Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar drew the curtains on his illustrious ODI career on December 23 some 12 years back. Tendulkar ended up playing in 463 ODI matches and notched up 18,426 runs – the most by any batter in the history of the game with 49 hundreds and 96 fifties to his name.
Tendulkar last ODI matches were in the Asia Cup 2012 in Bangladesh, where the ‘Master Blaster’ had scored 114 and 52 in his last two ODI matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan respectively. However former chairman of selector Sandeep Patil had made a blockbuster revelation related to Tendulkar and his ODI career.
Speaking to ABP Majha back in 2016, Patil revealed that the selectors would have dropped Tendulkar if he hadn’t announced his ODI retirement on December 23. The BCCI announced the squad for the Pakistan series after Tendulkar announced his retirement.
“On December 12, 2012, we met Sachin and asked him about his future plans. He said he did not have retirement on his mind. But the selection committee had reached a consensus on Sachin… and had informed the board too about it. Perhaps Sachin understood what was coming because at the time of the next meeting, Sachin called and said he was retiring (from ODIs). If he had not announced his decision to quit then, we would have definitely dropped him,” Patil, the former India chief selector, revealed.
#OnThisDay in 2012
Announced his Retirement from ODI format
463 matches
452 Innings
41 Notouts
18426 runs
200* HS
44.83 AVG
86.23 SR
49 100s
96 50s
5 150s
2016 4s
195 6s
154 wickets
24 Maidens
5/32 Best Fig
2 5fers
4 4fers
140 catches
6 200+… pic.twitter.com/P8TeqEBQLS— (@Shebas_10dulkar) December 23, 2024
“Sachin wanted to concentrate more on Test cricket. He called me and Sanjay Jagdale (then BCCI secretary). Then it was collectively decided that he will retire from ODIs.”
Tendulkar had the longest-ever ODI career by any cricketer, which stretched to 22 years and 91 days. He ended up with the record of having the most centuries in a calendar year – 9 – as well as the most fifty-plus scores in his career – 145.
He has second-most number of ODI centuries by any batter in the 50-over format. His record was surpassed by Virat Kohli in the ODI World Cup 2023 semifinal against New Zealand.
Tendulkar holds the record for being the fastest batter to score from 11,000 to 18,000 ODI runs. He only ended up with the most ‘Player of the Match’ in ODIs, which were 62.
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