Indian Air Force Captain Sachin Tendulkar enjoys off-field fame
Sachin Tendulkar, India’s most prolific ODI run scorer is getting more off-field fame these days. The ‘little master’, who is enjoying his family life, is more into non-cricketing news nowadays. This is because Tendulkar had requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last month to let him relax ahead of the long busy season which was accepted by the BCCI earlier this month.
The batting maestro added a new-fangled feather in his memorable cap when the Indian Air Force conferred him with an honorary rank of group Captain. Indian President Pratibha Patil has also agreed to bestow Tendulkar with the rank of group Captain.
Armed forces of a country award honorary ranks to eminent personalities for their services to the nation. Quite similarly, the Indian Army in 2008 conferred the 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev with an honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Tendulkar is the most prolific batsmen in contemporary cricket with a world record with 47 Test and 46 one-day centuries, besides holding the record for most runs in both forms of the game. A lot of cricketing and non-cricketing personalities have recognized the IAF’s decision of bestowing him with an honorary rank of group captain.
Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu said, “Sachin is the greatest role model. Who could have been a better choice?” Anchor Mandira Bedi said that Tendulkar deserves this honor in each and every respect. Indian Air Force Wing Commodore Tarun Kumar Singha said, “It is our way of acknowledging this great sporting icon”.
Tendulkar thanking the IAF for bestowing him with such an honor said that he will do the best of him to be a brand responded ambassador for the Indian Airforce. “It is indeed a great honour. I am proud to be associated with the dynamic force and I shall do my best to be a brand ambassador”, said Tendulkar.
At the same time, some of the air force officers have shown reservations on the decision of IAF to connect a person with aviation, who is totally unrelated to the field. An air force officer, who did not want his name to be disclosed, said, “What has Sachin done for the Air Force to deserve the rank? He is a great player but celebrity-hood should not be mixed with armed forces”.
Sachin Tendulkar is the most thriving one-day international batsman with an aggregate of 17,598 ODI runs. With an existing cumulative of 13447 Test runs, he surpassed the batting legend from Trinidad Brian Lara, whose previous record tally stood at 11,953. Sachin chalked the record of being highest test run scorer while playing against Australia in 2008 in Mohali. He also holds the record of maximum centuries in test and ODI cricket.
Tendulkar has been granted with various records by the Government of India including the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shri, Arjuna Award and Padma Vibhushan Award. In 1997, Sachin was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the decade.
Tendulkar’s performance in cricket World Cups has also been tremendous. He was the top scorer of the 1996 and 2003 Cricket World Cups. Sachin has scored 1000 plus runs in a single ODI calendar year in ten different seasons. He also holds the record of maximum number of runs (1894) scored by any batsman in an ODI calendar year, which he scored during 1998 season. Tendulkar also joins the very few cricketers who are playing international cricket since the 1980’s. On 24 February 2010, Tendulkar became the ever first male cricketer to pile up a double century in one day internationals. After scoring 200 runs, he broke the prior record of 194 runs jointly held by Zimbabwe's Charles Coventry and Pakistani opener Saeed Anwar.
In Test cricket, Tendulkar has won the Man-of-the-Match award on 13 different occasions and has finished as Man of the Series on four occasions. Similarly in one day international matches, Sachin has been the Man of the Match on 60 different occasions. He has also won 14 Man of the Series titles to his name.
Sachin has also been associated with several public awareness campaigns like no-drugs campaign for the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Save Water campaign.
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