Is Sachin Tendulkar the greatest schoolboy cricketer ever?

Twenty years ago, a fresh-faced youngster was being hailed as the next big thing. Would he play for India, the cognoscenti asked themselves Harsha Bhogle
November 12, 2009

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Author's note: This piece was written 21 years ago for Sportsworld magazine (and was only retrieved thanks to Mudar Patherya, who was a young cricket writer then). Sachin Tendulkar was 15, a year and a half away from playing Test cricket and four months short of his first-class debut. I was not yet 27, in an advertising job out of business school, with one Test match and a handful of one-dayers on Doordarshan behind me. We were both looking ahead in our own spheres. What a time it was, it was, a time of innocence...
All of Bombay's maidans are a stage. Where every cricketer has a role to play. And his seems to be the blockbuster. Ever since he unveiled Act One early last year, audiences have been waiting, a little too eagerly at times, to watch the next scene. Sachin Tendulkar is only, so far, acting in a high-school production. Yet critics have gone to town. And rave reviews have not stopped coming in. I guess it can only happen in Bombay. That a schoolboy cricketer sometimes becomes the talk of the town. Why, at the end of every day's play in the final of Bombay's Harris Shield (for Under 17s) everybody wanted to know how many he had made. For he does bat three days sometimes! And for all the publicity he has received, Sachin Tendulkar is really still a kid. He only completed 15 on 24 April. And is very shy. Opening out only after you have coaxed him for some time. As his coach Mr Achrekar says, "Aata thoda bolaila laglai" [He's started talking a bit now]. And it's then that you realise that his voice has not yet cracked. His record is awesome. He has scored far more runs than all of us scored looking dreamily out of the window in a boring Social Studies class when we were his age.
"Once I get set, I don't think of anything" Unknown

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Players/Officials: Vinod Kambli | Sachin Tendulkar Teams: India

For a prodigy, he started late. When he was nine years old. And it was only in 1984-85 that he scored his first school-level fifty. But 1985-86 was a little better. He scored his first Harris Shield hundred and played for Bombay in the Vijay Merchant (Under-15) tournament. And 1986-87 was when he blossomed. Still

only 13, he led his school, Shardashram Vidyamandir, to victory in the Giles Shield (for Under-15s). He scored three centuries - 158*, 156 and 197 - and then in the Harris Shield scored 276, 123 and 150. In all, he scored nine hundreds, including two double hundreds, a total of 2336 runs. By now everyone had begun to sit up and take notice. The beginning of the 1987-88 season saw Sachin at the Ranji nets. Once again the top players were away playing Tests and perhaps the Bombay selectors felt it wouldn't be a bad idea to give Sachin first-hand experience of a higher category of cricket. He was named in the 14 for the first couple of games, and manager Sandeep Patil kept sending him out whenever possible - for a glass of water or a change of gloves. All along Sachin probably knew that he was still at best a curiosity, and that while Bombay was giving him every blooding opportunity, he had to prove himself on the maidans. And that is exactly what he did. Season 1987-88 was a purple patch that never ended. Playing in the Vijay Merchant tournament he scored 130 and 107 and then at the Inter-Zonal stage he made 117 against the champions, East Zone. Then in the Vijay Hazare tournament (for Under-17s) he scored 175 for West Zone against champions East Zone. Then came the avalanche. A 178* in the Giles Shield and a sequence in the Harris Shield of 21*, 125, 207*, 329* and 346*! A small matter of 1028 runs in five innings! And in the course of that innings of 329* he set the much talked-about record of 664 for the third wicket with Vinod Kambli, who, it is not always realised, scored 348*. Perhaps the most fascinating of them all was the innings of 346*. Coming immediately, as it did, in the shadow of the world record, a lot of people were curious to see him bat. Sachin ended the first day on 122, batted through the second to finish with 286, and when the innings closed around lunch on the third day, he was 346*. And then came back to bowl the first ball. In April's Bombay summer. But when did this story begin? Like all children, "People don't realise that he is just 15. They Tendulkar took to playing "galli" cricket. His brother keep calling him for some felicitation or the Ajit was a good player and persuaded Mr Achrekar, other. The other day he was asked to probably Bombay's most famous coach, to look at inaugurate a children's library. This is him. Achrekar recalls, "When he first came to my ridiculous. These things are bound to go to his head. He will start thinking he has net four-five years ago, he looked just like any other boy and I didn't take him seriously. Then one achieved everything."Tendulkar's coach, Ramakant Achrekar day I saw him bat in an adjacent net. He was trying to hit every ball but I noted that he was middling all of them. Some time later he got a fifty and a friend of mine, who was umpiring that game, came and told me that this boy would play for India. I laughed at him and said that there were so many boys like him in my net. But he insisted. 'Mark my words, he will play for India.' My friend is dead now but I'm waiting to see if his prophecy comes true.' Tendulkar is taking first steps towards getting there. He discovered that his house, being in Bandra, would not allow him to be at Shivaji Park whenever he wanted. He now spends most of his time at his uncle's house, just off this nursery of Bombay cricket. When he is not actually playing, that is. Quite often, he is playing all day; important because it has helped him build the stamina to play long innings. "I don't get tired," he says, referring to them. "If you practise every day, you get used to it."

And what about that world-record innings? "I could bat very freely then because my partner Vinod Kambli was batting so well that I knew that even if I failed, he would get enough runs for the side." Isn't there a lot of pressure on him now? Everyone assumes he will get a big score? "Only in the beginning. Till I get set. Once I get set, I don't think of anything." Wasn't he thrilled at being invited to the Ranji nets? "Definitely. After playing there I got a lot of confidence." Everything in Tendulkar's life has so far revolved around cricket. Including his choice of school. A few years back he shifted to Shardashram Vidyamandir, only so that he could come under the eye of Achrekar. "It helped me tremendously because 'sir's' guidance is so good," he says. Strangely his parents were never very keen about cricket. His brother Ajit says, "They were not very interested in the game, though they gave him all the encouragement. You see, in our colony all parents were training their children to be engineers and doctors. And they would say, "Gallit khelun cricketer hoto kai?" [You don't become a cricketer by playing in the alleys]. I am so happy he is doing well because now people think he is doing something." The question that arises then, given all the publicity is: Just how good is Sachin Tendulkar? "For his age, unbelievable," says Sharad Kotnis, Bombay's veteran cricket watcher. "He is definitely comparable to Ashok Mankad, who had a similar run many years ago. But remember Ashok had cricket running in his family and his father often came to see him play. I think Tendulkar's strongest point is that he is willing to work very hard." Luckily for Sachin, there is a calming influence over him, just so he doesn't get carried away by this acclaim. His coach Achrekar knows exactly what he is talking about. "He is not perfect yet. Far from it. In fact, I would say he is not even halfway there. He still has a lot of faults, particularly while driving through the on, which is an indicator of a class batsman. He still has a long way to go, but what I like about him is his ability to work hard. I don't think we should get carried away by his scores. After all, one has to take into account the nature of the wicket and the quality of the bowlers. By his standards the quality of the bowling he faced was not good enough. "His real test will come this year when he plays in the 'A' Division of the Kanga League. [Sachin will play for the Cricket Club of India, which for him has waived the stipulation that children under 18 are not allowed inside the Club House!] He should get 70s and 80s there and not just 20s and 30s; particularly towards the end of the season, when the wickets get better."

