1. Debut: November 15, 1989 vs Pakistan, Karachi
The debut was itself stuff of legend. The 16-year-old battled against Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Abdul Qadir to make 15 runs and was also hit on his face by Younis. But he remained unfazed. The rest of the journey remained one of the most storied in the history of cricket.
2. Tendulkar's record book
Tendulkar fulfilled his dream of winning the 50-over World Cup when he was part of the Indian team that won the big prize in 2011 under MS Dhoni. But that was just one part of his mind-blowing stats. He played a world record 200 Tests and made 15,921 runs at 53.78 with 51 hundreds and 68 fifties. Tendulkar also appeared in a world record 463 ODIs and made 18,426 runs at 44.83 that included 49 100s and 96 fifties. Additionally, he has taken 46 wickets in Tests and 154 in ODIs, making it 200 international wickets. But he has played only one T20I.
3. Brand Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar is, perhaps, the first Indian cricketer who was marketed in a big way. Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar too were brand ambassadors but the market boom of cricket coincided with Tendulkar's growth as a player. At his peak, Tendulkar modelled for as many as 17 products and even after his retirement ‘Little Master' continues to be a big draw and lends his name to several products, while remaining one of the richest cricketers. He has also explored business interests with football clubs like Kerala Blasters FC.
4. Lesser known facts
His father named Tendulkar after famous Hindi music director Sachin Dev Burman, while his Mumbai team-mate Praveen Amre bought his first pair of international cricket shoes.
Sunil Gavaskar had gifted Tendulkar specially-designed ultra-light pads to suit his short stature when the batsman was just 14.
Tendulkar's first car was a Maruti 800.
He played in English county cricket for Yorkshire when he was 19, the youngest Indian to do so.
Though he batted and bowled with his right-hand, Tendulkar is a genuine left-hander who uses his left-hand to write and eat.