Today marked the 31 years of the edgy debut of one of the
world’s greatest cricketers ever.

Sachin Tendulkar made his debut on this date 31 years back
in 1989, as a mere 16 years old cub who went on to dominate his opponents for
the next two decades to come.

Pitted against pacers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and
Imran Khan and majestic leg spinner Abdul Qadir, no one had expected young
Sachin to hold his own. But the great batsman not only managed to brave the
famed bowling attack with a rare fortitude, he also made his maiden fifty in
the second test on that very tour.

BCCI, the Indian cricket board, paid a tribute to the
all-time great with a message on Twitter.

“#OnThisDay  1989 – @sachin_rt
made his debut in international cricket 2013 – The legend walked out to bat for
#TeamIndia
one final time Thank you for inspiring billions across the globe,” it tweeted.

The ‘Mecca of cricket’, famous Lord’s cricket ground too pitched
in with its homage to the Little Master. It tweeted a little clip of Tendulkar
playing in the ground with a message “the start of greatness”.

Wisden, a cricket almanac of legendary repute and rigour,
paid a joint tribute to Sachin and Waqar Younis, who too had made his debut in
the same test as Sachin.

“31 years ago today, @sachin_rt
made his Test debut at the age of 16 against Pakistan at Karachi. In his only
innings, he was bowled by fellow debutant – the 17-year-old Waqar Younis
– for 15. The pair would go on to record 990 international wickets and
36336 runs between them,” it tweeted.

In a podcast released on Wisden, the maestro of swing
bowling Younis praised Sachin’s courage as a teenager when he was hit on the
nose by one of his balls, but was back on crease in no time and doughtily went
on to spend quite some time proving his mettle.   

“He was the one who was scoring triple centuries
in the school. Who scores triple centuries in school? In the first look, he did
not give me the impression that he was going to be the great Sachin Tendulkar.
What he’s done over the years is amazing. His hard work has really paid off,”
Younis said in the podcast ‘The Grestest Rivalry’, according to a report
published in The Indian Express.