Tendulkar turns 39 tomorrow, no big celebrations planned

Sachin Tendulkar turns 39 tomorrow but no big celebrations have been planned so far by the batting icon or his Mumbai Indians team-mates though his die-hard fans have made elaborate plans to observe the day in a big way.

Tendulkar and his wife Anjali, but without their two children, arrived here by an afternoon flight from Mumbai.

The batting maestro's IPL team Mumbai Indians teammates also arrived here with him. Mumbai are set to clash with Kings XI Punjab in Mohali on Wednesday.

Dinesh Karthik (left) with Sachin Tendulkar (right) during a MI net session.

While the five star hotel where Tendulkar and his teammates are staying have made arrangements on their own to throw a party to celebrate his birthday, his first after scoring his 100th international ton, but MI sources said the event is likely to be a low-key affair. A small private function may be kept and his teammates will wish him on his birthday and cut the cake.u00a0MI team owner Nita Ambani is also likely to be present, the sources said.

"There may be a small function, but nothing grand. Tendulkar is a very privte person and we are not expecting the event to be a bash. It will be a small function," a team source said.

A senior official of the hotel said they were ready with their preparations, but were waiting for the green signal from Tendulkar's side. This will not, however, dampen the spirit of his die-hard fans.

As the team arrived at the hotel, his fans had already lined up. "We are a group of friends studying in a college. All of us have placed order for a 10-kg cake to celebrate Tendulkar's birthday. All our friends will be joining us and a big party will be thrown as it is his first birthday after he scored his 100th century recently," said Tanya Mittal, one of his fans.

Last year, Tendulkar did not celebrate his birthday following the demise of his spiritual guru Satya Sai Baba. Tendulkar has scored 51 centuries in Test cricket from 188 matches and 49 tons from 463 ODIs he has played so far in his international career spanning nearly 23 years.