Milestones

1985-86

• Made his debut in club cricket in the Kanga league at the age of 12.

1986-87

• Scored his first hundred in Bombay's schools cricket tournament.
  

1987-88

• Score over 1,200 runs in schools cricket, including two triple centuries. Scored 326 not out for Shardashram against St. Xavier's - on 24 February, 1988 - in the Harris   Shield tournament, putting on 664 runs with Vinod Kambli for the 3rd wicket, a record for any grade of cricket anywhere in the world.

• Voted best Junior cricketer by the BCA.

1988-89

• Scored 100 not out on debut for Bombay against Gujrat. Was the youngest ever to represent Bombay in Ranji.

1989-90

• Scored 103 not out on his Irani Trophy debut. Was selected for the tour of Pakistan and became the youngest player ever to play for India in tests at 16 years and 205 days.

• At 16 years and 212 days he is the youngest player to score a Test 50 and be associated in a century partnership. This was achieved when he made 59 in his second Test at Faislabad.

1990-91

• Scored his maiden test century when he knocked a match saving 119 not out against England at Old Trafford. Was the second youngest to achieve this feat, after Pakistan's Mushtaq Mohammad.

• Scored 159 on debut in Duleep trophy for West Zone against East Zone, thus becoming the only in Indian cricket to have scored centuries on debut in all three major domestic tournaments - Ranji, Duleep and   Irani trophies.

1991-92

• Became the first overseas player to represent Yorkshire.

• Voted cricketer of the year.

1992-93

• Became the youngest player in the world to crack 1,000 runs in the annals of test cricket, during the tour of RSA.  

• Became the first and the only player in the world to score as many as five hundreds in tests before turning 20. Completes 1000 runs in One day internationals and 1000 runs in Test cricket.

1993-94

• Appointed vice-captain for the Indian team touring SL.

1994-95

• He went to the top of the Coopers and Lybrand cricket ratings on 5 December 1994 after his innings of 179 and 54 at Nagpur against the West Indies.Became only 1 out of 10 players in the world to do so.

• Scores his first ODI century in the Singer Cup at Sri Lanka against Australia.

• Completes 2000 runs in One day internationals and 2000 runs in Test cricket (youngest player to do so) .

1995-96

• Completes 3000 runs in One day internationals.

• Signed by WorldTel for a $7.5 million, 5 year contract to advertise thier products. Thus became the most paid player in the history of cricket.

1996-97

• Became the highest run-getter in a World Cup when he scored 523 runs from 7 matches at an average of 87.17 : this feat included 2 centuries and 3 fifties.

• Tendulkar's aggregate of 806 runs, at an average of 67.16 with two hundreds and six half centuries, is by far the highest by an Indian in the World Cup.

• Appointed the captain of India after the England series.

• Became the only player to score a century on debut as captain when he scored 110 against Sri Lanka at Colombo.

• Completes 4000 runs in One day internationals and 3000 runs in Test cricket (youngest player to do so).

1997-98

• Completes 5000 runs in One day internationals and 4000 runs in Test cricket (youngest player to do so).

1998-99

• Completes 6000 runs in ODIs at the Bangladesh independence Cup in January.

• Attained unbelievable heights in batting by averaging 110.50 against Australia in the Tests and one-dayers by scoring 995 runs from 11 outings with 1 double-hundred,5 centuries and 2 fifties. Became the only Indian & the sixth in the world to hit 7 sixes in a ODI when he scored 100 (89b, 4 X 5, 6 X 7) against Australia in Kanpur on 7 April.

• Sets a new world record for the most number of runs in a tournament other than a World Cup or World Series Cricket when he aggregated 435 runs from 5 matches in the Coca-Cola Cup at Sharjah in April.

• Becomes the first Indian to score back-to-back hundreds in ODIs.

• In the finals of the Sri Lankan Independence Cup in July, sets a new world record opening partnership of 252 runs in ODIs for the first wicket with Saurav Ganguly.

• During the same knock of 128, he equals Desmond Haynes' all time record of 17 ODI hundreds. Sachin achieved the feat in his 196th match - 42 matches less than Haynes. He also completed 7000 runs in ODIs in the same knock.

• Goes to the top of the Cooper & Lybrand Test ratings as well as the first ODI ratings released by C&L.

• Has the highest aggregate in ODI history among batsmen who have appeared in day/night encounters. He thus has 2599 runs in 60 D/N matches bettering the previous record held by Mark Waugh who had 2593 runs in 79 matches (as in mid '98).

• During his innings of 127* against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on 26 Sep '98 he set a new world record by becoming the only batsman to score 18 ODI hundreds.

• During his innings of 118* against Zimbabwe at Sharjah on 9 Nov '98 he set a new world record by becoming the only batsman in history to score 36 hundreds (20 ODI + 16 Test), surpassing the previous record held jointly by Richards (11 + 24), Gavaskar (1 + 34) and Haynes (17 + 18).

• During his innings of 124* (his 200th innings in ODIs) against Zimbabwe at Sharjah on 13 Nov '98 he set a new world record by becoming the only batsman in history to get 32 Man-of-the-Match awards surpassing the previous record held by Vivian Richards (31 in 187 innings) .

• He set a new record for obtainingthe most number of man-of-the-match awards in a single tear - 12 in 1998. In the same match he and Ganguly took India to a 10 wicket win - the first of its kind in the finals of a LOI tournament.

• Also holds the Indian record of most catches in a ODI - 4

Other Highlights of Sachin's career

Magical last over of the match - In the semifinals of the Hero Cup at Calcutta on November 24, 1993 South Africa needed 6 runs from the last over. A surprise more at this stage turned out to be the master stroke. Azhar gave the ball to his deputy, Sachin Tendulkar, who hadnt bowled till then. India won by 2 runs and went on to win the cup as well.

Richest Indian player - A multi-million contract deal with WorldTel, signed in 1995, made him the richest cricketer in the world and the richest Indian sportsperson.

Most successful player at 25 - Compared to Sobers, Bradman, Miandad, Gower, Richards, Border, Gavasker, Boycott and Gooch, Tendulkar tops the list when it comes to run aggregates, centuries and fifties, in Test cricket at this age.

Best as an opener - With all his centuries in ODIs being registered as an opener, Sachin, in the company of Saurav Ganguly has now become the best Indian opening pair and the 4th best in the world with 2361 runs (as on Oct 15,1998) for the first wicket.

Never stumped! - Till Feb 1 1999, even after 99 innings in Tests, Tendulkar was never out stumped!