Australian bowling great Shane Warne who is among Wisden's list of five greatest cricket players in 21st century has had a particularly bad time against Tendulkar. He described incidents when he got up in the night from dreams where Tendulkar was smashing him around the ground.

Once I (Sachin) was batting with Vinod Kambli for a school match. Vinod dropped his bat in the middle of the game and started to fly a kite. It was so funny that I really can't forget that day in whole of my life.

Young Sachin had aspired of being a fast bowler. It was this dream that made him undertake trials at Chennai based MRF pace academy, but his small stature proved to be a major hindrance to his aspiring career. Then he decided to take batting seriously.

Tendulkar's sensational journey to cricket stardom sparked of when his brother Ajit made him meet Mr. R. Achrekar ( Cricket Coach ). Sachin failed to perform in the first go which made him very nervous but his brother's persuasion led Mr. Achrekar give him another chance.

It was his change of school to Shardashram Vidya Mandir in Dadar - close to Shivaji Park on his coach's advice which marked a turn around in Sachin's career. He says," I use to bat in four nets at one strech. Whenever, I use to get tired, Achrekar use to keep a one rupee coin on top of the stumps and say, "Anyone who gets him out will take this coin. If no-one gets him, Sachin takes it." Tendulkar till date contributes this technique in being instrumental for enhancing his concentration. He still treasures the 13 coins earned by him during the practice sessions.

Sachin and his best pal Vinod Kambli hold the World Record of 664 runs stand for Shardashram School in inter-school tournament in 1988. Tendulkar candidly admits that the total would have never assumed mammoth proportion had he and Kambli not ignored the man waving from the boundary with the coach's message to declare.

Tendulkar's idol is the American Tennis superstar-John McEnore. During his young age, he argued and fought for McEnore with his colony friends who supported Swedish Bjorn Borg. Sachin sported a head-band, sweat-band and a tennis racquet showing his staunch loyalty towards his idol.

Sachin's wife Anjali tends to become nervous while he bats, whereas his brother has become so superstitious that he allows the family members to only watch the match recording.

On pre-mature and early exits, Sachin likes to take out his anger somewhere. He prefers to be left alone, till he cools down.

Tendulkar is a God fearing person, a staunch devotee of Sai Baba, Ganpathi and frequently visits temples during night when it's calm and quiet. He visualizes God in his parents. Religion to him is what his parents have inculcated in him, his upbringing and his way of life. Sachin strongly believes in the concept of re-birth, existence of Hell and Heaven. He loves celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi at home with his family and believes that it firms his ties with his loved ones.