Sachin Tendulkar made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians on this day in 2008

Former legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut on this day in 2008 for his team Mumbai Indians (MI). Tendulkar made his debut against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Wankhede stadium. The Master-Blaster stepped in as skipper of the side, taking over from Harbhajan Singh, who had been captaining the Men in Blue & Gold until then. Tendulkar had missed the first seven games of IPL's inaugural season due to an injury. 

In the match, Mumbai Indian won the toss and elected to field first. The Tendulkar-led side restricted Chennai Super Kings for 156/6 in 20 overs, courtesy of their bowlers Dhawal Kulkarni, Dwayne Bravo, and Shaun Pollock. S Badrinath and MS Dhoni top-scored for CSK with 53 and 43 runs respectively. When Mumbai came to bat in the second innings, the crowd cheered loudly and welcomed Sachin Tendulkar, who had opened the batting with Sanath Jayasuriya. Tendulkar couldn't make a mark in the game as he was dismissed for 12 runs. 

However, Jayasuriya carried on with his batting and scored the first-ever IPL century by a Mumbai Indians batsman. Jayasuriya remained not out as Mumbai chased down 157 with ease. The Sri Lankan superstar scored 114 runs off just 48 balls to help Mumbai finish the chase with Robin Uthappa at the other end. 

Sachin in IPL

Tendulkar played a total of 78 matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL), scoring 2334 runs. He had an average of 33.83 and a strike rate of 119.82. The Master Blaster bowled a total of 4 times in the IPL where he did not get a wicket. Tendulkar bowled with an economy of 9.67. Sachin Tendulkar was the captain of Mumbai Indians from 2008-2011. However, Mumbai Indians failed to make a mark under his captaincy and the Indian great stepped down from the role in 2012 giving the position to Harbhajan Singh again. Rohit Sharma took over as captain in 2013 and helped the team win its maiden title with Tendulkar by his side, who played his last season that year. He retired from all forms of the game in 2013 after winning the IPL trophy. 

(Image Credit: PTI)