Throwback To When Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar Made His ODI Debut
Sachin Tendulkar made his ODI debut in Gujranwala (Twitter)
December 18, 1989 is one of the special dates etched in cricket history as it was on this day 34 years back when the legendary Sachin Tendulkar made his One-Day International debut for India.
The 'Master Blaster' continued his remarkable tour of Pakistan with his maiden outing in One-Dayers after making a famous Test debut in Karachi aged 16 earlier on the well-documented trip.
The match was the second ODI of the three-match series played in Gujranwala and was affected badly by rain as the overs were reduced to a mere 16 overs per side.
Once the rain curtailed the proceedings, Pakistan went on to post a score of 87/9 in their quota of overs, thanks mainly to young Saeed Anwar's breathtaking knock of 42 not out off just 32 balls.
When Tendulkar Made His ODI Debut
During the run-chase, India failed to give a strong account of themselves in a shortened game as they fell agonisingly close to the target, losing by seven runs.
For Tendulkar, it wasn't the happiest of initiation to the limited-overs game. The teenage sensation was out for out caught by Wasim Akram off the bowling of captain Imran Khan without opening his account.
Who knew or expected at the time that the man who couldn't even trouble the scorers in his first game would go on to become One-Day cricket's most prolific run-maker ever.
In a storied rise from a childhood prodigy to one of the game's biggest legends, Tendulkar struck a whopping 18,426 runs over 463 ODIs at an average of 44.83 and a strike rate of 86.23, including 49 centuries and 96 fifties.
It took another decade since the great man played his final ODI in March 2012 for his century tally to be surpassed by his able successor Virat Kohli during the recent ICC World Cup 2023 in India while the numero uno batter's runs tally is still an unmatched figure in the game.
 "Kashish Chadha")
