Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, the God of cricket, turns 51 today. 24th April is a very special day in the cricketing calendar.  And in case you hadn’t seen, add the digits of his day and month of birth (2+4+4), and you get the number 10 - a numeric value that we have seen paint our memories with 30,000-plus international runs, an earth-shattering 100 international cricket centuries and an ICC ODI World Cup. 

As a captain, player, and icon, SRT’s larger-than-life presence has been one of the driving forces behind what Mumbai Indians are today. To salute the Master Blaster on going #51* today, we dig into the archives to revisit his top match-winning knocks with his sacred bat in the Blue and Gold in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

IPL 2008, Match #55: 40* vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru

MI were coming off a three-game losing streak and wanted to finish off the season on a high, and Sachin’s patient innings of 40 not out was crucial in the Blue and Gold’s run chase of 123 in 18 overs. He initially stitched a 96-run stand with Sanath Jayasuriya (54 off 37 balls) before seeing the game successfully through with Robin Uthappa (19 off 16 balls) inside 16 overs and nine wickets in hand.

IPL 2009, Match #1: 59* vs Chennai Super Kings

A half-century in the season's first game, a half-century in a winning cause, a half-century against CSK, and a half-century by Sachin Tendulkar was a perfect treat for the MI Paltan. With a pre-match drizzle making the pitch damp, Sachin’s well-calculated innings lifted MI to 165/7, and his bowlers would defend it in a 19-run victory over MS Dhoni’s Yellow Brigade.

IPL 2010, Match #45: 89* vs Rajasthan Royals

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. MI batted first and lost three quick wickets, but a proper representation of a ‘captain’s knock’ from SRT, where he stitched together three vital partnerships - 63 (52 balls) with JP Duminy, 50 (33 balls) with Kieron Pollard and 31* (12 balls) with R Sathish - pivoted Mumbai to 174/5 in 20 overs. Not only would he lead the MI Boys to put one foot into the semi-finals of IPL 2010, but the Master Blaster would end the game with a Player of the Match award for his unbeaten 89 off 59 balls.

IPL 2011 Match #8: 55* vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru

It was yet another scenario of Sachin Tendulkar toying with and controlling the opposition bowlers. The Master remained unbeaten on 55 off 46 balls, smacking eye-catching boundary shots off Abhimanyu Mithun and Tillakaratne Dilshan. His innings alongside Ambati Rayudu (63* runs in 50 balls) saw MI make quick work of a tricky chase.

IPL 2012 Match #49: 74 vs Chennai Super Kings

You remember this ‘El Clasico’ game for Dwayne Smith’s last-over heist of the 174-run chase—however, Sachin's knock of 74 runs laid the foundation for this spectacle. His 44-ball innings was packaged with 11 fours and one maximum, while he registered a crucial 126-run partnership in a proper master-and-apprentice show with Rohit Sharma (60 runs off 46 balls).

IPL 2013 Match #53: 48 vs Kolkata Knight Riders

The race for the Playoffs was red-hot, but SRT’s quickfire innings of 48 runs in 28 balls made it even hotter for the KKR bowlers to contain MI’s run-scoring prowess at the Wankhede. It began with him thumping Ryan McLaren for five consecutive boundary fours in the fourth over. Going forward, Mumbai would post a team total of 170/6 on the scoreboard and defend it by bowling out Kolkata for 105 in 18.2 overs.