Aged 16 years and 205 days, Sachin Tendulkar walked out at Karachi to face Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Waqar Younis and Abdul Qadir on Test debut — the youngest Indian Test cricketer and the start of a 24-year career.
Tendulkar had broken every age-group batting record in Mumbai and made an unbeaten 326 in a school partnership of 664 with Kambli.
He had played one season of Ranji and Duleep cricket before being picked for Pakistan; he was 16.
Tendulkar, picked on the strength of school and Ranji Trophy form that included a 326 in a partnership of 664 with Vinod Kambli, walked in at No. 6 with India in trouble. He was bowled by Waqar Younis — also making his debut — for 15. In the second Test at Faisalabad he made 59. In the fourth Test at Sialkot he was hit on the nose by a Waqar bouncer, blood streaming, and refused to retire — he pulled the next ball for four and made 57. He averaged 35 in the series and announced himself as a Test cricketer of generational ability. Pakistan won the series-deciding off-field PR battle when Imran joked that Tendulkar 'looked like a kid and got out like one' but every bowler who faced him in 1989 — Wasim, Imran, Waqar, Qadir — said publicly within the year that he was the best young batsman they had ever seen.
Bowled Waqar 15 on debut
59 at Faisalabad
Hit on the nose at Sialkot, refuses to retire
Pulls next ball for four
57 at Sialkot
Karachi
Debut, bowled Waqar 15
Faisalabad
59
Lahore
41
Sialkot
Hit on nose, makes 57
“Main khelega.”
“The kid is special. Mark my words.”
Tendulkar made his first Test hundred at Old Trafford in 1990; the rest is statistical history.
The most consequential Test debut in cricket history — both for India and for the global commercial game.
His 24-year, 200-Test, 100-international-hundred career began in this match. The image of the bloodied teenager at Sialkot is one of the iconic photographs of Indian cricket.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.