The following are taken from the many mentions of Sachin Tendulkar in the Chronicle section of the Wisden Almanack. It is safe to assume this is another appearance record.
Wisden 2001
The Russian chess grandmaster Peter Svidler has been nicknamed ‘Tendulkar’ because he became a cricket fan after being introduced to the game by Nigel Short. (Daily Telegraph)
Wisden 2002
Tom Gueterbock approached the wisden.com website to help publicise the sale of his £495,000 home in Battersea, south London, which he thought might particularly appeal to Indian cricket fans. The address was 10 Dulka Road. (Daily Telegraph)
Wisden 2003
The Sachin Tendulkar lookalike, Balvirchand, who had already co-starred with Tendulkar in an advert for Visa cards, has been chosen to play him in the movie Kaisi Mohabbat, in which the heroine fulfils her dream by meeting the great man. (Gujarat Samachar, Ahmedabad)
Wisden 2004
Parthiv Patel’s uncle, Jagat Patel, has sworn to marry only after the wicketkeeper is performing consistently for India’s Test XI, a tactic once tried, successfully, by Sachin Tendulkar’s brother, Ajit. (Rajasthan Patrika, Ahmedabad)
Wisden 2005
The Indian government waived customs duty and the requirements for a roadworthiness certificate so Sachin Tendulkar could import a £90,000 Ferrari Modena 360. Bharat Petroleum also blended special fuel so the car could run on Indian roads; the 97-octane petrol the car requires is not sold in India. (Indian Express)
Sachin Tendulkar is now on the Indian curriculum: children in schools in and around Delhi will study the life and times of the nation’s idol. New textbooks for those in the 10-12 age group include an interview with Tendulkar, where he talks about his own childhood and what it takes to be a successful cricketer. Krishna Kumar, an education official, said that the move to include a first person account of Tendulkar’s life was part of an effort to make education “a more pleasurable experience”. (Cricinfo)
Indian captain Sourav Ganguly’s new Kolkata restaurant – Sourav’s, The Food Pavilion – was opened by his teammate and fellow restaurateur Sachin Tendulkar, who owns two similar establishments in Mumbai. Sourav’s is described as “Kolkata’s first four-storeyed multiplex restaurant”. Ganguly had earlier reportedly been alarmed that Tendulkar was planning to beat him to it by opening a branch in Kolkata. (Sify.com/Press Trust of India)
Rahul Dravid has been voted sexiest Indian sports personality in the 2004 Durex global sex survey. Yuvraj Singh was second with Sachin Tendulkar third. (Free Press Journal, Mumbai)
Wisden 2006
The Indian government has reversed a ruling that barred Sachin Tendulkar from displaying the national flag on his helmet. The cabinet said it will amend the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, and will allow the flag to be used on sporting uniforms – but not below the belt or on underwear. (Mid-Day, Mumbai)
Wisden 2007
Sachin Tendulkar is India’s highest earner, according to a new survey, making 1,163 rupees (£13.39) every minute, compared to 361 rupees for film star Amitabh Bachchan and 57 paise (0.6p) for the prime minister, Manmohan Singh. (The Asian Age)
Wisden 2008
Sachin Tendulkar is to appear in comic books as the Master-Blaster, a superhero. (The Asian Age)
Wisden 2011
A new variety of mango, developed by a horticulturist in Uttar Pradesh, has been named ‘Sachin’ in honour of Sachin Tendulkar. However, the grower claimed he would not be selling the fruit. “Our Sachin is a world hero and he is priceless,” said Hajj Kalimullah. “My attempt will be to send all the mangoes on this tree to Sachin so he can enjoy them with his friends.” (Asian Tribune)
Sachin Tendulkar was made an honorary Group Captain in the Indian Air Force, complete with uniform and epaulettes, at a ceremony in New Delhi. (Times of India)
Wisden 2012
An Indian tax tribunal upheld an appeal from Sachin Tendulkar that he should be classed as an actor for his modelling work. This enabled him to claim tax deductions. “As a model, the assessee brings to his work a degree of imagination, creativity and skill to arrange elements in a manner that would affect human senses and emotions and to have an aesthetic value,” the tribunal ruled. (Press Trust of India)
The municipality of Brihanmumbai have given Sachin Tendulkar a final warning after spending 11 years trying to get him to attend a civic felicitation. “We have sent several reminders to Sachin, but he hasn’t replied,” said a spokesman. “We will now send him a final letter.” (The Asian Age)
Wisden 2013
Australian Test players were irritated when their prime minister, Julia Gillard, told an official reception for the Indian team that her country’s cricket fans were “looking forward to what may be a very special hundred made in Australia” – meaning Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international century. Michael Clarke said his team hoped the century would come somewhere else. His teammate Mike Hussey called the prime minister’s comment “strange”. (Sky News)
The Mumbai Cricket Association intends to shower Tendulkar with a hundred gold coins for reaching 100 international centuries. (Press Trust of India)
Ratilal Parmar, 56, whose hobby is collecting banknotes that have special associations with Sachin Tendulkar, has acquired a new prize: a ten-rupee note numbered 240412, the date of Tendulkar’s 39th birthday. Parmar wants to present his hero with the notes connected with his milestones, especially 160312, the date of the 100th international hundred. He estimates he has spent a million rupees building his collection, sometimes by pleading with bank clerks for help. (ESPNcricinfo)
British prime minister David Cameron told how he had found his wife Samantha playing French cricket with a bat signed for him by Sachin Tendulkar in the grounds of Chequers and had to warn her: “No, darling, put it down; this is probably the most valuable possession I have.” He donated the bat for an auction at Lord’s raising £3,400 for the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation. (Daily Telegraph)
Sachin Tendulkar has been sworn in as a member of the Indian upper house, the Rajya Sabha. “It has been my dream to be remembered as someone who worked for all sports instead of just cricket statistics,” he said after taking the oath. However, he warned that, as an active player, he would continue to focus on his own game. Tendulkar was chosen as one of the 12 members of the parliament the president is allowed to nominate, although some critics claimed that a sportsman did not fulfil the criterion of “special knowledge or practical experience in… literature, science, art and social service” specified for selection under the constitution. (The Hindu)
Australian prime minister Julia Gillard made Sachin Tendulkar an honorary member of the Order of Australia on a visit to India, but the award came under fire for not meeting the rule that such awards for non-Australians should reflect “extraordinary service to Australia or humanity at large”. Independent MP Rob Oakeshott said: “I love Sachin, I love cricket, but I just have a problem with soft diplomacy. It’s about the integrity of the honours list.” (Sydney Morning Herald)
Wisden 2014
Sachin Tendulkar’s waxwork at the new Madame Tussauds museum in Sydney has been given the wrong shirt. It was dressed in an Indian shirt for the World Twenty20, in which Tendulkar never appeared. (Mid-Day, Mumbai)
