Sportstar launches The 15,000 Club book celebrating Tendulkar and Kohli
K.M. Mammen presented the first copy of The 15,000 Club: Two Generations, One Summit to N. Murali at The Hindu office in Chennai on Friday, November 13, 2026, as Sportstar formally launched the special publication celebrating Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. The launch also featured Rahul Mammen Mappillai and was attended by N. Ram and other senior figures from The Hindu and Kasturi & Sons.
Only two batters have crossed the 15,000-run mark in ODI cricket — Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli — and the Sportstar title is built around that shared milestone. The book, produced by Sportstar, carries the name The 15,000 Club: Two Generations, One Summit and was unveiled at the presentation in Chennai. Present at the event alongside K.M. Mammen and Rahul Mammen Mappillai were N. Murali, N. Ram, Ramesh Rangaranjan and K. Venugopal.
The publication revisits the long association between MRF and both players, noting landmark moments from their careers under the MRF banner. It recalls Tendulkar’s scores of 143 and 134 in Sharjah in 1998 — the innings commonly referred to in the article as his ‘Desert Storm’ knocks against Australia — and mentions Kohli’s unbeaten 82 against Pakistan in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, with MRF branding on his bat during several defining performances.
K.M. Mammen reflected on Tendulkar’s early connection to the MRF Pace Foundation and quoted Dennis Lillee’s initial assessment of the young player’s role there. “When Dennis Lillee [the first Director of Coaching at the MRF Pace Foundation] saw him, he didn’t want to upset him, but he made him bowl and then said, ‘You are promoted.’ But Sachin was so adamant that he came back and said, ‘Why don’t you try me out for a little bit of batting?’ That was when we saw his potential,” Mammen said.
Mammen also described the commercial step MRF took to sign Tendulkar and recalled the negotiation in his own words. “When we signed Sachin, he asked for a substantial amount,” Mammen said with a laugh. “But we did whatever it took to get him on board, and things just took off from there.”
The 15,000 Club compiles material from The Hindu and Sportstar archives, combining extracts from original match reports, archival photographs and contemporary accounts. It includes interviews with former teammates that the publisher says provide perspective on the players’ methods, mindsets, personalities and influence inside the dressing room, and traces Tendulkar’s emergence as a wunderkind alongside Kohli’s progression into a modern great while examining continuities and distinct legacies.
The book was published on November 13, 2026 (06:42 pm IST), and the first copy given to N. Murali at The Hindu office in Chennai completed the launch presentation.
