Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday shared a rare photo from his younger days with his father Ramesh in an emotional post to mark the latter's birth anniversary. Tendulkar was known to be close to his father, who was a poet and novellist, and has often credited him as the reason why he became a succesfull cricketer.
“If I were to choose any one person in the world to be raised by, I would again and again choose him. Such were the values he taught me and the love he showered on me. Remembering Baba on his birth anniversary. We miss you!” said Tendulkar in his tweet. He also shared a photo of holding and looking at a bat with his father as his mother looks on.
Ramesh Tendulkar died May 19, 1999 and at the time, Sachin was with the Indian team in England during the 1999 World Cup. Tendulkar returned to India and spent four days with his family. However, he later returned to England and scored a crucial century against Kenya which took India to the next round. He later admitted in his autobiography that while his mind was not always on the game, his father would have wanted him to be there.
“After spending four days in India, I returned to England to rejoin the team on the eve of the match against Kenya. That, it seemed to me, was what my father would have wanted me to do, and that’s what prompted the decision to return to London to play the remaining World Cup matches. Though I managed to score a hundred in the match against Kenya – which remains one of my most cherished centuries, one I dedicated to my father – my mind was not always on the game.”
{{/usCountry}}“After spending four days in India, I returned to England to rejoin the team on the eve of the match against Kenya. That, it seemed to me, was what my father would have wanted me to do, and that’s what prompted the decision to return to London to play the remaining World Cup matches. Though I managed to score a hundred in the match against Kenya – which remains one of my most cherished centuries, one I dedicated to my father – my mind was not always on the game.”
{{/usCountry}}Tendulkar retired from international cricket in 2013 but most of his records remain in a league of its own. He is the all-time highest run scorer in international cricket and holds the record separately in Tests and ODIs as well. He also remains the player with the most ODI and Test centuries and the only batter to have reached 100 international tons. He is also the only player to have played 200 Test matches and his 463 ODI appearances is also a record. In his 24-year international career, Tendulkar scored a whopping 15,291 Test runs at an average of 53.78 and 18,426 ODI runs at an average of 44.83. He scored 51 Test centuries, making him the only batter with over 50 tons in the longest format of the game, and 49 ODI tons.