- Ramesh Tendulkar, a Marathi novelist, named his son after his favourite music director, Sachin Dev Burman.

- When he was a schoolboy. Tendulkar was given a pair of pads by his childhood hero, Sunil Gavaskar [Images].

- When as a 16-year-old he made his Test debut against Pakistan in 1989, Tendulkar wore those very pads.

• A quiz for all Sachin Tendulkar fans

- Tendulkar first wanted to be a tennis player, then a fast bowler. He even attended the MRF Pace Foundation to train as a fast bowler. But Dennis Lillee told him to "just focus" on his batting and the rest, as they say, is history.

- Tendulkar is the only Indian batsman to have slammed centuries on debut in Ranji Trophy, Duleep and Irani trophies, all domestic competitions.

• Sach-Incredible!

- Like most Indians, Tendulkar is also superstitious. He always put on his left pad before his right.

- Tendulkar was the first batsman to have been declared run-out by a third umpire (Karl Liebenberg), against South Africa, at Durban in 1992.

- Tendulkar became the first overseas cricketer to play for English county Yorkshire in 1993 when he replaced Australian fast bowler Craig McDermott.

• Tendulkar's troubled times

- Tendulkar's father-in-law, Gujarati industrialist Anand Mehta, captained the Indian team in the World Bridge Championships in Tunisia in 1987.

- Tendulkar was featured in a question on the American game show Jeopardy, in December 2006. The clue was "Sachin Tendulkar [Images] of India is a leading 'bowler' in this sport.

- He was featured as one of 60 Asian Heroes in TIME Magazine's April 28, 2003 edition.

• Tendulkar: Different Strokes