The Name is Tendulkar. Sachin Tendulkar.

There is always room for improvement. I am happy with my current performance but not satisfied. I want to get better. In fact, in any profession one must strive to get better and better. I always want to remain a student of the game because that is when you grasp more and are always keen to improve – Sachin Tendulkar

WOW!

I was not much of a cricket fan when the master blaster made his Test debut against Pakistan on 15 November, 1989. But now, I may perhaps stop following the sport when Sachin Tendulkar retires.

The master batsman completes 21 years (again, 21 years) in Test cricket on November 15 and continues to inspire generations of cricketers with room for improvement on his mind. Most runs, centuries, half-centuries, fours, sixes and what not – Sachin has broken every possible record in international cricket and is still on the prowl.

Life would be flat without dreams. It’s really important to dream – and then to chase those dreams. I really believe it’s this dreaming that makes me work so hard. I want to continue doing that because I’ve worked very hard the last couple of years on my batting, says a modest Sachin

He still remains the prized wicket for any bowler and it is advisable to not look him in the eye with the slightest hint of sledging, because it will backfire. As Brett Lee puts it – there are guys you can stir up and get stuck into and there are others you leave alone. Sachin Tendulkar is a guy you don’t want to chat to, period, because he will knuckle you down. (Easy – if Sachin hits you for a four/six, admire that and if he misses, just smile, go back and finish your over).

Arguably the greatest batsman of all time, Tendulkar’s resurgence in the year gone by gives me hope that India might get to lay their hands on the World Cup trophy this time again. From 200 runs in ODIs to the ICC awards and most runs and all that, the genius still takes comfort in being the student of the game. His pure love for cricket and his country brings smiles on billions of faces; not to discount the amount of pressure Sachin is on whenever he walks out with that willow.

He has been an epitome of professionalism – always maintained the spirit of the game on and off the field. The little master has reached a summit which is quite beyond the reach of lesser humans. The 37-year-old batsman has had the most fertile year of his Test career in 2010 and withdrawal seems like a distant nightmare with many more goals in his sight.

Tendulkar better than Bradman/Bradman better than Tendulkar?

Such headlines have been selling news since Sir Donald Bradman invited Sachin Tendulkar on his 90th birthday.

How can there be a comparison between two unique personalities? Moreover, Sir Don never played One-Day Internationals. The two greats played in different times and it is difficult/impossible to determine one’s greatness over the other.

Competition in international cricket has been augmented two-fold or even three-fold and comparing two greats of different times is really a never-ending, and an unnecessary, debate. Cricket is altogether a different game now from when Don Bradman played and Sachin seems to be only getting stronger in spite of ever-increasing competition.

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. From the start he had an uncanny way of executing his strokes perfectly. Tendulkar was born to bat – peter roebuk

The little master has won matches and the hearts of the opposition with his true display of unstinted sportsmanship – thanking his father first, looking at the heavens – and continuing with voracious appetite for runs. The Sachin show is not stopping anytime soon.

On a second thought, Bradman may be the ‘Don of Cricket’, but Sachin is the ‘God of Cricket’!