Sachin Tendulkar – Group Captain
Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was one of the greatest international cricketers. He successfully served for the Indian national cricket team for 24 years (1989-2013) where he played the record number of international matches (664 matches – 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and only T20I).
During his international career, the right-handed batsman scored 15921 Test runs (average 53.78), 18426 ODI runs (average 44.83) and 1o T20I runs (average 10.00) – the record international run-scorer along with the record Test and ODI run-scorer. He is also the only batsman to hit 100 centuries in international cricket (51 Test centuries and 49 ODI centuries).
Also, as a right-arm bowler, Tendulkar was hugely effective as he managed to pick up a total of 201 international wickets – 46 Test wickets, 154 ODI wickets and only T20I wickets.
Tendulkar also led the Indian team in 98 international matches between 1996 and 2000, but it wasn’t much successful tenure for him. Otherwise, he played a huge role in India’s success in international cricket, including winning the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 under MS Dhoni’s leadership.
In 2010, Tendulkar was honoured with the Indian Air Force’s honorary rank of Group Captain for his great achievement in cricket and contribution to the nation.