Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar

By popular vote, the greatest batsman in the world today, Sachin Tendulkar has the cricketing world at his feet. The adulation he commands world over is unsurpassed, perhaps since the days of Don Bradman, to whom of course he has been compared, by no less than the great man himself. While he may not end with a Test career average of 99.94, there is little doubt that based on his vigorous style of batsmanship and his insatiable appetite for runs and big scores, he is the most complete batsman since Vivian Richards. In many ways though he has surpassed even that outstanding West Indian batsman. 

When Tendulkar is on song, there is no more majestic sight in the cricketing world. The spectators at the stadium are on their feet cheering while all over the world, TV audiences are glued to the screen. He has scored heavily on all kinds of wickets the world over, in conditions which lesser mortals have not been able to master and against bowlers whom other batsmen have found it difficult to score off. Immensely gifted and blessed with an impeccable technique, Tendulkar's batting is a dream, combining timing, elegance and power. Mentally very strong, Tendulkar is best when confronted by a challenge - as he showed when mowing down Shane Warne in India in 1998. Captain during two short stints, Tendulkar has made it clear that he would prefer to concentrate on his batting and indeed, he seems to be getting better with every passing year. Scoring two double centuries in successive seasons and being the first to cross the 10,000 run barrier in ODIs is clear proof of this. The best thing from the fans' point of view - if not the bowler's - is that the entertainment, courtesy Tendulkar, is still at the intermission stage. Long may  
`The King' continue to regale his willing subjects! 

While his batting ranks him among the best in the world, he is also a part-time bowler and has played a crucial role as a leg spinner or a medium pace bowler who tends to break partnerships. He has more than a hundred wickets in ODIs and 35 in tests, though his bowling averages are above 40. He continues to perform well under the massive weight of expectation of hundreds of millions of cricket followers, in India and around the world, and most recently was named Player Of The Tournament in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.Incidentally, Sachin is the first batsman to be declared run out by third umpire in 1992 in South Africa. 
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar Statistics
Some remarkable achievements of his career are: 
* 4th highest tally of runs in test cricket (10,134) at an outstanding average of 57.25 (highest among those who have scored over 8,500 test runs) as of March 2005 
* Most runs (over 13642) and centuries (38) in one-day internationals 
* Only person to have scored over 11,000 ODI runs and over 25 ODI centuries as of April 28, 2005 
* Highest ODI batting average among Indian batsmen and among all batsmen who have scored over 7,500 ODI runs (as of April 3, 2005) 
* Most Number of Man of the Matches in one-day internationals 
* Only player to have over 100 innings of 50+ runs in ODIs as of April 2005 
* Most Number of Runs in World Cup Cricket History 
* First cricketer to cross 10,000-run mark in ODIs 
* Has equalled Sunil Gavaskar's record of 34 test centuries. 
* Among those who have played over 100 test matches, he is the only one with a batting average above 55. 
* Only second Indian to cross 10,000 runs in Test matches. 
* He has the most centuries in ODI cricket against Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. 
* He is the fastest to score 10,000 runs in test cricket history. He holds this record along with Brian Lara. Both of them achieved this feat in 195 innings. 
* To go with this he has 34 hundreds in Test cricket at an average of 57. An average above 50 distinguishes a batsman as an all time great. 
* Highest individual score in ODIs among Indian batsmen (186* against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999) 
*1994: Arjuna Award Receipient for achievements in Cricket 
*1997: Tendulkar was one of the five cricketers selected as Wisden Cricketer of the Year 
*1997/98: India's highest sporting honour - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna 
*1999: Padma Shri - India's civilian medal of recognition 
*2008: Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award. 
*In August 2003, Sachin Tendulkar was voted as the "Greatest Sportsman" of the country in the sport 
personalities category in the Best of India poll conducted by Zee News. 
*In November 2006, Time magazine named Tendulkar as one of the Asian Heroes. 
*In December 2006, he was named "Sports person of the Year" 
The current India Poised campaign run by The Times of India has nominated him as the Face of New India next to the likes of 
Amartya Sen and Mahatma Gandhi among others