Sachin Tendulkar: India cricket legend asks fans to find his first car

The cricketing legend said he missed his Maruti 800 - a small car popular in India in the 1990s

Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has asked his fans to help him locate his first car.

The iconic player, who is passionate about cars, said the vehicle was a Maruti 800 - a small car popular with Indians in the 1990s.

He asked his fans to contact him in case they knew its whereabouts - though he did not provide much more detail.

Tendulkar retired in 2013 but continues to be one of the most popular public figures in India.

He told a web chat show that he had bought his car soon after becoming a professional cricketer.

In doing so, he joined an entire generation of Indians for whom the Maruti 800 was more than a car - it symbolised dreams, aspirations and status.

In fact, news that Maruti decided to stop the production of the car in 2014 devastated many, leading to nostalgic recollections of what the model had meant to them.

For an entire generation of Indians, the Maruti 800 was more than just a car

The batsman said he sold the vehicle after he bought several new cars with the rise in his stature in international cricket.

He also talked about what inspired his lifelong love for cars.

"There was a massive open drive-in movie hall near my house where people used to park their cars and watch the movie, sitting in it. So I, along with my brother, used to stand in our balcony for hours to watch those cars," he said.

Tendulkar is the highest scorer in both Tests and ODIs, with 15,921 runs in 200 Tests and 18,426 runs in 463 ODIs.

He made his international debut aged 16 in November 1989 and in 2012 became the only batsman in the history of the game to reach 100 international centuries.

He also captained India twice.

Tendulkar in numbers

Test matches (200)

He has scored 15,921 runs, hitting 51 hundreds and 68 half centuries. His top score was an unbeaten 248 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in December 2004

One-day internationals (463)

He has scored 18,426 runs at an average of 44.83 and a strike rate of 86.23. He has scored 49 centuries (highest score 200) and 96 fifties

Twenty20 internationals

He only made one international appearance in the shortest form of the game, scoring 12 from 15 balls against South Africa in December 2006

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of tests played and runs scored by Sachin Tendulkar.