Five milestones that Sachin Tendulkar achieved in his last attempt

Sachin Tendulkar is honourably called the God of cricket due to his humongous and far-flung records in every form of the game he played. From a 17-year-old boy earning a draw for his team by virtue of his maiden Test century at Old Trafford, to a 37-year-old man scoring his 51st Test century against some hostile bowling from Dale Steyn, Sachin Tendulkar owned the record books in Test cricket.

Like many, he was not confined to a single format at all. His records in ODI cricket had no pursuer till Virat Kohli came along to chase one about most ODI hundreds. He kept himself away from T-20 internationals but featured in the lucrative T20 tournament, the Indian Premier League.

In the IPL, Sachin Tendulkar performed fairly with the bat. He scored 2334 runs at 34.84 in 78 innings after playing 6 seasons.

While the 'Little Master' kept occupying the cricketing milestones throughout his career, there were some accomplishments that Sachin could carry in the last attempt.

In this article, Let's have a look at five such takings that Sachin was able to bring off at last.

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#1 ODI hundred in New Zealand

It turned out to be the last ODI match of Sachin in New Zealand.

For Sachin Tendulkar, scoring hundreds was all but a soft job. He did it everywhere with sheer regularity, but for some reasons, he had not scored an ODI hundred in New Zealand till the time he reached this nation to play ODI cricket for the last time. It was during India's tour of New Zealand in 2009 when Sachin ended the jinx finally, with a mammoth 163 off 133 balls at Christchurch.

In this innings, Sachin got retired hurt after the end of the 45th over, otherwise, it could have been a double century, given the way, the master was going about his business. Unfortunately, the injury ruled Sachin out of the remaining two ODI matches, and thus, Sachin could only score an ODI hundred in New Zealand in the last match he played there. Before this innings, Sachin had scored 5 half-centuries in New Zealand with three scores of 80 plus.

#2 40+ Test average in each country

On this tour, Sachin scored 326 runs at 81.50 in six innings with two centuries.

Sachin Tendulkar is often appreciated for obtaining a batting average of 40 and above, in each nation he played Test cricket. The admiration becomes necessary when you get to know that he did it in as many as 10 countries. But, had he not performed greatly on his last tour to South Africa, it would have been left uncompleted. Before coming to South Africa on the 2010-11 tour, his Test average in this country was 39.76. An average outing in this series and Sachin's average could stall below 40 in South Africa, but the master did not let this happen and performed with such mastery that he took his average to well over 40. He scored two centuries in this series, and his average in South Africa read a beatific 46.44.

#3 ODI hundred against Bangladesh

It was Sachin's last ODI against Bangladesh and second-last ODI overall.

Sachin Tendulkar scored at least one ODI century against each opponent he played more than two matches. But, it was not true until Sachin played his last ODI against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup 2012. In this match, Sachin accomplished yet another milestone when he scored his maiden ODI hundred against Bangladesh. It was his 12th match against them, and before that, he had scored only two half-centuries in 11 outings. Sachin scored 114 in this match, and what made the occasion more special that it was his 100th century in international cricket.

#4 Winning the World CUp in 2011

The whole world was on feet for Sachin Tendulkar after India won the World Cup 2011

Being part of a World Cup-winning team is a special thing for any cricketer. Many legends like Rahul Dravid, Jaques Kallis, Brian Lara etc. could not relish the heart-warming experience, but Sachin was able to touch the coveted trophy in his 6th and last effort.

The 'Little Master' played his maiden 50-over World Cup in the year 1992 where Indian team performed below par to finish at the 7th position out of 9 contestants after round-robin stage. Sachin came close to the dream in 1996 and 2003, but the prestigious price remained out of reach.

Playing his last World Cup in the year 2011, Sachin contributed hugely to the cause scoring 482 runs at 53.55 in 9 matches with the help of two centuries and as many half-centuries. He was the highest run scorer from India, and the second highest, behind Tillakaratne Dilshan, among all batsmen, featured in the tournament.

In the final of the tournament, once again, Sachin's dream looked to be left unaccomplished when India struggled up front during the chase of 275 set by Sri Lanka, but a magnificent partnership between the captain MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir sealed the price for India.

The memorable six from the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni off Nuwan Kulasekara finished the match, and Sachin's dream to lift the World Cup came true.

#5 Winning the lucrative Indian Premier League in 2013

At last, an IPL trophy graced Sachin Tendulkar as well.

When the Indian Premier League came into existence in the year 2008, Sachin Tendulkar was selected among six icon players for the tournament. He was the captain of the Mumbai Indians franchise from the year 2008 to 2011. In two seasons, 2012 and 2013, he represented the franchise as a player only.

Given the amount of competition it offers, and, with how much keenness it is followed by cricket fans, IPL is a tournament that is regarded highly in India. After five seasons, Sachin Tendulkar and Mumbai Indians were far from lifting the luscious trophy. Having retired from the limited overs international cricket, IPL 2013 was rightly supposed to be the last appearance of the master in the tournament.

Mumbai Indians started the tournament with Ricky Ponting as their captain, but the team performed at par under him. Add to that, the poor batting form of the Australian, the franchise decided to hand the reigns to Rohit Sharma. Eventually, It proved to be a masterstroke as Rohit led the team beautifully to take them to the eluded title.

Although Sachin Tendulkar performed moderately with the bat as he could score only 287 runs in 14 matches and he was not even part of the playing eleven in the final, lifting the IPL trophy for Mumbai Indians added yet another feather in his cap.