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Early tours

Raj Singh Dungarpur is credited for the selection of Tendulkar for the Indian tour of Pakistan in late 1989, after one first class season. The Indian selection committee had shown interest in selecting Tendulkar for the tour of the West Indies held earlier that year, but eventually did not select him, as they did not want him to be exposed to the dominant fast bowlers of the West Indies so early in his career.

Tendulkar was the youngest player to debut for India in Tests at the age of 16 years and 205 days, and also the youngest player to debut for India in ODI at the age of 16 years and 238 days. Tendulkar made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November 1989 aged 16 years and 205 days. He scored 15 runs, being bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that match. He was noted for how he handled numerous blows to his body at the hands of the Pakistani pace attack. In the fourth and final Test match in Sialkot, he was hit on the nose by a bouncer bowled by Younis, but he declined medical assistance and continued to bat even as he his nose gushed blood. In a 20-over exhibition game in Peshawar, held in parallel with the bilateral series, Tendulkar made 53 runs off 18 balls, including an over in which he scored 27 runs bowled by leg-spinner Abdul Qadir. This was later called "one of the best innings I have seen" by the then Indian captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth. In all, Tendulkar scored 215 runs at an average of 35.83 in the Test series, and was dismissed without scoring a run in the only One Day International (ODI) he played.

The series was followed by a tour of New Zealand in which he scored 117 runs at an average of 29.25 in Tests. He was dismissed without scoring in one of the two ODI games he played, and scored 36 in the other. On a 1990 tour to England, on 14 August, he became the second-youngest cricketer to score a Test century as he made 119 not out in the second Test at Old Trafford in Manchester. Wisden described his innings as "a disciplined display of immense maturity" and also wrote, "He looked the embodiment of India's famous opener, Gavaskar, and indeed was wearing a pair of his pads. While he displayed a full repertoire of strokes in compiling his maiden Test hundred, most remarkable were his off-side shots from the back foot. Though only 5ft 5in tall, he was still able to control without difficulty short deliveries from the English pacemen".

Tendulkar's reputation grew during the 1991–92 tour of Australia held before the 1992 Cricket World Cup. During the tour, he scored an unbeaten 148 in the third Test at Sydney, making him the youngest batsman to score a century in Australia. He then scored 114 on a fast, bouncing pitch in the final Test at Perth against a pace attack from Merv Hughes, Bruce Reid, and Craig McDermott. Hughes commented to Allan Border at the time that "This little prick's going to get more runs than you, AB."