Achrekar, in fact, is quite upset about the publicity Sachin is getting. "People don't realise that he is just 15. They keep calling him for some felicitation or the other. The other day he was asked to inaugurate a children's library. This is ridiculous. These things are bound to go to his head. He will start thinking he has achieved everything. I hope all this stops so he can concentrate and work hard." Yet both Achrekar and Kotnis agree on when they think Sachin will become a Ranji regular. "I think he should be playing the Ranji Trophy next year. I think it is unfair to compare him to the [Lalchand] Rajputs and [Alan] Sippys yet, but I think he should play next year," feels Kotnis. And Achrekar adds, "Inspite of what I said about him, if he maintains this kind of progress, he should play the Ranji next year." Clearly the curtain call is still a long way off for Sachin Tendulkar. He has a lot of things going for Tendulkar as a wee thing with coach Ramakant Achrekar him. Most importantly he is in Bombay, where the Unknown sheer atmosphere can propel him ahead. In how many cities would a 15-year-old be presented a Gunn and Moore by the Indian captain? And in which other city would the world's highest run-getter write to a 15-year-old asking him not to get disheartened at not getting the Best Junior Cricketer award? Sunil Gavaskar wrote to Tendulkar to tell him that several years earlier another youngster too had not got the award and that he didn't do too badly in Test cricket. For him the letter from his hero is a prized possession. Another great moment was a meeting with him where " he told me that I should forget the past every time I go to bat. I should always remember that I have to score runs each time." He is in the right company. And the right environment. The next few years will show whether he has it in him the mental toughness to overcome the over-exposure. If it does not go to his head, surely there is a great future beckoning. This is really just the beginning and I will be watching this little star with avid interest for the next three years. If he is still charting blockbusters, I'd love to do another review then.
Harsha Bhogle is a commentator, television presenter and writer. This article was first published in Sportsworld magazine in 1988 Feeds: Harsha Bhogle

Man-child superstar
Tendulkar the cricketer seemingly emerged fully formed when he first picked up a bat. So too perhaps did Tendulkar the luminary Rahul Bhattacharya
November 15, 2009

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Sachin Tendulkar comes to the ground in headphones. He might make a racket in the privacy of the bus, who knows, but when he steps out he is behind headphones. Waiting to bat he is behind his helmet. The arena is swinging already to the chant, "Sachin, Sachin", the first long and pleading, the second urgent and demanding, but Tendulkar is oblivious, behind his helmet. At the fall of the second wicket, that familiar traitorous roar goes round the stadium, at which point Tendulkar walks his slow walk out, golden in the sun, bat tucked under the elbow. The gloves he will only begin to wear when he approaches the infield, to busy himself against distraction from the opposition. Before Tendulkar has even taken guard, you know that his quest is equilibrium. As he bats his effort is compared in real time with In a zone of his making: Tendulkar's quest on the field is earlier ones. Tendulkar provides his own context. equilibrium Getty Images The conditions, the bowling attack, his tempo, his Related Links very vibe, is assessed against an innings played Teams: India before.Today he reminds me of the time when

Why isn't he . What's wrong with him!

If the strokes are flowing, spectators feel something beyond pleasure. They feel something like gratitude. The silence that greets his dismissal is about the loudest sound in sport. With Tendulkar the discussion is not how he got out, but why. Susceptible to left-arm spin? To the inswinger? To the big occasion? The issue is not about whether it was good or not, but where does it rank? A Tendulkar innings is never over when it is over. It is simply a basis for negotiation. He might be behind headphones or helmet, but outside people are talking, shouting, fighting, conceding, bargaining, waiting. He is a national habit. But Tendulkar goes on. This is his achievement, to live the life of Tendulkar. To occupy the space where fame and accomplishment intersect, akin to the concentrated spot under a magnifying glass trained in the sun, and remain unburnt. "Sachin is God" is the popular analogy. Yet god may smile as disease, fire, flood and Sreesanth visit the earth, and expect no fall in stock. For Tendulkar the margin for error is rather less. The late Naren Tamhane was merely setting out the expectation for a career when he remarked as selector, "Gentlemen, Tendulkar never fails." The question was whether to pick the boy to face Imran, Wasim, Waqar and Qadir in Pakistan. Tendulkar was then 16.

Sixteen and so ready that precocity is too mild a word. He made refinements, of course, but the marvel of Tendulkar is that he was a finished thing almost as soon as began playing. The maidans of Bombay are dotted with tots six or seven years old turning out for their coaching classes. But till the age of 11, Tendulkar had not played with a cricket ball. It had been tennis- or rubber-ball games at Sahitya Sahwas, the writers' co-operative housing society where he grew up, the youngest of four cricket-mad siblings by a distance. The circumstances were helpful. In his colony friends he had playmates, and from his siblings, Ajit in particular, one above Sachin but older by 11 years, he had mentorship. It was Ajit who took him to Ramakant Achrekar, and the venerable coach inquired if the boy was accustomed to playing with a "season ball" as it is known in India. The answer did not matter. Once he had a look at him, Achrekar slotted him at No. 4, a position he would occupy almost unbroken through his first-class career. In his first two matches under Achrekar Sir, he made zero and zero. Memory obscures telling details in the dizzying rise thereafter. Everybody remembers the 326 not out in the664-run gig with Kambli. Few remember the 346 not out in the following game, the trophy final. Everyone knows the centuries on debut in the Ranji Trophy and Irani Trophy at 15 and 16. Few know that he got them in the face of a collapse in the first instance and virtually out of partners in the second. Everyone knows his nose was bloodied by Waqar Younis in that first Test series, upon which he waved away assistance. Few remember that he struck the next ball for four. This was Tendulkar five years after he'd first handled a cricket ball. Genius, they say, is infinite patience. But it is first of all an intuitive grasp of something beyond the scope of will - or, for that matter, skill. In sportspersons it is a freakishness of the motor senses, even a kind of ESP. Tendulkar's genius can be glimpsed without him The wonder is that in the years between he actually holding a bat. Not Garry Sobers' equal with has done nothing to sully his innocence, the ball, he is nevertheless possessed of a similar nothing to deaden the impish joy, nothing to versatility. He swings it both ways, a talent that disrupt the infinite patience or damage the eludes several specialists. He not only rips big immaculate equilibrium through the riot of his life and career legbreaks but also lands his googlies right, a task beyond some wrist spinners. Naturally he also bowls offspin, usually to left-handers and sometimes during a spell of wrist spin. In the field he mans the slips as capably as he does deep third man, and does both in a single one-dayer. Playing table tennis he is ambidextrous. By all accounts he is a brilliant, if hair-raising, driver. He is a champion Snake player on the cellphone, according to Harbhajan Singh, whom he also taught a spin variation. His batting is of a sophistication that defies generalisation. He can be destroyer or preserver. Observers have tried to graph these phases into a career progression. But it is ultimately a futile quest for Tendulkar's calibrations are too minute and too many to obey compartmentalisation. Given conditions, given his fitness, his state of mind, he might put away a certain shot altogether, and one thinks it is a part of his game that has died, till he pulls it out again when the time is right, sometimes years afterwards. Let alone a career, in the space of a single session he can, according to the state of the rough or the wind or the rhythm of a particular bowler, go from predatorial to dead bat or vice versa.

