Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday became UNICEF’s first brand ambassador for South Asia.The batting legend who recently hang up his boots is all set to work in promoting hygiene and sanitation in the region.Tendulkar said “Thanks for allowing me to start this wonderful second innings of my life. I’m looking forward to being an ambassador for UNICEF and serve to the best of my ability. This is an innings that is really really important to me, so I will try my best”.He also said that he was surprised to know that 36 per cent of the world population don’t have access to safe and clean toilets.He also added that he was baffled by the statistics on the high number of children dying due to lack of proper hygiene.According to UNICEF, almost half the population in India defecates in the open and 681 million people practice open defecation in South Asia.