Mukesh Parpiani, one of India's finest photojournalists, delved into his archives for these rare glimpses of a young cricketer who turns 50 today.
IMAGE: Sachin Tendulkar with a bottle of champagne for his performance on the field. Photograph: All photographs: Kind courtesy Mukesh Parpiani
IMAGE: Sachin with Kapil Dev, Sanjay Manjrekar and Captain Mohammad Azharuddin before India's tour of New Zealand in 1990. Sachin was 16 on that tour.
IMAGE: Sachin with Vinod Kambli and Azharuddin at the Cricketer of the Year award event.
IMAGE: Sachin at a Cricket Talk event. Photograph:
IMAGE: Dr Anjali Mehta fell for Sachin when he was just 17.
IMAGE: Sachin checks out a video camera.
IMAGE: Anjali and Sachin must be happy about their son Arjun making his IPL debut.
IMAGE: 'A ten-year-old boy saw Kapil Dev lifting the 1983 World Cup and started dreaming of winning another one for India. That boy was me. Happy birthday, Kapil Paaji! May you continue to inspire millions.'
Kapil and Sachin, July 16, 2010.
Kapil and Sachin, July 16, 2010.
IMAGE: Sachin played his first Test when he was just 16. He played his last Test when he was 40.
IMAGE: On that tour of New Zealand, Sachin missed being the youngest cricketer to score a Test century by 12 runs.
His 88 runs rescued India from a precarious position in the Napier Test, and he would have scored a hundred had it not been for two familiar names to Indian cricket fans: Danny Morrison, the entertaining commentator on cricket broadcasts, who bowled the ball, and John Wright, who coached India during the early 2000s, who caught him.
His 88 runs rescued India from a precarious position in the Napier Test, and he would have scored a hundred had it not been for two familiar names to Indian cricket fans: Danny Morrison, the entertaining commentator on cricket broadcasts, who bowled the ball, and John Wright, who coached India during the early 2000s, who caught him.
IMAGE: Anjali's mother Annabel Mehta, who runs the NGO Apnalaya, says this about Sachin: 'He has been very supportive. I don't ask him to support Apnalaya. Within a family, and particularly with in laws, you have to be a little bit careful. But he really started taking an interest when his father died (in 1999). He wanted to do something in memory of his father. He asked me one day what does it cost to sponsor a child for school because in those days we used to get sponsors for children in school.'
IMAGE: At a Sports Journalists Association lunch at the CCI in Mumbai on Friday, April 21, 2023, Sachin greets Mukesh Parpiani.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
