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OTD in 1989: Teenage Sachin Tendulkar marks his arrival vs Pakistan with world record 50

Aakash Saini

Sachin Tendulkar [Source: @CricketopiaCom/x]Sachin Tendulkar [Source: @CricketopiaCom/x]

Throughout the course of his 24-year-stay with India in international cricket, all-time great Sachin Tendulkar transformed batting into an art form, leaving a career unmatched in scale and impact. The ‘Master Blaster’ and perennial batting icon demonstrated that excellence in the very first of those years itself, hinting at a career that would soon redefine the sport’s benchmarks.

Making his international debut in November 1989 at a tender age of just 16 on a tough tour of Pakistan, a young Sachin Tendulkar went head first against the likes of legendary pacemen Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan. What followed was a true baptism of fire, yet he emerged with a precocious calm far beyond his years.

When Sachin Tendulkar started off his journey with a world record

Sachin Tendulkar, at age 16, made his Test debut in the first match of India’s late-1989 tour of Pakistan, marking the occasion with a mere 15-run knock in Karachi. It took him just one additional match to finally hit his stride for Team India in international cricket, as he composed a courageous 59 off 172 balls in the first innings of the second Test against a world-class pace attack away from home.

Taking his guard in Faisalabad and batting at number six, Sachin Tendulkar’s fifty and another from Sanjay Manjrekar were the driving forces behind India’s first innings total of 288.

Remarkably, aged 16 years and 213 days at the time on November 24, 1989; Sachin Tendulkar also became the youngest cricketer in Test history to notch up a half-century, a record that still stands tall to this day exactly 36 years later. While the match yielded a dull draw, it offered a compelling preview of the mastery that would soon reshape cricket’s batting landscape.

Nonetheless, a couple of weeks later in Sialkot against the same opponents, Sachin Tendulkar scored his second fifty to tonk Test cricket’s second youngest half-century, this time doing so at the age of 16 years and 229 days.

A few months down the line, Tendulkar would end up completing a remarkable trifecta by standing third on the same list, scoring a half-century against New Zealand in Napier in February 1990 at the age of 16 years and 291 days.

Sachin Tendulkar’s three fifties as a youngster on his first two away Test tours for Team India merely proved to be the opening strokes of a monumental tally – a career glittered with 119 fifty-plus scores in Tests including 51 tons.

A collection of 49 ODI hundreds, numerous series wins and a World Cup triumph of 2011 would complete the legacy that began with that first record half-century.