In the Making

Born in Mumbai into a middle-class family, to Ramesh Tendulkar, a Marathi novelist, and Rajni, Sachin Tendulkar was named after famous music director Sachin Dev Burman. Tendulkar's elder brother, Ajit, encouraged him to play cricket. He has two other siblings: brother, Nitin, and sister, Savita. Sachin married Anjali Mehta, the paediatrician daughter of Gujarati industrialist Anand Mehta, in 1995. They are blessed with two children, Sara (born 1997) and Arjun (born 2000). "Whatever time I have away from cricket, I like to spend it with the kids. That’s the best thing in my life, nothing matches that. My daughter is not into cricket, but my son has just started playing with a soft ball and occasionally with a harder one. It’s great fun. He bats left-handed. I have to get out when he’s bowling, and I also have to bowl the odd loose ball so that he can hit me for boundaries," he says with a chuckle. Tendulkar sponsors 200 under-privileged children every year through Apnalaya, a Mumbai-based NGO associated with his mother-in-law, Annabel Mehta.

Ajit Tendulkar, the trigger behind the success of one of the greatest batsmen known to the game of cricket, put aside his own cricket career, as well as his personal life, aside to construct a gem of a cricketer, and surely doesn’t regret a bit of it. "Sachin’s strength is his focus. He decides what is good for his game. Once you are focused, half the battle is won. The gift that he has is rare – not everyone has it. But he has not frittered it away. His only weakness is that he is a bit impatient but other than that, there are no faults in his game". From a neglected ball boy in his housing complex in Mumbai to an idol of billions around the cricketing world, Sachin Tendulkar stands out today as a God to many fans in the sub continent. Of course now, all the cricket lovers in the world can testify to the uncanny accuracy of Ajit’s prediction.

Sachin attended Sharadashram Vidyamandir (High School), where he began his cricketing career under the guidance of his coach and mentor, Ramakant Achrekar. Achrekar is a member of that rare species -- an oustanding cricket coach who never played a Test. In fact, Achrekar played just one first-class match. It was at Shivaji Park that he made his name in the late 1980s through the oustanding performances of two of his pupils, Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli, who by this time were consistently destroying school boy attacks. Under Achrekar's strict guidance, the young genius would practise each day between 7 and 9 am and 3.30 to 6pm. Tendulkar would practice for hours on end in the nets. If he became exhausted, Achrekar would put a one-Rupee-coin on the top of the stumps, and the bowler who dismissed Tendulkar would get the coin. If Tendulkar passed the whole session without getting dismissed, the coach would give him the coin. Tendulkar now considers the 13 coins he won then as some of his most prized possessions. In between he would play matches. Lots of them. If Tendulkar fell for a low score in one match, his coach would take him to another game so he could bat again. Tendulkar found that he played for about thirteen different teams. And on one day when he was fourteen, he scored a century in the Giles Shield and a double century in the Harris Shield. While at school, he developed a reputation as a child prodigy. He had become a common conversation point in Mumbai circles, where there were suggestions already that he would become one of the greats. His season in 1988 was extraordinary, with Tendulkar scoring a century in every innings he played. He was involved in an unbroken 664-run partnership in a Lord Harris Shield inter-school game in 1988 with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli, who would also go on to represent India. The destructive pair reduced one bowler to tears and made the rest of the opposition unwilling to continue the game. In 1992, the ultimate accolade came Achrekar's way -- the Dronacharya Award for the best coach in India. Ten years on, Achrekar is still proud of the achievement. Yet the clearest sign of his success as a coach surely comes in the form of his most famous pupil, every time he bats.

Sachin Tendulkar's entry into world cricket was very much hyped up by former Indian stars and those who had seen him play. By scoring his first half-century in his second match and his first century aged 17, Tendulkar's consistent performances earned him a fan following across the globe, including amongst Australian crowds, where Tendulkar has consistently scored centuries. One of the most popular sayings by Sachin's fans is "Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God". Cricket is the only religion that together India and Tendulkar is the only idol, which the whole nation is revered. At home in Mumbai, Tendulkar's fan following is so great that he is unable to lead a normal life. Ian Chappell has said that he would be unable to cope with the lifestyle Tendulkar was forced to lead, having to "wear a wig and go out and watch a movie only at night". In an interview, Tendulkar admitted that he sometimes went for quiet drives in the streets of Mumbai late at night when he would be able to enjoy some peace and silence. Sachin, a God fearing person, is an ardent devotee of Lord Siddhivinayak.

He is reluctant to speak about his personal life, or any other activities, choosing to preserve the sanctity of his privacy despite the overwhelming media interest in him.