Sachin Tendulkar is unarguably the greatest batsman of all time. It would be safe to say that we are fortunate enough to have watched Sachin Tendulkar play. He has been an ambassador of the game and words fail to describe his legacy. He has been a regular face in the Indian Premiere League (IPL) for the first six seasons as well. He was one of the major reasons why people started liking Mumbai Indians and even lead them for the first four seasons. On the legend’s Birthday, we shall be taking a look at a year by year journey of the Master Blaster’s IPL Career.
1) IPL 2008:
T20 wasn’t percieved back then like how it is today. The games were not as high scoring as how they are right now. Tendulkar played 7 matches in the first edition of the league and scored 188 runs at an average of 31. He was striking at 106.21. Mumbai Indians went on to finish fifth in the points table under his leadership that season.
2) IPL 2009:
2009 turned out to be a considerably better year for Tendulkar with the bat. He scored 364 runs in the 7 matches he played. He had an average and strike rate of 33 and 120 respectively. However, MI however had a season to forget as they ended up second last on the points table in IPL 2009.
3) IPL 2010:
The third edition of the league was Tendulkar’s best by a fair margin. He was absolutely sensational in IPL 2010 to say the least. He not only won the Orange Cap that year but he also went on to lead MI to the finals. They narrowly missed out winning the title and CSK eventually needed up winning the title. However Tendulkar went on to win the Player Of The Tournament in IPL 2010 and amassed a whooping 618 runs at an average and strike rate of 47.54 and 132.64 respective.
4) IPL 2011:
2011 was another year where Tendulkar was at his best. The “God Of Cricket” didn’t even leave the IPL as he managed to score his first IPL century in this season. He scored an unbeaten 100 against the now defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerala. He went on to score 553 runs in 16 innings at an average and strike rate of 42.54 and 113 respectively. He also lead MI to the playoffs as they finished third in IPL 2011.
5) IPL 2012:
IPL 2012 saw Tendulkar step down from captaincy as he passed on the captaincy reigns to Harbhajan Singh. IPL 2012 saw Tendulkar score 324 runs at an average and strike rate of 29.46 and 114.49 respectively.
6) IPL 2013:
This was the last time we saw Tendulkar play the biggest T20 league in the world. He played 14 matches and scored 287 runs at an average and strike rate of 22 and 124 respectively. MI also went on to win the title and gave Tendular an ideal farewell.