Sachin Tendulkar's debut In International Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar made his debut against Pakistan at a tender age of 16 and as of date remains India’s youngest debutant.

He is considered as the ‘God of Cricket’ has more number of batting records to his name than his own age. Most would reckon him as the second best batsman of all time just next to Don Bradman and would obviously rate him as the greatest in modern day cricket.

He recently retired from all forms of cricket leaving a huge vaccum in the international arena. He had the best combination of modern day aggressive unorthodox stroke play and traditional class.This legendary man made his debut for India at the International level when he was just 16 years of age.

His debut against Pakistan was on their own soil on the 15th of November 1989. He had impressed many with his wonderous stroke play in the domestic circuit where he scored a century in his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debuts respectively. He was only a child with his age but was a grown man with his temperament. Prior to this match when Abdul Qadir challenged him verbally to hit in a practice match, Sachin respected his senior’s request by hitting 4 sixes in one over.

He came out to bat at number six when India was at only 41. He did not play a big innings but showed the glimpses of what he is capable of. He watched out consecutive bouncers from Wasim Akram which he still fondly recalls about how he was expecting a yorker after every bouncer but Akram kept bowling short and Sachin said to himself welcome to International Cricket, expect the unexpected here. He later scored over 200 runs in that series.

Probably many recognized his talent but I doubt how many would have predicted that this little boy would turn out into a legendary phenomenon. He also made his ODI debut on the same tour.In this match 3 more players made their debuts, Salil Ankola for India and Shahid Saeed and future fast bowling ace Waqar Younis. This was also the 100th Test match for Kapil Dev and India was led by Krishnamachari Srikkanth.

He holds the record for most international centuries in both formats, being the first man to score 100 international centuries and also the record for the most international runs in both the formats.