Sachin Tendulkar reveals most memorable moment of career after ICC Hall of Fame honour
Batting great Sachin Tendulkar said he feels privileged to be part of ICC Hall of Fame after the World Cup-winning India batsman was inducted to the elite list on Friday.
Tendulkar became the 6th Indian to make the ICC Hall of Fame. Bishan Singh Bedi (2009), Sunil Gavaskar (2009), Kapil Dev (2009), Anil Kumble (2015), Rahul Dravid (2018) are the other Hall of Famers from the crciket-crazy Asian country.
“I think all awards are important, I don’t like to compare them. Each award, each appreciation has its own place. And I value this. I think this is what I have been able to achieve for 24 years on the field and that has been appreciated by the ICC and its committee members who felt that I was worthy enough to be part of the Hall of Fame. It’s an incredible list and I feel privileged to be here,” Tendulkar told the ICC after being inducted into Hall of Fame.
Tendulkar retired from international cricket on November 14 in 2013 and according to the ICC regulations, a player can be inducted into the Hall of Fame 5 years after his/her retirement.
Tendulkar, who made his international debut as a 16-year-old in 1989 has broken and set numerous batting records during his 24-year-long career. Tendulkar represented India in 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and a lone T20I. The batting great scored 15,921 runs in Test with 51 hundreds, 18,426 runs in ODIs with 49 hundreds, taking his tally of centuries to 100 — a world record.
Tendulkar won the 50-over Cricket World Cup in his final attempt in 2011. The former batsman still holds the record for the most number of runs scored in a single edition of World Cup — 673 runs (in 2003). Tendulkar top-scored for India with 482 runs during the 2011 World Cup wherein an MS Dhoni-led Indian side ended the country’s 28-year-long drought for the 50-over world title.
Stressing that the most memorable moment of his career has been lifting the World Cup trophy in 2011, Sachin Tendulkar said it took time for it sink in that India were world champions when they beat Sri Lanka in the final in Mumbai.
“Without any doubt, it has be 2011 World Cup because when you lift that beautiful trophy, it’s an impossible feeling to describe. It takes time to sink in and for me that actually happened. We became the world champions… it took me a while to register that the tournament was over and there were no more matches. It’s the greatest feeling in life,” Tendulkar added.
Speaking about his idols, Tendulkar said: “My hero, obviously, has to be my father. I always wanted to be like my father as a person. When it comes to cricket, I have 2 batting heroes — Vivian Richards and Sunil Gavaskar. For me those two guys were the ultimate batters.”
Joining Tendulkar and Donald in the Hall of Fame in 2019 were two-time World Cup-winning Australian woman cricketer Cathryn Fitzpatrick.
[“source=indiatoday”]
