5 records set by Sachin Tendulkar that look almost unbreakable

Sachin Tendulkar, arguably the greatest cricketer of all time, turns 50 today. And anyone who has followed cricket through the 90s and the 2000s will know that no other player has had more impact and following than the Master Blaster.

During his 24-year-long career, players like Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, and Jacques Kallis were his main competitors but none of them could break his records thanks to his consistency and longevity.

Since his retirement from international cricket on November 16, 2013, the game has changed a lot. The likes of Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson, who are the best batters of this generation, had some great runs but none of them look close to breaking most of Sachin's records.

While Kohli may soon break his most ODI centuries record, there are some records of Sachin that almost look unbreakable. We take a look at some of these records:

Most runs in Tests

One thing that Sachin kept doing and where no one came close to him, was scoring runs. Be it any format, he was a run machine. And till his last game, that hunger for runs never died.

He has the record for the highest runs in Tests. Sachin has scored 15,921 runs in 200 matches and 329 innings. Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis are in the 2nd and 3rd spots with 13,378 and 13,289 runs respectively. No other batsman in the top 10 list is still playing cricket, and it is highely unlikely that this record is ever going to be broken.

Even after playing 200 Tests, Sachin had an average of 53.78. He scored 51 Test ton, 68 half-centuries, and his highest score in the format was 248*.

100 international centuries and 51 Test tons

At one time Kallis and Ponting were very close to Sachin's centuries record, Alastair Cook was once in top form for 2-3 years and it seemed like he could break Sachin's Test centuries record. But now, Kohli seems to be the only contender, but he is also 25 centuries behind Sachin's record of 100 international centuries. His 100 tons came in 664 matches and 782 innings.

He has scored 51 Test centuries and 49 hundreds in the ODIs. While his ODI tons record will most likely be broken soon by Kohli, no one seems close to his Test centuries record. Kallis is second in the list with 45 tons and no one in the top 10 list is still playing.

His dominance in the format can be seen by his numbers. 29 of Sachin's 51 Test tons came outside India and 17 of them came in England, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand.

Most Man of the Match awards

Man of the Match or Player of the Match is given to a player who was most impactful during a game or played a match-winning role. And no other player has single-handedly been more impactful than Sachin has been for India.

During his career, Sachin has won 63 Man of the Match awards (62), which is the highest. He also has the most Man of the Match awards in World Cup matches with 9 such trophies. In second place in Sanath Jayasuriya with 48 awards.

This is one record that tells that Sachin was not just about personal records and won a record number of games for his country. And this is also a record that won't be broken anytime soon.

Most 90s

Though Sachin has scored a century of centuries, he could have scored many more had he not been holding the record for the most number of 90s in the game. Sachin has scored in the 90s 18 times in ODIs and 10 times in Tests. He holds the record for the highest number of dismissals in the 90s (28) in international cricket.

While many call it the nervous nineties, some of Sachin's greatest match-winning knocks were in the 90s. This includes his brilliant 75-ball 98 against Pakistan during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

Most runs in World Cups

Sachin Tendulkar's record in the World Cup is second to none. He played a record six World Cups from 1992 to 2011. He also holds the record of the highest number of runs at the mega event. Sachin has scored 2,278 World Cup runs at an average of 56.95.

During these World Cups, he played in the final twice and finally won the trophy in 2011 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Sachin has scored six centuries and 15 half-centuries at the World Cups.

On the second spot for most World Cup runs is Ricky Ponting with 1743 runs. And in the top 10, only Shakib Al Hasan is the player who is an active cricketer now. So, this is also one record that is highely unlikely to be broken.