The 15,000 Club: Sportstar book celebrates Tendulkar and Kohli

K.M. Mammen, Chairman and Managing Director, MRF Ltd., released The 15000 Club, at The Hindu Office on Friday. | Photo Credit: B RAJ VELANKANNI

Only two Indian batters have crossed the 15,000-run mark in ODI cricket: Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. Separated by generations but united by an extraordinary appetite for runs, the two batting greats are the subject of The 15,000 Club: Two Generations, One Summit, a special publication launched by Sportstar on Friday.

The book was formally launched by K.M. Mammen, Chairman and Managing Director of MRF Limited, and Rahul Mammen Mappillai, Managing Director of MRF Limited, in the presence of N. Murali, Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited (THGPPL), and N. Ram, Director of The Hindu Group.

The association between MRF and the two batting icons has its own place in cricketing history. Tendulkar’s iconic ‘Desert Storm’ knocks in Sharjah in 1998, when he struck 143 and 134 against Australia, remain among the enduring images of his MRF years. Kohli, too, produced several defining performances with the MRF branding on his bat, including his unbeaten 82 against Pakistan in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.

K.M. Mammen recalled Tendulkar’s early association with the MRF Pace Foundation, where the young prodigy had initially arrived hoping to become a fast bowler.

“When Dennis Lillee [the first Director of Coaching at the MRF Pace Foundation] saw him, he didn’t want to upset him, but he made him bowl and then said, ‘You are promoted.’ But Sachin was so adamant that he came back and said, ‘Why don’t you try me out for a little bit of batting?’ That was when we saw his potential,” Mammen said.

Breakdown | Kohli joins Sachin in the 15000 ODI runs club

He also recalled the financial leap of faith MRF took when it first signed Tendulkar, at a time when the company was still establishing itself.

“When we signed Tendulkar, he asked for a substantial amount,” Mammen said with a laugh. “But we did whatever it took to get him on board, and things just took off from there.”

The 15,000 Club goes beyond milestones and statistics to revisit the careers of the two batting icons through extracts from original match reports from The Hindu and Sportstar archives, archival photographs and contemporary accounts. Interviews with former teammates offer an intimate perspective on their methods, mindsets, personalities and influence in the dressing room.

Tracing Tendulkar’s emergence as a prodigy and Kohli’s rise into a modern great, the book explores the continuities between two remarkable careers and the distinct legacies they have left on Indian cricket.