himself in T20 cricket, as he was the highest run-getter in 2010 edition of Indian Premier League where he scored 618 runs in 15 matches.

12. Tendulkar has immense love for the nation, as he had the Tricolor pasted inside his kitbag during his career.

13. He was the first sportsperson to receive the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award in the year 2014.

14. Sachin has won the most number of Man of the Match (9) awards in World Cup.

15. Tendulkar holds the record of most number (20) of 150+ score in Test cricket.

16. Tendulkar is the only player who has 40 wickets and more than 11000 runs in Test cricket.

17. The first car which Sachin owned was a Maruti-800.

18. Master Blaster was the first batsman to be given out by the third umpire (run out) in the history of international cricket in 1992 against South Africa.

19. In domestic cricket, Sachin has the record of scoring centuries on debut in Ranji Trophy, Irani Trophy, and Duleep Trophy.

20. Sachin gave his bat to Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi who went on to score the fastest century (now record broken) against Sri Lanka in just 37 balls.