Nothing frustrates Indians as much as quiet periods from Tendulkar, and indeed often they are selfdefeating. But outsiders have no access to his thoughts. However eccentric, they are based on a heightened cricket logic rather than mood. Moods are irrelevant to Tendulkar. Brian Lara or Mohammad Azharuddin might be stirred into artistic rage. Tendulkar is a servant of the game. He does not play out of indignation nor for indulgence. His aim is not domination but runs. It is the nature of his genius. The genius still doesn't explain the cricket world's enchantment with Tendulkar. Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis are arguably not lesser cricketers than he, but have nothing like his following or presence. Among contemporaries only Shane Warne could draw an entire stadium's energy towards himself, but then Warne worked elaborately towards this end. Tendulkar on the pitch is as uncalculated as Warne was deliberate. Warne worked the moments before each delivery like an emcee at a title fight. Tendulkar goes through a series of ungainly nods and crotch adjustments. Batting, his movements are neither flamboyant nor languid; they are contained, efficient. Utility is his concern. Having hit the crispest shot between the fielders he can still be found scurrying down the wicket, just in case. Likewise, outside the pitch nothing he does calls up attention. In this he is not unusual for the times. It has been, proved by exceptions of course, the era of the undemonstrative champion. Ali, Connors, McEnroe, Maradona have given way to Sampras, Woods, Zidane, Federer, who must contend with the madness of modern media and sanitisation of corporate obligation. Maybe Tendulkar the superstar, like Tendulkar the cricketer, was formed at inception. Then, as now, he is darling. He wears the big McEnroe-inspired curls of his youth in a short crop, but still possesses the cherub's smile and twinkle. Perhaps uniquely, he is granted not the sportstar's indulgence of permaadolescence but that of perma-childhood. A man-child on the field: maybe it is the dichotomy that is winning. The wonder is that in the years between he has done nothing to sully his innocence, nothing to deaden the impish joy, nothing to disrupt the infinite patience or damage the immaculate equilibrium through the riot of his life and career.
Rahul Bhattacharya is the author of Pundits from Pakistan: On Tour with India, 2003-04 Feeds: Rahul Bhattacharya

'Tendulkar controls the game'

What are the things that set the great man apart from mere mortals? The ability to read the game acutely, pick the ball early, dedication, discipline and more As told to Nagraj Gollapudi
November 15, 2009

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The first time Virender Sehwag met Sachin Tendulkar was in March 2001, at a practice session ahead of thefirst ODI of the home series against Australia. For Sehwag, Tendulkar was the man who had inspired him to skip exams in school and allowed him to dream of cricket as a career. Sehwag was shy then, and didn't speak to his hero. He got 58 off 51 balls and picked up three wickets. Tendulkar later walked up to him and said, "You've got talent. Continue playing the same way and I'm sure you will make your name." That ability to motivate youngsters is one of the traits, Sehwag says, that makes Tendulkar special. Here he tells Cricinfo about 10 things that make Tendulkar stand out.

Discipline He never comes late to any practice session, never comes late to the team bus, never comes late to any meeting - he is always five minutes ahead of time. If you are disciplined, it shows you are organised. And then he is ready for anything on the cricket field. Mental strength I've learned a lot of things from him as far as mental strength goes - on how to tacke a situation, how to tackle a ball or bowler. If you are not tough mentally, you can't score the number of runs and centuries he has in the last two decades. He is a very good self-motivator. He always said to me: whatever the situation or whichever the bowler you face, always believe in yourself. There was this occasion in South Africa, early in my career, when I was not scoring runs fluently, so he suggested I try a few mental techniques that had worked for him. One of the things he said was: Always tell yourself you are better than others. You have some talent and that is why you are playing for India, so believe in yourself.

Master and pupil: Sehwag credits Tendulkar with teaching him how to compile big hundreds AFP

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Picking the ball early Players/Officials: Virender Sehwag | Sachin Tendulkar Teams: India He can pick the ball earlier than other batsmen and that is a mark of a great batsman. He is virtually ready for the ball before it is bowled. Only great players can have two shots for one ball, like Tendulkar does, and a big reason is that he picks the ball very early. Soft hands I've never seen him play strokes with hard hands. He always tries to play with soft hands, always tries to meet the ball with the centre of the bat. That is timing. I have never been able to play consistently with soft hands. Planning One reason he can convert his fifties into hundreds is planning: which bowler he should go after, which bowler he should respect, in which situation he should play aggressively, in which situation he should defend. It is because he has spent hours thinking about all of it, planning what to do. He knows what a bowler will do in different situations and he is ready for it. In my debut Test he scored 155 and he knew exactly what to do every ball. We had already lost four wickets (68 for 4) when I walked in, and he warned me about the short ball. He told me that the South African fast bowlers would bowl short-of-length balls regularly, but he knew how to counter that. If they

Specials : 'Awesome feeling to get that Chennai hundred'

bowled short of a length, he cut them over slips; when they bowled outside off stump, he cut them; and when they tried to bowl short into his body, he pulled with ease. Luckily his advice had its effect on me, and I made my maiden hundred! Adaptability This is one area where he is really fast. And that is because he is such a good reader of the game. After playing just one or two overs he can tell you how the pitch will behave, what kind of bounce it has, which length is a good one for the batsman, what shots to play and what not to. A good example was in the Centurion ODI of the 2006-07 series. India were batting first. Shaun Pollock bowled the first over and fired in a few short-of-length balls, against which I tried to play the back-foot punch. Tendulkar cautioned me immediately and said that shot was not a good option. A couple of overs later I went for it again and was caught behind, against Pollock. Making bowlers bowl to his strengths He will leave a lot of balls and give the bowler a false sense of security, but the moment it is pitched up to the stumps or closer to them, Tendulkar will easily score runs. If the bowler is bowling outside off stump Tendulkar can disturb his line by going across outside off stump and playing to midwicket. He puts doubts in the bowler's mind, so that he begins to wonder if he has bowled the wrong line and tries to bowl a little outside off stump - which Tendulkar can comfortably play through covers. In Sydney in 2004, in the first innings he didn't play Only great players can have two shots for a single cover drive, and remained undefeated on one ball, like Tendulkar does, and a big 241. He decided to play the straight drive and reason is that he picks the ball very early flicks, so he made the bowlers pitch to his strengths. It is not easy. In the Test before that, in Melbourne, he had got out trying to flick. After that when we had a chat he said he was getting out playing the cover drive and the next game he would avoid the cover drive. I thought he was joking because nobody cannot not play the cover drive - doesn't matter if you are connecting or not. I realised he was serious in Sydney when he was on about 180-odd and he had missed plenty of opportunities to play a cover drive. I was stunned. Ability to bat in different gears This is one aspect of batting I have always discussed with Tendulkar: how he controls his game; the way he can change gears after scoring a half-century. Suddenly he scores 10-12 runs an over, or maybe a quick 30 runs in five overs, and then again slows down and paces his innings. He has maintained that it all depends on the team's position. If you are in a good position you tend to play faster. He also pointed out that the batsman must always think about what can happen if he gets out and the consequences for the team. The best example is the knock of 175. I was confident he would pull it off for India and he almost did. Building on an innings I learned from Tendulkar how to get big hundreds. He told me early on that once you get a hundred you are satisfied for yourself. But it is also the best time to convert that into a bigger score for the team because then the team will be in a good position.

