Tips for Happy Mind
On 14 November 1987, at age 14, Tendulkar was selected to represent Bombay in the Ranji Trophy for the 1987–88 season, but he was not selected for the final eleven in any of the matches, though he was often used as a substitute fielder.[43] A year later, on 11 December 1988, aged 15 years and 232 days, Tendulkar made his debut for Bombay against Gujarat at Wankhede Stadium and scored 100 (not out) in that match, making him the youngest Indian to score a century on debut in first-class cricket.[56] He was selected to play for the team by Bombay captain Dilip Vengsarkar, who watched him play Kapil Dev in Wankhede Stadium’s cricket practice nets,[29] where the Indian team had come to play against the touring New Zealand team. Tendulkar followed this by scoring a century each in his Deodhar and Duleep Trophy debuts, which are also India’s domestic cricket tournaments.[57]
Tendulkar finished the 1988–89 Ranji Trophy season as Bombay’s highest run-scorer. He scored 583 runs at an average of 67.77 and was the eighth-highest run-scorer overall.[58] In both 1988 and 1989, he was picked for a young Indian team to tour England under the Star Cricket Club banner.[59] In the 1990–91 Ranji Trophy final, which Bombay narrowly lost to Haryana, Tendulkar’s 96 from 75 balls was key to giving Bombay a chance of victory as it attempted to chase 355 from only 70 overs on the final day.[60]
At the start of the 1989–90 season, while playing for Rest of India, Tendulkar scored an unbeaten century in an Irani Trophy match against Delhi.[61]
In the final of 1995 Ranji Trophy, Tendulkar, captaining Bombay, scored 140 and 139 versus Punjab.[62]
In the 1995–96 Irani Cup, he captained Mumbai against Rest of India.[62] His first double century (204*) was for Mumbai while playing against the visiting Australian team at the Brabourne Stadium in 1998.[29][63] He is the only player to score a century on debut in all three of his domestic first-class tournaments (the Ranji, Irani, and Duleep Trophies).[64] Another double century was an innings of 233* against Tamil Nadu in the semi-finals of the 2000 Ranji Trophy, which he regards as one of the best innings of his career.[65][66][67]
In total, Tendulkar was part of five Ranji Trophy finals, in which Mumbai won 4.[62]
County cricket
In 1992, at the age of 19, Tendulkar became the first overseas-born player to represent Yorkshire, which, prior to Tendulkar joining the team, never selected players, even UK-based, from outside Yorkshire.[29][Note 1] Selected for Yorkshire as a replacement for the injured Australian fast bowler Craig McDermott, Tendulkar played 16 first-class matches for the team and scored 1,070 runs at an average of 46.52.[68]
Career
Further information: List of international cricket centuries by Sachin Tendulkar
Early tours
Raj Singh Dungarpur is credited for the selection of Tendulkar for the Indian tour of Pakistan in late 1989,[69] after one first class season.[70] The Indian selection committee had shown interest in selecting Tendulkar for the tour of the West Indies held earlier that year, but eventually did not select him, as they did not want him to be exposed to the dominant fast bowlers of the West Indies so early in his career.[citation needed]
Tendulkar was the youngest player to debut for India in Tests at the age of 16 years and 205 days, and also the youngest player to debut for India in ODI at the age of 16 years and 238 days.[71][72] Tendulkar made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November 1989 aged 16 years and 205 days. He scored 15 runs, being bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that match. He was noted for how he handled numerous blows to his body at the hands of the Pakistani pace attack.[73] In the fourth and final Test match in Sialkot, he was hit on the nose by a bouncer bowled by Younis, but he declined medical assistance and continued to bat even as he his nose gushed blood.[74] In a 20-over exhibition game in Peshawar, held in parallel with the bilateral series, Tendulkar made 53 runs off 18 balls, including an over in which he scored 27 runs bowled by leg-spinner Abdul Qadir.[75] This was later called “one of the best innings I have seen” by the then Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth.[76] In all, Tendulkar scored 215 runs at an average of 35.83 in the Test series, and was dismissed without scoring a run in the only One Day International (ODI) he played.[77][78]
The series was followed by a tour of New Zealand in which he scored 117 runs at an average of 29.25 in Tests.[79] He was dismissed without scoring in one of the two ODI games he played, and scored 36 in the other.[80] On a 1990 tour to England, on 14 August, he became the second-youngest cricketer to score a Test century as he made 119 not out in the second Test at Old Trafford in Manchester.[74] Wisden described his innings as “a disciplined display of immense maturity” and also wrote, “He looked the embodiment of India’s famous opener, Gavaskar, and indeed was wearing a pair of his pads. While he displayed a full repertoire of strokes in compiling his maiden Test hundred, most remarkable were his off-side shots from the back foot. Though only 5ft 5in tall, he was still able to control without difficulty short deliveries from the English pacemen”.[81]
Tendulkar’s reputation grew during the 1991–92 tour of Australia held before the 1992 Cricket World Cup. During the tour, he scored an unbeaten 148 in the third Test at Sydney, making him the youngest batsman to score a century in Australia. He then scored 114 on a fast, bouncing pitch in the final Test at Perth against a pace attack from Merv Hughes, Bruce Reid, and Craig McDermott. Hughes commented to Allan Border at the time that “This little prick’s going to get more runs than you, AB.”[82]
Rise through the ranks
1994–96: ODI matches
Tendulkar opened the batting at Auckland against New Zealand in 1994, making 82 runs off 49 balls.[83] He scored his first ODI century on 9 September 1994 against Australia in Sri Lanka at Colombo.[84][85] He competed in 78 OD.