Facts you don't know about Sachin Tendulkar !

We all know who Sachin Tendulkar is, we regard him as God in our cricket crazy nation.

We came up with 18 things that we know not many of us know about, here we go:

1. Sachin is pretty superstitious. He always put on his left pad before his right pad.

2. When Sachin scored the historic 664-run stand with Kambli, he was wearing wet pants as it wasn’t dried after washing due to monsoon weather and he did not have a spare one.

3. Teammate Praveen Amre bought him his first pair of international quality cricket shoes.

4. The guy you notice in every Indian game, the one painted in tricolor, Sachin provides tickets of all international matches in India to him!

5. Sachin Tendulkar used a very heavy bat, weighing 3.2lbs. Only South Africa’s Lance Klusener used a heavier bat.

6. Sachin Tendulkar wanted to be a professional Tennis player.

7. Sachin Tendulkar is ambidextrous. He bats with his right hand but signs autographs, eats or plays table tennis with his left.

8. Sachin was a ball boy during the 1987 World Cup semi-final match between India and England at Wankhede.

9. Sachin Tendulkar wanted to become a fast bowler, but was rejected by Dennis Lillee’s MRF Pace Foundation in 1987. Lillee advised the young Tendulkar to focus on his batting.

10. Sachin Tendulkar went to watch the movie Roja in 1995 with a beard and disguise. It all went wrong when his glasses fell off and the crowd in the cinema hall recognised him.

11. Sachin Tendulkar was the first batsman to be given out by the third-umpire.

12. Sachin Tendulkar was a huge fan of John McEnroe. He grew his hair and tied a band around it to copy his idol. Sachin was also fondly called McEnroe by his friends.

13. Sachin loves to listen to the rock band Dire Straits.

14. Sachin Tendulkar once fielded for Pakistan as a substitute during a one-day practice match against India at the Brabourne Stadium in 1988.

15. Sachin Tendulkar was without a bat contract until the start of the 1996 Cricket World Cup. At the end of the tournament a famous tyre manufacturer sponsored his willow.

16. Tendulkar batted in his debut Test against Pakistan wearing the pads gifted to him by Sunil Gavaskar.

17. On March 27, 1994 – Sachin opened in an ODI for the first time against New Zealand and scored 82 runs off just 49 balls.

18. Tendulkar has 13 coins from his coach Ramakant Achrekar. He would win a coin if he could get through an entire session of nets without being dismissed.