The rise of Sachin Tendulkar

Cricket reached a greater heights of popularity in South Asia, especially in India because of one player who was none other than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Everyone in the country used to be excited about a young boy from Mumbai who was taking big strides at a very young age carrying loads of talent with him. He along with his school team-mate Vinod Kambli was involved in an incredible partnership of 664 runs. Sachin Tendulkar's name in the Indian team was recommended by Raj Singh Dungarpur in 1989. He was selected for the West Indies tour but not included in the playing XI by the team to protect him from the West Indies fast bowlers. He made his Test debut at Karachi against Pakistan on 19th November 1989 at the age of 15. In the 4th match of the series, he was hit on the nose by Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis but denied medical assistance and continued playing. He kept gushing blood through his innings but somehow managed to score 57 runs. This was followed by a Test Series in New Zealand where he averaged 29 but impressed everyone with an 88-run innings.

India toured England in 1990 where Tendulkar scored his first Test century and became the youngest player to score a Test century in England. He also scored a couple of centuries against a strong Australian pace bowling attack on fast bouncy pitches which led to everyone taking a close look to him and he received a lot of appreciation from the Australian team and the media along with the fans.

He became India's 2nd highest run-scorer in 1992 WC where India made a first round exit. In 1994, he was asked to open in ODIs as he smashed 82 runs in just 49 balls. Since then he literally changed the way how ODI Cricket was played. Few months later, he went on to score his maiden ODI century against Australia.

The amount of popularity that Sachin had gained in a very short span of time, it forced the Cricket boards to play against India just to attract more people to this sport in their respective nations. This lead to a boon period of Cricket where a lot of multi-lateral tournaments where conducted. Every bowler in the opposition just wanted to get the wicket of one player, who was none other than Sachin. Every batsman in the world just want to beat this maestro. His stroke play was so mesmerizing to watch that everyone started calling him- The Master. The amount of destruction that he caused  to his opposition playing limited overs Cricket, he received another name- The Master Blaster. Come the 1996 WC, which was conducted in India, everyone had expectations from him to deliver and from India to win the World Cup. The craze in India was such that people started worshiping him and calling him- The God of Cricket. However, Sachin himself said it that he was no God as such and accepted that even he can make mistakes. India reached the Semi-Final of the 1996 WC where they were supposed to chase 252 against the underdogs Sri Lanka at Kolkata. Sachin got out stumped on 65 which lead India to collapse to 120/8 from 98/1. The Kolkata crowd got enraged and literally burned a stand in the stadium. Sri Lanka were eventually awarded the match and they eventually went on to beat Australia to lift the World Cup.

Many players in India got motivated and took up Cricket by watching Sachin bat. Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, etc all got motivation from Sachin and they eventually formed one of the most legendary Indian team. 

During 1998 Coca-Cola Cup, India were to score 254 chasing Australia's 284 in their 50 overs to go past New Zealand and get a place in the Final. This match was interrupted due to a strong sandstorm. The match resumed with India needing 276 to win in their 46 overs while 237 to qualify for Finals as per the D/L method. Sachin displayed his quality as he tore apart the Australian attack scoring 143 taking India to the Finals. India did lose the match by 26 runs but it was enough to mentally destroy Australia. India won the Finals by 6 wickets as Sachin celebrated his 25th birthday by scoring 131 runs.