Sachin Tendulkar, a very great cricket player and an Indian hero

After the recent Indian victory in the one-day international Cricket World Cup tournament, which was recently held on the Indian sub-continent, it is time to pay tribute to one of the greatest batsmen to have ever graced the oval fields of cricket: one of the most complex and fascinating games the British have spread around some parts of the world.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who played a sometimes decisive role in the winning Indian team, is widely recongised as one of cricket's all-time greats.  To quote the Wikipedia entry under his name (one presumes it is accurate), Tendulkar "is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. In 2002, just 12 years into his career, Wisden ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. In September 2007, the Australian leg spinner Shane Warne rated Tendulkar as the greatest player he has played with or against. Tendulkar was an integral part of the 2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team at the later part of his career, his first such win in six World Cup appearances with India. Tendulkar is the first and the only player in Test Cricket history to score fifty centuries, and the first to score fifty centuries in all international cricket combined; he now has 99 centuries in international cricket. On 17 October 2008, when he surpassed Brian Lara's (another gret player, from the West Indies) record for the most runs scored in Test cricket, he also became the first batsman to score 12,000, 13,000 and 14,000 runs in that form of the game, having also been the third batsman and first Indian to pass 11,000 runs in Test cricket. He was also the first player to score 10,000 runs in one-day internationals, and also the first player to cross every subsequent 1000-run mark that has been crossed in ODI cricket history and 200 runs in a one-day international match."

And so the list of his achievements continues, for at least another paragraph. The "greatest" this or that is a fairly meaningless concept to me, but suffice it to say that Tendulkar is a national hero in India, and has been for some time. The recent World Cup is just another jot to add to his already hugely successful career. What I enjoy most about his style of play with the bat is it's classic elegance. He is quite the contray of a slogger as a batsman. The beauty of his strokeplay and footwork make him a Bach amongst a bunch of (sometimes) Wagners.

I do not know the man but he looks very open and friendly. Hopefully he is modest too, although goodness knows he has achieved enough to warrant a little bit of self-satisfaction!