If you look at my centuries they have always been big. A good instance of this was in Multan in 2004, when he told me I had given away a good position in Melbourne (195) the previous year and the team lost, and I needed to keep that in mind against Pakistan. In Multan, in the first hundred of the triple century I had hit a few sixes. He walked up to me after I reached the century and said he would slap me if I hit any further sixes. I said why. He said that if I tried hitting a six and got out the team would lose the control over the game, and I needed to bat through the day. So I didn't hit a single six till I reached 295. By then India were 500-plus and I told him I was going to hit a six! Dedication This is the most important aspect of his success. In his life cricket comes first. When he is on tour he is thinking about nothing but cricket, and when he is not on tour he dedicates quality time to his family. That shows his dedication to the game and to his family. He has found the right balance.
Nagraj Gollapudi is an assistant editor at Cricinfo Feeds: Nagraj Gollapudi

The Sachin I know

Tendulkar has found the urge, and the solutions, to be able to play for 20 years. That is a landmark to be celebrated Harsha Bhogle
November 13, 2009

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Sachin Tendulkar may have inspired others to write poetry but he batted in robust prose. Not for him the tenderness and fragility of the poet, the excitement of a leaf fluttering in a gentle breeze. No. Tendulkar is about a plantation standing up to the typhoon, the skyscraper that stands tall, the cannon that booms. Solid. Robust. Focused. The last word is the key. He loves the game deeply but without the eccentricities of the romantic. There is a match to be won at all times. But Tendulkar too was a sapling once. And his brother Ajit sheltered him from the gale, kept him The battle within: Tendulkar walks off, having scored a hundred focused. Sachin looked after his cricket, Ajit looked in the game against Kenya in the 1999 World Cup Getty Images after Sachin. Twenty-two years ago, I was asked Related Links Players/Officials: Sachin Tendulkar bySportsworld to do an article on this Teams: India extraordinary schoolboy. It wasn't Sachin I had to speak to, it was Ajit. When the time for the interview came, at Ramakant Achrekar's net in Shivaji Park,

Ajit was there with a cyclostyled copy of Sachin's scores. And Achrekar admonished me for spoiling his child, for fear that Sachin would get distracted. The interview was done. Sachin was neither overwhelmed nor garrulous; indeed he was so limited with his words that you had to hold on to every one of them. It was sent to Sportsworld in Calcutta by courier (or was it just put into a normal post box?) and then came a request for two photographs. Again it was Ajit who produced them. When I got the cheque, I noticed they had paid me an extra 100 rupees for the photographs. They weren't mine but Sportsworld had a policy of paying for them and so I wrote out a cheque to Ajit for Rs 100. It was acknowledged and accepted gratefully. We lived in different times then! It was also my first realisation that young men in the public eye needed to be sheltered so they could focus on playing cricket; that they needed an elder brother, or an equivalent, to put a gentle hand on the shoulder and, occasionally, lay one the back side. A lot of other young men today see Tendulkar's runs, eye his wealth, but their brattishness comes in the way of noticing his work ethic. For Tendulkar's life is not the story of extraordinary ability but of an extraordinary work ethic. Twelve years later, on a cold evening in Bristol, preparing for a World Cup game against Kenya the next day, I saw him in dark glasses, fiddling around with his kit. Aimlessly, like he was searching for something to do. At most times he would be bounding around with energy, bowling off 18 yards, taking catches, shouting thoughts to other batsmen. I approached him hesitantly, I couldn't see his eyes because they were shrouded by these huge dark glasses, probably the only time they were used to cover rather than to adorn, for he had just lost his father. I asked him if he would talk to us about coming back to play. He nodded his head and only briefly took the glasses off. His eyes were red and swollen; you could see he had been crying copiously. For the interview he put them on, and once the camera had stopped rolling, admitted he didn't want to return, that his mind was all over the place, that he felt anchorless. It was the only time he didn't want to play for India but he had been forced back by his family, aware that only cricket could help him overcome his grief. When he got a hundred the next day and looked heavenwards, some other eyes were moist. Even in his grief there was resolve, for he wanted that century. It might only have been Kenya but he was battling himself, not the bowlers. Four years later he agreed to do an interview for a series of programmes I was then doing. Our producer thought we would make it special, and to our surprise and joy, Amitabh Bachchan agreed to introduce the programme. In the first break Sachin whispered, "That was a beautiful surprise." Little did he know there was more to come.

It has been fantastic having a ringside view of this journey, watching a cricketer, and a person, grow. But one thing hasn't changed. He still approaches every game like a child would a bar of chocolate, feeling happy and fortunate

Sometime earlier he had told me he was a big fan of Mark Knopfler and we thought it would be great if we could get the great Dire Straits man to talk to us. "I'm recording all night but immediately after that, before I fall asleep," Knopfler said, and somehow we persuaded Sachin to do the programme in the afternoon rather than in the morning. And when the moment came, we patched the line on and when I said, "Hello Mark," Sachin looked puzzled. A minute later his eyes lit up when he realised which Mark we had on the line. And then he was like a child,

tongue-tied, fidgety, excited - much like most people are when they first meet Tendulkar. Even the stars can get starry-eyed! And there have been moments of surprising candour. When asked, as batsmen tend to be, which bowlers had troubled him the most, he smiled an almost embarrassed smile and said, "You won't believe this." When probed, he said, "Pedro Collins and Hansie Cronje." "In fact," he said, "I once told my partner 'Will you please take Hansie for me? I don't mind playing Allan Donald'" Tendulkar's batting has been much chronicled over the years. Indeed, I believe he has been the most analysed cricketer in the history of the game. Yet he has found the urge, and indeed the solutions, to play on for 20 years. Now that is a landmark to be celebrated, not the many inconsequential others that we exploit for our own need. It has been fantastic having a ringside view of this journey, watching a cricketer, and a person, grow. But one thing hasn't changed. He still approaches every game like a child would a bar of chocolate, feeling happy and fortunate. Read the Sportsworld article from 1988 here
Harsha Bhogle is a commentator, television presenter and writer Feeds: Harsha Bhogle

A giant's peaks
Two decades of highlights: we look back at the jewels in Tendulkar's crown Cricinfo staff
November 13, 2009

