On Wednesday, Sachin Tendulkar was granted his rightful spot at Mumbai’s renowned Wankhede Stadium. The great Tendulkar has had an incredible journey, starting with visiting the hallowed site as a 10-year-old child, watching a match without a ticket back in 1983, and seeing his own life-sized monument installed after 40 years. The chief minister of Maharashtra unveiled the life-size statue of cricket master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. Scroll down to read the Sachin Tendulkar statue unveiled at Wankhede Stadium.
Sachin Tendulkar statue unveiled at Wankhede Stadium
Eknath Shinde, the chief minister of Maharashtra, unveiled the batting legend’s statue at his home stadium in a lavish ceremony.
Daughter Sara and wife Anjali accompanied Tendulkar for this big event. Among the luminaries in attendance were Amol Kale, president of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), vice president Rajiv Shukla, current BCCI secretary Jay Shah, treasurer Ashish Shelar, and former BCCI and ICC chairman Sharad Pawar.
Tendulkar devoted the evening to all of his cricketing teammates who helped him throughout his twenty-four-year Indian international career. He said, “I would not have been able to play for India for 24 years without the support and contributions of quite a few of the players I played with. For that reason, on this special evening, I would like to dedicate this to all the cricket players who not only played with me but also inspired millions of people all over the world. The game is progressing because of everyone’s hard work, in my opinion, and that is our main objective: finding ways to protect cricket while drawing greater attention to it. The inclusion of cricket in the Olympics is wonderful news. Thus, we have another chance to win the gold medal.”
When Tendulkar turned 36 in 2009, he became the first Indian athlete in history to have a wax figure of him placed at the renowned Madame Tussauds.
Tendulkar, who retired as the most productive batter in international history, is recognized as one of the best batters to have ever played the game.
Tendulkar’s statue is being erected at his home stadium, Wankhede Stadium, over ten years after he made his final Indian appearance in a two-match Test series against the West Indies in November 2013.
With an incredible total of 34357 runs across all formats between 1989 and 2013, Tendulkar is still the record holder for most runs in international history. In addition, he is still the only hitter in international history to have scored 100 or more.
