Sachin Tendulkar

 Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was born April 24, 1973 in Bombay, India. Given his first cricket bat at the age 11, Tendulkar was just 16 when he became India's youngest Test cricketer. In 2005 he became the first cricketer to score 35 centuries (100 runs in a single inning) in Test play. In 2007 Tendulkar reached another major milestone, becoming the first player to record 15,000 runs in one-day international play.

Early Years

Professional cricket player. Largely considered cricket's greatest batsman, Sachin Tendulkar was born April 24, 1973 in Bombay, India, to a middle-class family, the youngest of four children. His father was a professor while his mother worked for a life insurance company.

Named after his family's favorite music director, Sachin Dev Burman, Tendulkar wasn't a particularly gifted student, but he'd always shown himself to be a standout athlete. He was 11 years old when he was given his first cricket bat and his talent in the sport was immediately apparent. At the age of 14 he scored 329 out of a world record stand of 664 in a school match. As his accomplishments grew, he became a sort of cult figure among Bombay schoolboys.

After high school Tendulkar enrolled at Kirti College, where his father also taught. The fact that he decided to go to the school where his father worked was of no surprise. Tendulkar's family is very close and years after he'd achieved stardom and cricket fame, he continued to live next door to his parents.

Professional Play

Tendulkar made his debut in international competition at 16 with a match against Pakistan in Karachi. He wasted little time matching the expectations surrounding his arrival on the professional field. At the age of 18 he scored a pair of centuries in Australia, then in 1994 racked up a score of 179 in a match against the West Indies.

Tendulkar was just 23 when he was named captain of his country's team for the 1996 World Cup. While the tournament proved to be a disappointment for his club, Tendulkar did nothing to diminish his own standing as one of the world's dominant players. He finished out the World Cup as the event's top scorer.

In India, Tendulkar's star shined even brighter. In a country reeling from troubled economic times, the young cricketer was seen as a symbol of hope by his countrymen that better times lay ahead. On national newsweekly went so far as to devote an entire issue to the young cricketer, dubbing him "The Last Hero" for his home country. His style of play—aggressive and inventive—resonated with the sport's fans, as did Tendulkar's unassuming off the field living. Even with his increasing wealth, Tendulkar showed humility and refused to flaunt his money.

Philanthropy

Tendulkar sponsors 200 underprivileged children every year through Apnalaya, a Mumbai-based NGO associated with his mother-in-law, Annabel Mehta. A request from Sachin on Twitter raised INR1.025 crore (US$160,000) through Sachin's crusade against cancer for the Crusade against Cancer foundation. Sachin Tendulkar spent nine hours on the 12-hour Coca-Cola-NDTV Support My School telethon on 18 September 2011 that helped raise INR 7 crore – INR 2 crore more than the target – for from the creation of basic facilities, particularly toilets for girl students, in 140 government schools across the country.