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119 not out v England, Old Trafford, 1990 England pile up 519 on a benign pitch, and India reply with 432. England stretch the lead to 407, and though the pitch is still good and the bowling (Devon Malcolm, Angus Fraser, Chris Lewis, Edie Hemmings) not terribly menacing, India find themselves in deep water at 127 for 5 with only one recognised batsman left. And he's only 17 years old. Tendulkar battles for nearly four hours, grimly but never dourly, and ends the day with 119. India lose only one more wicket, finishing with 343. With one more session, they might even have won. 114 v Australia, Perth, 1991-92 The fastest pitch in Australia has been reserved for the last Test. India have been beaten already, only humiliation awaits. Batting first, Australia score 346. Tendulkar enters at a relatively comfortable 100 for 3, but watches the next five wickets go down for 59. Tendulkar is the next man Tendulkar's 98 against Pakistan in Centurion was one of the best out... at 240. He has scored 118 of the 140 runs innings of the 2003 World Cup Neil Lane added while he is at the crease, and has made Related Links Players/Officials: Sachin Tendulkar them in such an awe-inspiring manner that commentators ask themselves when they last saw Teams: India an innings as good. 169 v South Africa, Cape Town, 1996-97 Batting first, South Africa make a match-winning 529. Playing only for honour, India find themselves grovelling before Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Brian McMillan and Lance Klusener. Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin get together at 58 for 5, and start spanking the bowling as if they were playing a club game. They add 222 for the sixth wicket in less than two sessions, and Tendulkar has 26 boundaries in his score of 169. Donald, by his own admission, felt like applauding. 155 not out v Australia, Chennai, 1997-98 Seventy-one runs in arrears, India start the second innings and despite Navjot Singh Sidhu's 64 find themselves only 44 in front when Tendulkar joins Rahul Dravid. The duo has to contend with Shane Warne bowling from round the wicket and into the rough. Tendulkar, who has practised against Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and a few other bowlers on artificially created rough patches before the series, decides to take apart Warne. In a breathtaking assault, with the match hanging in the balance, he deploys his unique slog sweeps against the spin to steer India past Australia and snatch a match-winning 347-run lead. Twin centuries v Australia, Sharjah, 1997-98 India are chasing Australia's 284, but more importantly they need to score 254 to beat New Zealand on

net run-rate and make their way to the final. Single-handedly Tendulkar takes India close to the cut-off when sandstorms disrupt play. Just when India's prospects of making it to the final look bleak, Tendulkar not only takes them beyond the target, but for a brief while lets them entertain hopes of a win. Twin centuries v Australia, Sharjah, 1997-98 It couldn't have got better. It does. Two days later, at the same venue, chasing a similar total, 273, to win the final, Tendulkar decimates the Australian attack. By the time he is out in the 45th over, he has left India only 25 more to get. Shane Warne is so devastated he confesses Tendulkar hits him for sixes in his nightmares. 141 and 4 for 38 v Australia, Dhaka, 1997-98 Six months after having destroyed the Aussie bowlers' psyches, Tendulkar meets them again in a bigmatch environment: the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy. And again, single-handedly he puts Australia out of the game with his third century against them in three matches. His 141 comes in 128 balls, and India are 280 in the 46th over when he gets out. To put the matter beyond doubt, Tendulkar kills an interesting contest by dismissing Steve Waugh, Michael Bevan, and Damien Martyn with 4 for 38. 136 v Pakistan, Chennai, 1998-99 Few Indian batting performances have been as heroic, or as tragic. Chasing 271 in the fourth inningsof a low-scoring match, India experience a familiar top-order collapse, and are sinking fast at 82 for 5. Tendulkar finds an able ally in Nayan Mongia, and rebuilds the innings in a painstaking, un-Tendulkar-like manner. After helping add 136 for the sixth wicket, Mongia departs to an ungainly pull. Tendulkar, whose back is giving way, shifts up a gear or two and starts dealing in boundaries. But one error of judgment and it's all over. Saqlain Mushtaq defeats the intended lofted on-drive with a magical ball that drifts the other way, catches the outer part of Tendulkar's bat and balloons up to mid-off. The tail disgrace themselves, and India fall short by a gut-wrenching 13 runs. 233 not out v Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, 19992000 The first match-winning fourth-innings century, in Chennai It's a Ranji semi-final against a strong Tamil Nadu, against England in 2008 AFP and Mumbai are looking down the barrel after their bowlers have given away 485 runs. A first-innings lead is crucial, and Mumbai look down for the count at 127 for 4 when old pal Vinod Kambli joins Tendulkar and they see Mumbai out of trouble. They are not anywhere near home when Kambli falls with the score on 266. Tendulkar then takes charge, and with the lower order, sees Mumbai just past Tamil Nadu's total and into a final Mumbai go on to win. It is just the kind of against-the-odds match-winning knock that has eluded him at international level, which is perhaps why he ranks it among his best in all forms.

155 v South Africa, Bloemfontein, 2001-02 On the first day of an overseas series, India's plight is a familiar one - four down for 68, with all the wickets going just the way the South Africans planned - to rising balls. Tendulkar has a debutant for company, with another to follow. He takes 17 balls to score his first run, but 101 come off the next 97 deliveries. It isn't the prettiest of Tendulkar's Test tons, but it is one of the most savage, characterised by pulls and vicious upper-cuts. The South Africans have a plan for India, and Tendulkar makes a mockery of it. By the time his innings ends, India are reasonably well placed, though they go on to lose the Test. 98 v Pakistan, Centurion, 2003 Tendulkar has been compelled to live this World Cup match against Pakistan for a year in advance. He does not sleep well for 12 nights going into the match. Faced with a target of 274, Tendulkar shows no anxiety whatsoever. Or is it that nervous energy? He finishes his hyped battle against Shoaib Akhtar in the latter's first over with an uppercut for six, and then a flick and a straight block for two boundaries. Every bowler is dealt with with similar disdain. Tendulkar has not looked as pumped up before. And although he misses a century, he leaves the match sealed in the 28th over. 117 not out v Australia, Sydney, 2007-08 Going into the first final of the CB Series, Tendulkar has not achieved many things: an ODI century in Australia, a century in 37 innings, a chase-winning century since 2001, a century in any chase since March 2004. In a 235-minute masterclass, he washes it all away, scoring 117 off 120 balls and leading India to the 240-run target on a difficult wicket just about solo. He dominates in the initial overs, shepherds the tentative middle order, and stays unbeaten to see the side home. 37 and 103 not out v England, Chennai, 2008-09 Tendulkar has to his name every batting record worth having, except one perhaps: a fourth-innings century in an Indian win. Having struggled against the spin of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar in the first innings of the Chennai Test, India are left to chase 387 on a deteriorating pitch. The explosive start is provided by Virender Sehwag, and the final touches by Yuvraj Singh, but in the middle Tendulkar nurtures the chase, hardly ever looking under pressure, scampering through for singles like a teenager, breaking the shackles every now and then with the odd boundary. The last of those fours finishes the chase, and brings up the elusive century. It works a treat that it has come at the venue that was the scene of heartbreak nine years before, against Pakistan, and weeks after one of India's worst terror attacks. With Tendulkar, India smiles again. 175 v Australia, Hyderabad, 2009-10 Australia have amassed a massive 350 on a flat pitch in Hyderabad, and Tendulkar almost chases it down single-handedly. He displays through the innings how he has mastered the art of scoring quick runs without taking any risks. The only support comes from Virender Sehwag (38) and Suresh Raina (59). Tendulkar, who scores 175 off 141 balls, gives hardly a chance through the classic. When he does take risks, it's worth preserving the shots in an album: stepping out to spinners, lofting straight down the ground; the unbelievably late flicks and the even later late cuts. It all ends in heartbreak, though: in Chennai in 1999, Tendulkar, having played an innings just as incredible, left the last three wickets 17 to get; on this night he leaves them 19 off 17. The rest choke like they did in Chennai.

