Sachin Tendulkar's five best performances before his international debut

Irani Trophy, 1989:

The Master Blaster got a chance to represent India at 16

Tendulkar’s phenomenal performance during the Ranji Trophy earned him a place in the Irani Trophy squad (now called Irani Cup) in November 1989.

Rest of India had various other young talents like Surendra Bhave and Vivek Razdan, but the focus was on the 16-year old Tendulkar, who was all set to make his tournament debut against the then Ranji champions Delhi.

He scored a ton in the first game, making 103 runs when the rest of the team together had contributed just 101 runs. This was when the squad for the much-awaited tour to Pakistan during the winter of 1989 was announced.

The then prodigy earned his biggest break and was selected to play for India along with giants like Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin and Manoj Prabhakar.

And the rest, as they say, is History.