CRICKET \\ In April 2012, Sachin Tendulkar took the nation by surprise as he accepted a Rajya Sabha nomination proposed by the President of India. He is the first active sportsperson and cricketer to have been nominated to the Rajya Sabha and he took the oath on June 4, 2012. Allegedly, Tendulkar commented that “cricket comes first,” when reporters asked whether he preferred cricket to Parliament. Tendulkar has been one of the most prolific run scorers in ODIs with 18,426 runs and an aggregate of 15,470 Test runs. He also holds the record for the highest number of centuries in both Test (51) and ODI (49) cricket. On March 16, 2012, Tendulkar scored his 100th international hundred against Bangladesh in a league match of the Asia Cup. In August 2011, Rahul Dravid declared his retirement from ODIs as well as Twenty20 international cricket. In March 2012, Dravid announced his retirement from all international and first-class cricket. 2012 also saw cricket great VVS Laxman retire from all international formats of the game.