India's proudest possession

Tendulkar has gone two decades being a blend of the sublime and the precise, incapable of ugliness or of being dull; and those are among the least of his achievements

Peter Roebuck

November 14, 2009

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Sachin Tendulkar has been playing top-class cricket for 20 years and he's still producing blistering innings, still looking hungry, still demolishing attacks, still a prized wicket, still a proud competitor. He has not merely been around for two decades. From his first outing to his most recent effort, a stunning 175 in Hyderabad, he has been a great batsman. Longevity counts amongst his strengths. Twenty years! It's a heck of a long time, and it's gone in the blink of an eye. The Berlin Wall was taken down a week before Sachin Tendulkar first wore the colours of his country, Nelson Mandela was behind bars, Allan It's never been hard for Tendulkar to play cricket. The hard part Border was captaining Australia, and India was a will be stopping Associated Press patronised country known for its dust, poverty, Related Links timid batsmen and not much else. In those days Players/Officials: Sachin Tendulkar Tendulkar was a tousle-haired cherub prepared to Teams: India Sites: Cricinfo ICC Site stand his ground against all comers, including Wasim Akram and the most menacing of the Australans, Merv Hughes. Now he is a tousle-haired elder still standing firm, still driving and cutting, still retaining some of the impudence of youth, but nowadays bearing also the sagacity of age. It has been an incredible journey, a trip that figures alone cannot define. Not that the statistics lack weight. To the contrary they are astonishing, almost mind-boggling. Tendulkar has scored an avalanche of runs, thousands upon thousands of them in every form of the game. He has reached three figures 87 times in the colours of his country, and all the while has somehow retained his freshness, somehow avoided the mechanical, the repetitive and the predictable. Perhaps that has been part of it, the ability to retain the precious gift of youth. Alongside Shane Warne, the Indian master has been the most satisfying cricketer of his generation. Tendulkar's feats are prodigious. He has scored as many runs overseas as in his backyard, has flogged Brett Lee at his fastest and Shane Warne at his most obtuse, has flourished against swing and cut, prospered in damp and dry. Nor can his record be taken for granted. Batsmen exist primarily to score runs. It is a damnably difficult task made to look easy by a handful of expert practitioners. Others have promised and fallen back, undone by the demands, unable to meet the moment. Tendulkar has kept going, on his toes, seeking runs in his twinkling way. In part he has lasted so long because there has been so little inner strain. It's hard to think of a player remotely comparable who has spent so little energy conquering himself. Throughout, Tendulkar has been able to concentrate on overcoming his opponents. But it has not only been about runs. Along the way Tendulkar has provided an unsurpassed blend of the sublime and the precise. In him the technical and the natural sit side by side, friends not enemies, allies

deep in conversation. Romantics talk about those early morning trips to Shivaji Park, and the child eager to erect the nets and anxious to bat till someone took his wicket. They want to believe that toil alone can produce that straight drive and a bat so broad that periodically it is measured. But it was not like that. From the start the lad had an uncanny way of executing his strokes perfectly. His boyhood coaches insist that their role was to ensure that he remained unspoilt. There was no apprenticeship. Tendulkar was born to bat. Over the decades it has been Tendulkar's rare combination of mastery and boldness that has delighted connoisseurs and crowds alike. More than any other batsman, even Brian Lara, Tendulkar's batting has provoked gasps of admiration. A single withering drive dispatched along the ground, eluding the bowler, placed unerringly between fieldsmen, can provoke wonder even amongst the oldest hands. A solitary square cut is enough to make a spectator's day. Tendulkar might lose his wicket cheaply but he is incapable of playing an ugly stroke. His defence might have been designed by Christopher Wren. And alongside these muscular orthodoxies could be found ornate flicks through the on-side, glides off his bulky pads that sent tight deliveries dashing on unexpected journeys into the back and beyond. Viv Richards could terrorise an attack with pitiless brutality, Lara could dissect bowlers with surgical and magical strokes, Tendulkar can take an attack apart with towering simplicity. Nor has Tendulkar ever stooped to dullness or cynicism. Throughout, his wits have remained sharp In part Tendulkar has lasted so long because there has been so little inner strain. It's hard and originality has been given its due. He has, too, to think of a player remotely comparable who been remarkably constant. In those early has spent so little energy conquering himself appearances, he relished the little improvisations calculated to send bowlers to the madhouse: cheeky strokes that told of ability and nerve. For a time thereafter he put them into the cupboard, not because respectability beckoned or responsibility weighed him down but because they were not required. Shot selection, his very sense of the game, counts amongst his qualities. On his most recent trip to Australia, though, he decided to restore audacity, cheekily undercutting lifters, directing the ball between fieldsmen, shots the bowlers regarded as beyond the pale. Even in middle age he remains unbroken. Hyderabad confirmed his durability. And yet, even this, the runs, the majesty, the thrills, does not capture his achievement. Reflect upon his circumstances and then marvel at his feat. Here is a man obliged to put on disguises so that he can move around the streets, a fellow able to drive his cars only in the dead of night for fear or creating a commotion, a father forced to take his family to Iceland on holiday, a person whose entire adult life has been lived in the eye of a storm. Throughout he has been public property, India's proudest possession, a young man and yet also a source of joy for millions, a sportsman and yet, too, an expression of a vast and ever-changing nation. Somehow he has managed to keep the world in its rightful place. Somehow he has raised children who relish his company and tease him about his batting. Whenever he loses his wicket in the 90s, a not uncommon occurrence, his boy asks why he does not "hit a sixer". Somehow he has emerged with an almost untarnished reputation. Inevitably mistakes have been made. Something about a car, something else about a cricket ball, and suggestions that he had stretched the

facts to assist his pal Harbhajan Singh. But then he is no secular saint. It's enough that he is expected to bat better than anyone else. It's hardly fair to ask him to match Mother Teresa as well. At times India has sprung too quickly to his defence, as if a point made against him was an insult to the nation, as if he were beyond censure. A poor lbw decision- and he has had his allocation- can all too easily be turned into a cause celebre. Happily Tendulkar has always retained his equanimity. He is a sportsman as well as a cricketer. By no means has it been the least of his contributions, and it explains his widespread popularity. Not even Placido Domingo has been given more standing ovations. And there has been another quality that has sustained him, a trait whose importance cannot be overstated. Not long ago Keith Richards, lead guitarist with the Rolling Stones, was asked how the band had kept going for so long, spent so many decades on the road, made so many records, put up with so much attention. His reply was as simple as it as telling. "We love it," he explained, "we just love playing." And so it has always been with Tendulkar. It's never been hard for him to play cricket. The hard part will be stopping. But he will take into retirement a mighty record and the knowledge that he has given enormous pleasure to followers of the game wherever it is played.
Peter Roebuck is a former captain of Somerset and the author, most recently, of In It to Win It. This article was first published inSportstar magazine Feeds: Peter Roebuck

