Also known as the “Little Master” of India, Sachin Tendulkar today stands tall as a true cricket icon. As his sporting career grew from a minor age of 16, Sachin has matured into a perfectionist and a true world class batsman, who has earned a fanatic fan following from all over the world.
Lately, the player has been receiving numerous praises from cricketing legends and the international media from across the globe. During the recent Indian tour to West Indies, the Caribbean star Courtney Walsh cited him as the number one Indian batsman.
Skippers Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting too had heaps to add to the player’s goodwill, especially, after Sachin’s remarkable, record breaking double century against South Africa last year.
Not only within his profession, Sachin also holds a massive fan base from all over the world. Shane Warne, who ranked Sachin as world’s best player, quoted that “in India, people outside stadiums, waited for Sachin to come to bat before paying to enter”. With so much already added to his name, and definitely a lot more to come, does Sachin Tendulkar still come up to the mark that legends like Sir Donald Bradman, Brian Lara, and Imran Khan hold? They say he led a team that came to be known as ‘the Invincibles’. Yes, Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest batsman the world has ever seen. Not only did Sir Donald earn his mark as a legendary cricketer, the Australian also grew into a brilliant administrator for the sport. In fact, Sir Donald played a major role in the development of today’s cricket.
Sir Donald dominated the early twentieth century. His batting skills were so consistent and indestructible that England’s captain Douglas Jardine came up with ‘unsporting’ and dangerous bowling techniques to reduce the Australian’s dominance.
Sir Donald is ranked as Australia’s number 1 athlete and in 1988 the Australian Confederation of Sports voted him as the greatest male athlete in the past 200 years.
After Sir Donald Bradman, Brian Lara is considered to be the only batsman to pile up massive scores in a smaller time span. Lara added two world records to his career in the mid 90s. These included highest test and first class scores. In addition, the star is regarded as the only batsman ever to score a century, a double century, triple century, quadruple century and a quintuple century in first class cricket.
Throughout his cricketing career, Lara has achieved numerous honors and awards that have earned him the title of ‘the Prince’.
The charismatic and proud Imran Khan on the other hand, who found himself a place in the ICC Hall of Fame, holds a remarkable twenty-one year cricketing career.
Before taking up politics, as a captain, he led his Pakistani team into winning the first and only World Cup in 1992.
As an all rounder, Imran Khan holds brilliant statistics topped with an ever growing fan following. Within Pakistan and across the globe, his followers still see him as an idol of the sport with true professionalism and charisma.
With player like Sachin Tendulkar, it would be a little unfair to draw out comparisons. Over the years, Sachin has grown into more of an obsessive player. His physical fitness is true example of the little master’s precision and dedication to the sport. In his overall performance, Sachin holds 99 centuries, both in the ODIs and test cricket, and currently the record for highest number of centuries in international cricket. The Master Blaster also holds the record as the first batsman to complete 32000 runs.
Sachin Tendulkar, on his own, will always remain another legendary cricketer and a star performer. His technical strokes coupled with captivating wrist work have always made India proud. Despite his growing age, one may always expect more marvels to come from Sachin Tendulkar.
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