Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (born April 24, 1973) is a former Indian cricket player and captain, widely regarded as one of the greatest hitters of all time. He took cricket at the age of eleven, made his debut in the test on November 15, 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi at the age of sixteen, and went on to represent Mumbai in the country and India internationally for about twenty-four years . He is the only player who has scored 100 international centuries, the first batter to score a double century in One Day International, the record holder for the number of races in ODI and Test cricket, and the only player to complete more than 30,000 Races in international cricket.
In 2002, just midway through his career, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ranked him the second-highest ever test hitter behind Don Bradman and the second-largest ODI hitter of all time behind Viv Richards. Later in his career, Tendulkar was part of the Indian team that won the 2011 World Cup, his first victory in six World Cup appearances for India. Previously he had been named "Tournament Player" in the 2003 edition of the tournament, held in South Africa. In 2013, he was the only Indian cricketer to be included in an all-time Test World XI called to commemorate Almanack's 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers.
Tendulkar received the Arjuna Award in 1994 for his outstanding sports achievement, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1997, India's highest honor, and Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan awards in 1999 and 2008, respectively, the fourth and second Highest civilian awards in India. After a few hours of his final match on November 16, 2013, the Prime Minister's Office announced the decision to grant him the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. He is the youngest receiver to date and the first athlete to receive the award. He also won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy 2010 for the cricketer of the year at the ICC Awards. In 2012, Tendulkar was nominated for Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He was also the first athlete and the first person without aviation history to obtain the honorary rank of captain of the group by the Indian Air Force. In 2012, he was appointed an Honorary Member of the Order of Australia.
In December 2012, Tendulkar announced his retirement from ODIs. He retired from the Twenty20 cricket in October 2013 and subsequently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, retiring on November 16, 2013 after playing his 200th and last Test match against the West Indies at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Tendulkar played 664 international cricket matches in total, scoring 34,357 runs.