Tendulkar smacks Shoaib around

First came a six, then a four, then divine magic Rahul Bhattacharya
September 13, 2009

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Centurion, 1 March 2003 Sachin Tendulkar has never batted better than in the World Cup of 2003, and during it never better than for three famous deliveries against Shoaib Akhtar in Centurion. This was a match Tendulkar said he was compelled to live a year in advance. Everywhere he went, people reminded him about the 1st of March, the fixture against Pakistan. Consequently he did not sleep properly for 12 nights leading up. Facing a handsome target, Tendulkar shed his pent-up anxiety with three strokes in Shoaib's opening over to jumpstart a classic innings. The first of them - reaching out (were he not so pumped up, he would have surely let it pass for a wide), at once cutting and tipping, very high over the square third-man boundary - would become an icon, for cricketing merit; its sheer thrill, and nationalist symbolism, a sort of belated rebuff to the Miandad six. The second stroke was his lovely trademark - back in the crease and with swirling wrists diverting a reasonable delivery to square leg. But the third The first cut: the six over third man Getty Images shot - the third shot. Related Links
Matches: India v Pakistan at Centurion A little trot across to off stump, block, down the Series/Tournaments: ICC World Cup ground to the on, four. No back-lift, no followTeams: India | Pakistan through: none needed. I have never seen such a Other links: 50 Magic Moments concisely expressed cricket stroke. He simply met the ball and the entire execution began there and finished there. And by now the crowd, the most vividly alive of the tournament, had gone quite wild. Visually it was like a cinematic special effect: everything moved in a blur - flags, roars, horns, waves, the ball, Shoaib - and amid it Sachin and his pure stroke appeared magically frozen. Rahul Bhattacharya is the author of Pundits from Pakistan: On Tour with India, 2003-04. This article was first published in the print version of Cricinfo Magazine Feeds: Rahul Bhattacharya Players/Officials: Sachin Tendulkar

The saint
His purity of technique and image make him an icon with more than a touch of the divine Greg Baum
November 1, 2003

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The two keenest appreciations of Sachin Tendulkar were made from vantage points that could not have been more opposite to each other, and together serve as an incontrovertible cross-reference to his greatness. The first was Sir Donald Bradman's famous remark to his wife during the1996 World Cup that Tendulkar put him in mind of how he himself batted. The second is the widespread understanding in the cricket community that match-fixers will not successfully get on with their crooked business until Tendulkar is out, and an anecdotal account of how Tendulkar once unwittingly ruined a fix by batting too blissfully well. It must be understood that neither reflection would have been made lightly. Sir Donald was not given to hyperbole or glibness, but rather was precise in everything he did and said. Nor would the fixers have bothered with throwaway lines.

Together, these tributes convey immutable impressions of Tendulkar that accord with less quantifiable, more aesthetic understandings of the glory of his batsmanship, Here is a man capable of changing the course of any game. Here is a man incorruptible in the face of the venal temptations that so many of his peers could not resist. Outside the laws or outside the off stump, he could not be lured. Here is a man not susceptible to human failing in any endeavour, a man not so much invincible as invulnerable. Here is a man whose name is synonymous with purity, of technique, philosophy and image. If Ian Botham can be seen as the Errol Flynn of cricket, or Viv Richards as the Martin Luther King, or Shane Warne as the Marilyn Monroe, or Muttiah Muralitharan as the hobbit, Tendulkar is surely the game's secular saint. Right from the beginning, he appeared to be touched by divinity. He came among us as a boy-god, unannounced. He was 16 and was hit on the head in his first appearance, but neither flinched nor retreated a step. Nothing thenceforth could harm him, temporal or otherwise. He was short and stocky like all the best - and mop-topped and guileless to behold. He has scarcely changed since. Tendulkar was born with extravagant natural talent, but he was also driven and indefatigable. When a boy, he would bat from dawn to dusk, and even a little beyond. As with all the greats, he came not from another dimension, nor the mystical east, but from the nets. By such dedication, he came to understand intimately his own gift, and at length to lavish it upon others.

That Sachin Tendulkar stands tall everyday with eyes watching his every move is a wonder Getty Images

His movements at the crease are small but exact. He said once that he did not believe in footwork for its conventional purpose, because the tempo of Test cricket did not permit a batsman the textbook indulgence of getting to the pitch of the ball. Rather, he thought of footwork as a means of balancing himself up at the crease so that each shot was hit just as he meant it. He scores predominantly through the off side, an unusual characteristic for such a heavy run-maker, but of course he can play every shot. Tendulkar's method promotes an air of calm, reassurance and poise at the crease. Brian Lara's batting is characterised by explosion and violence, and Steve Waugh's by grim resolve, but Tendulkar's ways are timeless. His battles with Shane Warne, genius versus genius, have been for the ages. It is said that the common element to concepts of beauty among all peoples is symmetry, a balance between all the parts. So it is with Tendulkar's batting.

How easily he carries the hopes and takes responsibility for the well being of untold millions on that impossible subcontinent; in this, he is also divine. All eyes are upon him, day and night, but no scandal has attached itself, not in his private life nor in his cricket endeavours. Across the land, he is the little man on the big posters and hoardings, creating a kind of reverse Big Brother effect; he is not watching them, but they are watching him. Still he stands tall. Sometimes petty criticism is made that he fails India in its hours of need, but it is not borne out by the figures, and besides, no one man could take upon his shoulders all of India's needy hours. Just 30, he has already made more than 50 international centuries. When called upon, he also bowls intelligently, if sparingly. He is sure in the field. There is even about him, as there was about many saints, something of the ingenu. He is not a natural captain for the modern era because he can lead only by example. He does not have a charismatic presence in a cricket stadium, but rather fills it in a different way, as the one certainty in a sea of doubt. Batting is the most fraught of sporting pursuits because even for the best the end is only ever one ball away. Tendulkar seems to turn that verity upon itself. As Tendulkar put Bradman in mind of himself, so he puts others in mind of Bradman. Once I was on a night train winding down from Simla to Kalka that stopped halfway for refreshments at a station lit by flaming torches. On a small television screen wreathed in cigarette smoke in the corner of the dining room Tendulkar was batting in a match in Mumbai. No one moved or spoke or looked away. The train was delayed by 20 minutes. Not until Tendulkar was out could the world resume its normal timetables and rhythms.

'Here is a man not susceptible to human failing in any endeavour, a man not so much invincible as invulnerable' Afp

This piece first appeared in the November 2003 issue of Wisden Asia Cricket.
Greg Baum is a writer with the Melbourne Age.. This article was first published in the November 2003 issue of Wisden Asia Cricketmagazine

Sachin Tendulkar's warning to Virender Sehwag during the Test against Pakistan in Multan, 2004. Sehwag reached his triple century with a six.

If you try to hit a six I will hit you on the bum.

