As Sachin Tendulkar is inducted into the International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame, his achievements remain astounding. He still has by far the highest aggregate of runs and hundreds in Test matches as well as One-day Internationals, totalling well over 34,000 runs and 100 hundreds.
He scored the first-ever double-century in One-day Internationals and is the only batsman to hit up more than 2,000 runs in the World Cup. Tendulkar was honoured by being invited to present the player-of-the-tournament to Mitchell Starc at the conclusion of the World Cup 2015; and to once again give away the man-of-the match prize to Ben Stokes in the final, and the player-of-the-tournament award to Kane Williamson at the end of the World Cup 2019.
Tendulkar has the maximum nine man-of-the-match awards in the World Cup, and he himself was presented the player-of-the-tournament award for his feats in the World Cup 2003 by the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers. Rohit Sharma recently equalled Tendulkar’s record of six hundreds in the World Cup. Some or all of Tendulkar’s records may be surpassed in time, but like Bradman, Sobers, Gavaskar and Lara, few will hold so many records at the same time.
In my opinion, if there was ever a batsmen close to perfection, it was Tendulkar in terms of technique and strokeplay, against pace and spin, off the front foot and the back, on the off-side and on-side, in temperament and innovation, in courage and longevity. It was my good fortune that I had the privilege to watch Tendulkar’s batting right through his glittering and delightful career. A cricket aficionado could not ask for anything better.
Indra Vikram Singh's space 