November 15, 1989 In Indian cricket, this date is the story of a god. The story of a god who came with a piece of willow and wrote legends on the crease. November 15, 1989 was the first day that the Indian cricketer made his debut for the Indian national team.
Sachin Tendulkar, the God of Cricket, made his debut for India that day. Today marks the 31st anniversary of Little Master's debut match.
Tendulkar made his Test debut for India in the first Test of the 1989 series between India and Pakistan on November 15 in Karachi. He was 16 years and 205 days old.
The Pakistani players who saw Tendulkar with the Indian team led by Srikanth greeted him with jokes. Many wondered how the boy would deal with Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan.
Pakistan scored 409 in the first innings. Tendulkar reached the crease sixth for a broken India. He returned with 28 off 24 balls, including two fours, in the 28th minute to counter the Pak pace attack. He was bowled by debutant Waqar. Tendulkar did not get a chance to bat in the second innings of the Test which ended in a draw.
It was the beginning of the growth of Indian cricket. For Indian fans, cricket is a religion and Tendulkar is their god.
In 1988, Tendulkar became the talk of the cricketing world, scoring three runs in every innings of school cricket. In the same year, Tendulkar set a record partnership of 664 with Vinod Kambli in the Harris Shield Inter-School Tournament. Tendulkar's unbeaten 326 in that innings led him to the Mumbai Ranji Trophy and the Indian national team.
Despite failing to shine in his first Test series against Pakistan, Tendulkar showed the world of his strength in an exhibition match between the two. Tendulkar hit 53 off 18 balls long before the end of the Twenty20 era. This includes Abdul Qadir's 28 runs in an over.
Tendulkar ended his journey in November, 24 years later. Tendulkar's last match was against Mumbai Indians on November 16, 2013 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
By then, most of the batting records in cricket were in his name. 100 centuries and more than 34,000 runs were born from that bat.