Sep 17, 2009

Phillip Hughes vows to talk shop with Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai

I'll chew his ear off.

Aug 30, 2009

Twenty20 cricket is the dessert and you can't survive on that. Who wants to eat only desserts?
Sachin Tendulkar resorts to a food analogy to explain the pecking order of cricket's formats

Aug 6, 2009

Sachin Tendulkar on the standing ovations he gets wherever he plays in the world.

Maybe they all think it's my last tour.

Mar 20, 2009

Sachin Tendulkar reflects on how the adulation directed at him has changed over the years

I used to receive letters written in blood, but not anymore.

Feb 19, 2009

A batsman is so much covered with protective gears that one might say [Sachin] Tendulkar is playing if I go in the middle to bat.
MS Gill, the Indian sports minister, clearly feels today's cricketers have it far easier than those of the past

Jan 23, 2009

Tall peaks are not always better than long plateaus as true greatness must include protracted excellence.
The ICC explains why their idea of including Matthew Hayden in their list of all-time greats, while excluding the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, wasn't such a great one after all

Jan 15, 2009

I couldn't sleep all this time. I am numb. The images keep playing in my head. This was just not an attack on Mumbai, it is an attack on India.
Sachin Tendulkar recounts the horrors of watching the terrorist attacks on his hometown

Dec 2, 2008

Mahendra Singh Dhoni praises Yuvraj Singh

Sachin and Sehwag are also spectacular, but when in full flow Yuvraj really stands out. It was like holding a Rolex watch and a Patek Phillipe watch and saying which one looks best

Nov 19, 2008

Andrew Symonds pays tribute to the batting of Laxman and Tendulkar in the 2008 Sydney Test, in his book Roy on the Rise

Nov 14, 2008

England wicketkeeper Matt Prior says the infamous "I drive a Porsche, what car do you drive?" sledge to Sachin Tendulkar didn't happen

That Porsche comment ... why would I say that to Tendulkar? He's got aeroplanes.

Oct 27, 2008

Harbhajan Singh delivers his take on the Gilchrist-Tendulkar affair

We don't need him to say these things [about Tendulkar] just because he is retired.

Oct 25, 2008

The archives recall not one single incriminating incident, not one drunken escapade, not one reported affair, not one spat with a team-mate or reporter ... As Matthew Parris wondered of Barack Obama in these pages recently, is he human?
Michael Atherton ponders the sinless Sachin Tendulkar in the Times

Oct 19, 2008

I'm so disappointed at what's being written and said about Anil Kumble ... He's been around for over 18 years and his achievements do all the talking.
Sachin Tendulkar defends his team-mate

Oct 19, 2008

Anjali Tendulkar tells off her record-breaking husband for a poor stroke.

Why did you get out to such a silly shot?

Oct 18, 2008

To me he will not just be remembered as a great player and a lovely human being, but as somebody who tried to learn Bengali for the last 14 years but never managed to do so!
Sourav Ganguly pays a sort of tribute to Sachin Tendulkar

Oct 18, 2008

I don't know how they can figure out what's going on in my mind when sometimes I myself can't figure that out.
Journalists work in mysterious ways, Sachin Tendulkar finds out

Oct 17, 2008

Success is a process... During that journey sometimes there are stones thrown at you, and you convert them into milestones.
Oct 17, 2008

Sachin Tendulkar in an interview at the end of the day he went past Brian Lara to become the leading run-scorer in Test cricket

Sachin Tendulkar answers a query about his retirement plans

I think you are at the wrong press conference. "Even my father's name is Sachin Tendulkar.

Sep 18, 2008

Tendulkar's daughter, Sara, tells her class her father's name after the teacher informs them of a restaurant of the same name in Mumbai

May 31, 2008

Performance is one thing, performing back to back is something else. People may call him [Tendulkar] a sitting elephant, but he's the best. He never said a word, and wanted to let his bat do the talking.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni speaks for his veteran team-mate

Mar 8, 2008

Sanjay Manjrekar wonders why Sachin Tendulkar's failures, especially while chasing, are not questioned by the media

With Tendulkar, it's like the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.

Feb 28, 2008

With Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, it was better to be friends and make them smile rather than wind them up.
Sledging doesn't work with all players, warns Shane Warne

Feb 10, 2008

Adam Gilchrist soaks it up while batting in his final Twenty20 in front of a packed MCG

I now know what Sachin Tendulkar feels every time he bats in India.

Feb 6, 2008

Sometimes I need to look at the scoreboard to figure out whether I'm batting hundred-plus or whether I am on zero.
Jan 30, 2008

Sachin Tendulkar struggles to distinguish between his standing ovations for entering the pitch and then for getting his half-century and century.

Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching.
A placard at the SCG when Sachin Tendulkar was on his way to a magnificent century

Jan 9, 2008

Sachin Tendulkar reflects on playing against Viv Richards during a Yorkshire-Glamorgan county match

He is my hero and playing against him is a special moment in my life. I cherish that.

Dec 2, 2007

He loves India. He has named his child India. His biggest player is actually Tendulkar. Right now I'm hoping Tendulkar does not hit a catch to him because he will probably drop it to watch him bat.
Irving Romaine on team-mate Lionel Cann, who is just a bit overawed by being at the World Cup

Mar 3, 2007

Sachin Tendulkar, on his 33rd birthday, thanks the media for their unwavering love and affection and assures himself of a good press into the bargain

It really surprises me ... you are so consistent and I'm not

Apr 25, 2006

The positions of Jupiter and Mars are not good. I wish I am wrong but this is what the stars tell.

Abdullah Shaukat Chowdhry, a 70-year-old astrologer from Lahore, predicts that the end is nigh. The end of Sachin Tendulkar's career, that is ...

Jun 4, 2005

A female fan in Kolkata explains how to recognise Sachin Tendulkar

Come on, his sleeves are absolutely unique.

Dec 6, 2004

Hashim Amla, the South African batsman, reassures himself as he boards a flight

Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it.

Dec 2, 2004

Sachin Tendulkar is, in my time, the best player without doubt - daylight second, Brian Lara third.
Shane Warne delights the Indian press with his views on batting greats of this era

Oct 8, 2004

Brett Lee repeats the words of wisdom of his former captain, Steve Waugh

If you get Dravid, great. If you get Sachin, brilliant. If you get Laxman, it's a miracle.

Sep 27, 2004

The thing about India is that while they will miss Sachin, they have the ability to put out another batsman nearly as good.
Michael Vaughan gives overestimation a new meaning before the first match of the NatWest Challenge

Aug 31, 2004

Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job.
Yasir Hameed tries to zero in on the exact reason for dropping a vital catch in the third Test at Rawalpindi

Apr 13, 2004

Sachin was so focused. He never looked like getting out. He was batting with single-minded devotion. It was truly remarkable. It was a lesson."
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova joins the Sachin Tendulkar fan club after watching him bat at Sydney

Feb 2, 2004

You can never say that he is out of form. He is a volcano waiting to explode and we hope he doesn't do that against us in the one-dayers."
Daryl Tuffey hints that Sachin Tendulkar's modest form may be the calm before the storm

Oct 22, 2003