- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
It was a special Monday for millions of cricket fans in India and worldwide the sport’s ‘God’, Sachin Tendulkar, turned 50.
While his fans and cricketers — former and current — wished him, a special tribute was paid to the Master Blaster at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Australia where a gate was commemorated in names of both the former Indian batter and his contemporary Brian Lara of the West Indies. The duo, who accessed the field of play through the gates at the iconic venue, became the first non-Australian cricketers to get the honour.
The gates are located between the Member’s Pavilion away dressing room and the Noble Bradman Messenger Stand. While the men’s cricket team of Pakistan will be the first visiting one to walk through the gates early next year, India will have to wait for some time for their chance.
Former Australian cricketers Arthur Morris and Alan Davidson are the two others to have gates named after them at the stadium Down Under.
According to a report by Cricbuzz, while the decision to honour Tendulkar and Lara was being taken since 2019-20 when the two former greats were in Australia together, it was decided that April 24 was a perfect occasion to do it since it marked a special birthday of Tendulkar.
The gates were unveiled on Monday morning and on the occasion were present Rod McGeoch, SCG and Venues New South Wales (NSW) chairman; Kare Mather, SCG and Venus NSW chief executive officer Kerrie Mather and Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley.
The honour will see Tendulkar, who has a stand named after him at the Wankhede Stadium in his home town Mumbai, having his name commemorated at a famous icon abroad.
Sydney had been one of the happiest hunting grounds for Tendulkar and it was his 148 not out at the venue in 1991 as a teenager which had revealed his promising talent in the world of cricket. He averaged 157 in five Tests that he played in Sydney, scoring three hundreds, including the career-best 241 not out in 2004.
Sydney was also a favourite ground for Lara who hit a breath-taking 277 at the ground in 1993, a knock which is still considered one of the best scored by an overseas batter at SCG.
Reacting to the honour he received at the SCG, Tendulkar said the venue had been his favourite ground from home and he had some great memories there. He thanked SCG and Cricket Australia, Cricbuzz reported.
