At 1 a.m. on December 17, 1989, a family in the farming town of Thodupuzha in central Kerala welcomed the birth of their child. The jubilant father, PC Baby, spent the rest of the day offering prayers at the church.

A day later, in the Pakistani town of Gujranwala, a 16-year-old made his ODI debut for India—a month after becoming the youngest Indian Test player. Sachin Tendulkar faced only two balls and was dismissed by Waqar Younis for a duck, but he left a lasting impression on PC Baby.

Despite being brought up on football, the LIC consultant decided to name his first-born son after Sachin Tendulkar. “We never imagined how big Tendulkar was going to be. But there was something very impressive about him. I wanted my son to grow up to be like him,” says Baby.

Almost 20 years later, on November 3, 2009, Sachin Baby made his first-class debut for Kerala against Andhra Pradesh. Though the youngster, a left-handed middle-order batsman, has a long way to go before he fulfils his father’s wishes, he has at least taken the first step.

Not every ‘Sachin’ born after 1989 has turned to cricket. But like Baby, a few of them are making a mark in the game. Despite sharing their birthday with Sourav Ganguly (July 8), Chennai’s 16-year-old Baba twins, Aprajit and Indrajit — part of the under-19 Tamil Nadu squad — are better known as Sachin and Sunny. Their cricket-besotted father, however, insists that Aprajit’s batting style is more like Rahul Dravid’s.

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