Sachin Tendulkar thanks special people in his life after being inducted in ICC Hall of Fame

Sachin Tendulkar became the sixth Indian cricketer to be inducted in ICC’s Hall of Fame after the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, BS Bedi, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid.

With close to thirty five thousand international runs and a century of international centuries, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is head and shoulders above any of his contemporaries or past legends when it comes to career records . He was the finest batsman to have played the game in his generation and the all-time great Sir Donald Bradman had once said that Tendulkar’s batting reminded him of the way he used to bat.

Sachin Tendulkar and wife Anjali stand next to the legend’s wax statue. (Twitter/ICC)

This was perhaps the greatest compliment Tendulkar would have got in his entire career. In 2011, at the fag end of his international career, Tendulkar realised his biggest dream of becoming a world champion. He bid his final goodbye to the love of his life, cricket, two years later as he announced his retirement.

Almost 6 years after that day, when an entire nation shed a tear along with Tendulkar as the legend walked into the golden sunset, he has been included in the International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame. On this momentous occasion, Tendulkar thanked some important people in his life.

On this occasion, I would like to thank all of those who were by my side over a long international career. My parents, brother Ajit and wife Anjali have been pillars of strength while I was lucky to have someone like coach Ramakant Achrekar as an early guide and mentor.

Here is a brief list of his great achievements of the years on the field of cricket:

- His 200 matches, 15,921 runs and 51 centuries are all Test records

- His 463 matches, 18,426 runs and 49 centuries are all ODI records

- The only man to score 100 centuries in all international cricket

- A record 2278 runs and six centuries in ICC Cricket World Cup tournaments

- Won ICC CWC 2011 with India

- The first man to score a double-century in ODI cricket

- The leading run scorer in ICC CWC 1996 and 2003

- He spent 1157 days as the number 1 ranked Test batsman (1994-2011)

- He spent 354 days as the number 1 ranked ODI batsman (1996-2008)