Sachin Tendulkar made his ODI debut against Pakistan at Gujranwala on 18th December 1989. Ever since he made his debut he has been known for his attacking batting and ability to play an array of dazzling strokes. He used to play a lot of innovative shots and was known for his ability to notch up big scores without compromising on his flair and ability to entertain. Even though he made his debut in Tests before entering the ODI arena, almost every cricket pundit, aficionado and connoisseur knew that his game was tailor made for the ODI format.

For some reason, Tendulkar’s performance in ODIS up until 1994 was not up to the high standards that he had set in Test cricket. In those days the run rate achieved by teams in ODIs was not as impressive as it is today. Twenty20 cricket hadn’t yet been invented and in ODIs a score of 250 was considered a match winning one. Moreover, in those days centuries in ODI cricket were not as frequent as they are today. Tendulkar had already built a reputation as being the best batsman in the world but for some reason a century in ODIs seemed to elude him.

Early on in his career, he used to bat in the middle order and therefore did not get many overs to bat. However during an ODI against New Zealand at Auckland on 27th March 1994, he was promoted to open the batting due to an injury to Navjot Sidhu. He made full use of the opportunity to score a brilliant 82 off just 49 balls with 15 fours and 2 sixes. Due to his success at opening the batting he began to open the innings for India in ODIs on a regular basis.

On 9th September 1994, India was playing Australia in Colombo at the R Premadasa Stadium in the Singer World Series. India won the toss and elected to bat in the Day-Night fixture. Australia had a fearsome bowling attack in Craig McDermott, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, and Tim May. Those were the days when the field restrictions were in place for the first 15 overs.

Prior to that match, India had played 247 ODIs and Indian batsmen had scored just 26 centuries. These went to show that centuries in ODIs were very rare in those days.

Tendulkar proceeded to launch an attack on the Australian bowlers taking advantage of the fact that only 2 fielders were allowed outside the circle in the first 15 overs. He played sensibly and after the field restrictions were removed after the first 15 overs, he milked the bowling for ones and twos. He was finally bowled by McDermott after scoring 110 off 130 balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes. After his first century there was stopping the ‘Master Blaster’ and he scored 48 more ODI centuries before he retired.

In the next 652 ODIs that India have played till date ( including the one on 9th September 1994 ), their batsmen have scored 214 more ODI centuries. This should that Tendulkar’s presence and ability to score big runs had a positive effect on the rest of the team and future generation of Indian ODI batsmen. Till this date, Tendulkar holds the record for the most matches played in ODIs (463), the most centuries scored (49) and the most runs scored (18426).

Let us mark this occasion by saluting the maestro for his stupendous achievements.