The most extraordinary feature of one of the most incredible careers in any major sport is just how long Sachin Tendulkar has been at the top.
When a fresh-faced and curly-haired 16-year-old first played Test cricket for India, against a Pakistan side captained by Imran Khan in Karachi in 1989, the Berlin Wall had just come down and Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.
Now, 24 years later, the greatest living batsman and perhaps the best batsman ever to play cricket has announced that he will retire next month after his 200th Test and in his home city of Mumbai.
The perfect ending? Well, his goodbye has certainly been stage-managed but if any sportsman has earned the right to choose the timing and the setting for his departure then it is the Little Master. In India he has god-like status and has carried his country’s sporting fortunes with dignity and grace.
Just look at the statistics. Tendulkar, now 40, is the leading run-scorer in the history of Tests, with 15,837 runs in his 198 matches, He is also the leading run-scorer in the history of one-day internationals, with 18,246 runs in an extraordinary 463 ODIs.
He has 51 Test hundreds and more than 100 international centuries in all. Surely no-one will ever come close to that record.
It is cricketing blasphemy, certainly in Australia, to suggest that anyone could be better than Sir Donald Bradman, but take a look at Tendulkar’s record and tell me with certainty that The Don was greater.
It is fair to say, though, that Tendulkar has always appeared self-absorbed and not massively interested in anything in the game other than compiling big innings.
Brian Lara might have been more exciting to watch but if you wanted one man to bat for your life it would be Tendulkar.
When a fresh-faced and curly-haired 16-year-old first played Test cricket for India, against a Pakistan side captained by Imran Khan in Karachi in 1989, the Berlin Wall had just come down and Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.
Now, 24 years later, the greatest living batsman and perhaps the best batsman ever to play cricket has announced that he will retire next month after his 200th Test and in his home city of Mumbai.
The perfect ending? Well, his goodbye has certainly been stage-managed but if any sportsman has earned the right to choose the timing and the setting for his departure then it is the Little Master. In India he has god-like status and has carried his country’s sporting fortunes with dignity and grace.
Just look at the statistics. Tendulkar, now 40, is the leading run-scorer in the history of Tests, with 15,837 runs in his 198 matches, He is also the leading run-scorer in the history of one-day internationals, with 18,246 runs in an extraordinary 463 ODIs.
He has 51 Test hundreds and more than 100 international centuries in all. Surely no-one will ever come close to that record.
It is cricketing blasphemy, certainly in Australia, to suggest that anyone could be better than Sir Donald Bradman, but take a look at Tendulkar’s record and tell me with certainty that The Don was greater.
It is fair to say, though, that Tendulkar has always appeared self-absorbed and not massively interested in anything in the game other than compiling big innings.
Brian Lara might have been more exciting to watch but if you wanted one man to bat for your life it would be Tendulkar.
