In the world of cricket, one rarely, if ever, comes across a person who has not heard the name, Sachin Tendulkar.
On November 15, 1989, 16-year-old Sachin made his international debut against Pakistan in the first Test of India's away tour and it was not a memorable beginning at all.
Facing a side with some of the toughest bowlers of that era -- Abdul Qadir, Wasim Akram, Imran Khan and fellow debutant Waqar Younis -- the teenager from Bombay could score only 15 off 24 balls with two fours.
He was bowled by Younis, a man who would also go on to make a mark on the game.
On the tour to Pakistan, Sachin played four Tests and scored 215 runs across six innings at an average of 35.83. He scored two half-centuries with a best score of 59.
His ODI debut on the same tour in December was not much different, as he was dismissed for a two-ball duck.
The boy learnt, adapted and went on to become the legend everyone considers to be the most complete batter in the game in the modern era.
Tendulkar played 200 Tests, scoring 15,921 runs at an average of 53.78 with 51 tons and 68 half-centuries. His best Test score is 248* and is the leading run-scorer in Test history.
He also dominated the 50 over game. In 463 ODIs, he scored 18,426 runs at an average of 44.83 including 49 tons and 96 half-centuries. The leading run-scorer in ODIs as well, his best score in this format is 200*.
With a total of 34,357 runs, Sachin is the leading run-scorer in international cricket history, the only individual in international cricket history to score 100 centuries.
His record of 2,058-plus fours in the longer format is testimony of his ability to find gaps effortlessly. Sachin also has the most fours in ODIs, with a total of 2,016 fours.
Tendulkar holds the record for most runs in a calendar year in ODIs, scoring 1,894 runs in 33 innings in 1998 at an average of 65.31, with nine tons and seven fifties. He smashed nine centuries in 1998, which is the record for most centuries in a calendar year in ODIs.
Coincidentally, 42 years before his international debut, on the very same day, Don Bradman, the only batter ranked above Sachin on Wisden's list of Greatest Test batsman of all time, scored his hundredth first-class century.
