Enough has been said and written about Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar's 24 years of international cricket career. An international debut at 16 is an incredible start to a cricketing journey, but sustaining on the field for such a long span is a rarity.
Tendulkar made a dream debut against Pakistan in 1989 and was set to face Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Abdul Qadir, the most feared bowlers of that era. He also hit Qadir for four sixes in an over during a 20-over exhibition match at Peshawar and left the Pakistan team in a fix.
The legendary batsman, groomed by Ramakant Achrekar, played a number of remarkable innings before donning the Indian jersey and surprised everyone in the cricketing circuit back then.
Here are some of his best such performances before his international debut.
First match of the Harris Shield Trophy, 1987-88:
During his early days playing for his school Sharadashram Vidyamandir, he played in both the Giles Shield and the Harris Shield tournament in 1987-88. These are the inter-school tournaments played in the Mumbai cricket circuit, the former by Under-14 and the latter by Under 16, and are regarded as the breeding grounds for young talents in the city.
14-year old Tendulkar amassed a record 1025 runs in five matches and remained unbeaten on four occasions. He scored 207 not out in the quarter-final, 326 not out in the semi-final and 346 in the final.
The right-hander started out by scoring 125 in the first match of the season, the only occasion when he was dismissed during the tournament. Tendulkar describes the dismissal as one of the most unforgettable moments in his autobiography, as he was stumped out in a ball bowled by a hearing-impaired player.
Semi-finals of the Harris Shield, record-breaking partnership:
This was the time when Tendulkar and his teammate Vinod Kambli went berserk on the field and piled up 664 runs together, which was the highest partnership in the sport then. They were playing against St. Xavier's in February 1988 when Tendulkar at number four and Kambli at number three took the bowlers for a ride.
At the end of the day, they were on 192 and 182 respectively and went on to play despite their coach Archrekar asking them to declare their innings. Undeterred about the consequences, Tendulkar and Kambli went on to bat and made the momentous partnership which earned them a lot of recognition.
The most amusing part was that after scoring 326 in the semi-finals, Tendulkar walked across the ground to the other side to play for his team in the Giles Shield match, in which he made 178 not out and won the game.
Finals of the Harris Shield Trophy:
After butchering St. Xaviers in the semi-finals, Sharadashram faced Anjuman-I-Islam in the finals at the Cricket Club of India. Stalwarts like Dilip Vengsarkar and Sunil Gavaskar were also present in the crowd among other big names who had come to watch the match.
Tendulkar had said in his autobiography that on the eve of the match, Sunil Gavaskar's nephew Hemant Kenkre had also gifted him Gavaskar's used set of pads, which he says was an added incentive for him to perform better.
Tendulkar went in to bat half an hour before lunch on the first day and kept batting for almost two days. His team was bowled out on the third day but he stood unbeaten on 346. He describes it as one of the most significant knocks of his career, as he was included in the list of probables for the Mumbai Ranji team soon after.
Ranji Trophy debut, 1988:
The right-handed batsman made his Ranji Trophy debut at the age of 15. Vengsarkar, impressed by Tendulkar's performances, put a word to the selectors and gave him his big break to play for Mumbai against Gujarat in 1988.
He scored a century on his debut at the Wankhede and became the youngest Indian to score a first-class century on debut. He was also Mumbai's highest run-scorer in the 1988-89 season and made half-centuries in six of the seven matches he played and amassed 583 runs.
Though Mumbai crashed out during the semi-finals against Delhi, he ended with a batting average of 64.77. Tendulkar hit the Delhi bowler Madan Lal for a straight drive in one of the overs, which he says, was one of the most talked about things that evening.
Irani Trophy, 1989:
Tendulkar’s phenomenal performance during the Ranji Trophy earned him a place in the Irani Trophy squad (now called Irani Cup) in November 1989.
Rest of India had various other young talents like Surendra Bhave and Vivek Razdan, but the focus was on the 16-year old Tendulkar, who was all set to make his tournament debut against the then Ranji champions Delhi.
He scored a ton in the first game, making 103 runs when the rest of the team together had contributed just 101 runs. This was when the squad for the much-awaited tour to Pakistan during the winter of 1989 was announced.
The then prodigy earned his biggest break and was selected to play for India along with giants like Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin and Manoj Prabhakar.
And the rest, as they say, is History.
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