Sachin Tendulkar appears on the cover of Sportstar magazine for the first time, a month after his international debut.
Tendulkar features alongside Chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand and upcoming Tennis sensation Leander Paes. The Cover Story was 'Starring roles on the world stage — V. Anand, Leander Paes and Sachin Tendulkar corner the spotlight with stirring deeds.'
Four days before his 18th birthday, in 1991, Tendulkar once again appeared on the Sportstar cover.
Ahead of the 1992 World Cup, which was the first of Tendulkar's six World Cup appearances.
In an interview to Sportstar, Tendulkar spoke at length about his batting and how his technique had not changed since his debut. He also spoke freely about his failures in the one-dayers, and how they may have been caused by his confusion about what to do since he invariably found himself walking in to bat in the slog overs.
There was a tribute to the aggressive player Tendulkar had become in one-day cricket. R. Mohan wrote: "It is a testimony to his talent that Tendulkar has succeeded more often than he has failed in the cavalier style he has deliberately chosen. He views the task as if he has been put in charge of the light brigade and he must ride his charger out to the front, taking every risk within the book, and some without. But do the kamikaze kids have a choice? They must do or die."
The cover story started, "He goes around with a snapshot of his fiancée in his cricket kit bag." The edition came out just days before Tendulkar got married. It also stated, "The Sportstar award for the Indian 'Sportsperson of the Year - 1994' is an honour which is Sachin Tendulkar's for the totality of his contribution to four cups and series triumps the nation enjoyed in limited-overs cricket, not to forget another unbeaten-in-a-series year for the team."
Titled 'A Genius In Every Sense', shortly after his ninth Test century at Edgabaston against England — the famous and surreal innings of 122.
After India's Titan Cup victory in 1996 — Tendulkar scored 320 runs from six innings to become the leading run-scorer in the series. He had a batting average of 53.33.
After Tendulkar's Desert Storm and the 1997-98 Coca-Cola Cup victory, Vijay Lokapally wrote, "Sachin Tendulkar makes batting look so ridiculously easy. With a mere wave of the bat, he can send the ball sizzling along the grass, the timing and the placement being perfect."
Closing in on a decade of international cricket, Tendulkar spoke to Sportstar about not being able to take a walk on the road; or go shopping; or spend the evening at Chaupaty enjoying bhel-puri.
When Tendulkar crossed the 10,000-mark in ODIs, Vijay Lokapally wrote: "The cricketing world takes notice when he rules the crease. Few individuals have dominated a team game like Sachin Tendulkar has. He must bat, bowl, field, and maybe even keep wickets in times to come."
Turning out in 100 Test matches puts cricketers in a different league altogether. Tendulkar joins other cricketers, who have stayed and delivered time and time again for their country.
Fifteen years after he made his debut in Pakistan, ahead of his second visit to the country, Rohit Brijnath recollects the Tendulkar journey back to where it all started. He writes: "People were talking then, now they are talking again. He is not in a slump (his last Test scores of 241 not out and 60 not out suggest that), but he is not himself either."
In the August of 2007, Tendulkar become only the third batsman to surpass 11,000 Test runs. Vijay Parthasarathy writes: "These days Tendulkar is capable of crafting his innings better. Slam-bang has been replaced by circumspection, and it is to the little master’s credit that his game is still evolving. Tendulkar is still a huge force to contend with."
Soon after Tendulkar went past Brian Lara’s mark of 11953 to become Test cricket’s highest run-getter, S. Ram Mahesh narrates his own Tendulkar experience: "Sachin Tendulkar has been able to address us all, and yet engage individually with each of us."
Celebrating two decades of Tendulkar, Peter Roebuck writes: "From his first outing to one of his most recent efforts, a stunning 175 against Australia in the Hyderabad ODI, Sachin Tendulkar has been a great batsman. Longevity counts amongst his strengths. Twenty years! It’s a heck of a long time and it’s gone in the blink of an eye. It has been an incredible journey, a trip that figures alone cannot define."
Throughout his career, Tendulkar has been compared with the greats of the game — Sir Don Bradman, Sir Vivian Richards, etc. However, the comparison of Tendulkar with Lara remained an unresolved debate for most part of their playing days. Suresh Menon (for Tendulkar) and Ted Corbett (for Lara) voice their arguments in this edition.
After Tendulkar's 40th birthday, Vijay Lokapally wrote: "He was born for cricket, the magical maestro, the “Sachin! Sachin!” refrain echoing at every turf that he has graced in the past 23 years. There is also a clamour for him to retire. He will, some day, but cricket will never gain another Sachin Tendulkar, who is now 40 years old."
Titled "A life of 22 yards over 24 years", Sportstar pays tribute to Tendulkar. "Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement will take away priceless experience from the Indian dressing room. Younger players have been mentored by him and they will miss Sachin during times of doubt. But, as he says, he will be just a call away."
Sachin was what everyone would love to be... "We identify so closely with someone like Sachin Tendulkar because he does things we cannot aspire to, or even want to given the amount of sacrifice involved, yet his centuries and aggregates and averages retain our faith in ourselves as a race. We can play a straight drive because Tendulkar plays it to perfection; we don’t have to chase perfection because he is doing it for us," writes Suresh Menon.
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