Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar achieved yet another first in his illustrious career when the Indian Air Force conferred on him the honorary rank of Indian Air Force "Group Captain"in recognition of his exemplary achievements as an Indian and a  cricketer.  Sachin Tendulkar has the distinction of being the sportsman to be accorded this honour.  Sachin Tendulkar is also the first person from a non aviation background to be conferred with a honorary rank.

While millions of Indians would be proud to hear that SachinTendulkar would be referred to as "Group Captain" there may be many who do not know how much importance is attached to the post of "Group Captain".  The rank of Group Captain is the fourth highest in Indian Air Air Force in a hierarchy which starts with "Officer Cadet" as the lowest and ends with "Marshal of the Air Force" as the highest.  There are only 3 ranks above that of Group Captain and that is Air Commodore, Air Marshal and "Marshal of the Air Force".  The entire hierarchy in descending order with the highest rank at the top is given below.

1. Marshal of the Air Force

2. Air Marshal

3. Air Commodore

4. Group Captain (the honorary rank Sachin has been conferred with)

5. Wing Commander

6. Squadron Leader

7. Flight Lieutenant

8. Flying Officer

9. Pilot Officer

10. Officer Cadet

In 2008 Kapil Dev was given the honorary rank of Lt. Colonel in Territorial Army.  The rank of Group Captain is equivalent of "Colonel" in Army which means Sachin Tendulkar's honorary rank is a rank just above that of Kapil Devs honorary rank in the Territorial Army.  While Dilip Vengsarkar was given the nick name "Colonel" by the cricketing world in his playing days, cricketing world would be doubly delighted with the fact that Sachin Tendulkar holds a rank equivalent of colonel in real life. 

The rank of "Group Captain" is yet another feather in Sachin's illustrious career in which he has been conferred with "Padma Vibhushan" India's second highest civilian award in 2008. Sachin has also been conferred with "Maharashtra Bhushan" Maharashtra's highest award.  Apart from this Sachin Tendulkar has been conferred with Arjuna Award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna India's highest sporting honour.

While there were many fans of Sachin Tendulkar who would have been disappointed with the fact Sachin Tendulkar could not excel in the role of captain for India thanks to non co operation from the then seniors in the team, fans would feel more than compensated that Sachin Tendulkar can  now be referred to as "Group Captain" throughout his life a honour which has eluded the greatest of captains on the cricket field. A captain however great his achievements are on the cricket field is stripped of the post once he retires and he is called only a "Former Captain" while Sachin Tendulkar is a "Group Captain" for the rest of his life.

Sachin's brilliant captaincy in IPL could not fetch Mumbai Indians the IPL trophy but let us hope Group Captain Sachin Tendulkar carries his team Mumbai Indians to greater heights in the Champions League which is due to start this week.