16th November, 1989

This is one date that every Cricket lover across the world should care to remember.

On this very day, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, then all of 16 years stepped out onto the Test arena; and has since then conquered everything the world of cricket has had to offer, and much more.

I might have been around 6 years old at that time; but I do remember the time when Sachin played for India for the first time. I was in Muscat, Oman at that time, still learning the intricacies about the game.

This was before the Cable TV era; and people used to then follow the Cricket match updates on radio. I remember that day when Sachin made his debut; my father had come home excited and shared with us this news.

At that time, I had the following questions to ask my dad: How can somebody, who at that age should be in school, actually play for India?

In my mind, I had already framed some answers:
Maybe, Cricket is not so popular a sport in India, so hes' gotten a chance;
Another thought which had come up to my mind at that point was that the Indian team would have run short of players at the start of the match due to some players unwell; and they would have picked up somebody from the crowd to cover up; and this is how Sachin would have got picked in the side.

Then I used to dream of similar things happening to me :-)

Over these two decades, Sachin Tendulkar has become a role model for the young and old alike; for the gentlemanly manner with which he has gone about things, and carried and lived upto the expectations of the nation single handedly.

We are all too privileged to have lived in the Tendulkar Era.

PS: I am currently enjoying reading " Sachin Tendulkar: The Definitive Biography by Vaibhav Purandare"; and some of my doubts raised above have definitely got cleared; but I still do get similar dreams!
:-)