Players across the world praise Sachin, God of Cricket

The cricketing world heaped praise on master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who completed his 100th international hundred Friday in the Asia Cup match against Bangladesh.The batting legend ended a long one-year wait after reaching the three figure mark in the fourth match of the tournament in Mirpur near Dhaka, scoring 114 off 147 balls.

Former Australia captain Adam Gilchrist said Sachin was the best batsmen of all-time."Everyone especially the Indians were waiting for this for a long time but it was just a matter of time before Sachin got there," said Gilchrist.

"The outstanding feature of Sachin is his temperament. You would never see him upset on the field. The way he has handled the fame and the fortune is truly remarkable. Well played to him.Ricky Ponting is a distant second in the hundred list with 71."He is well ahead of the group and 29 hundreds in a normal scenario, you see in a couple of careers," added Gilly.

Pakistan legend Javed Miandad said the 38-year old was a role model for the upcoming cricketers."I congratulate Sachin on behalf of Pakistan. I am sure people in India would be extremely happy about this. Anyone who wants to pursue a cricketing career, Sachin is the one to be followed," said Miandad, who is tied with Sachin for six World Cup appearances.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly called him a "true champion".Former India teammate Murali Karthik said "this is a marathon noone can run" while Sanjay Manjrekar felt "the sheer hunger of runs" was the main factor behind Sachin's phenomenal feat.The sport's administrators in India and outside joined in praising the legend.Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) N. Srinivasan described Sachin's feat as a colossal one.

"Ever since he made his international debut in Nov 1989, Sachin has strode cricketing arenas the world over, like a colossus. He has broken old records and set new benchmarks. He has been an inspiration to billions, and an ornament to the sport. 16th March 2012 will never be forgotten by cricket-lovers," said Srinivsan.Sports minister Ajay Maken said: "It is a big big achievement and India is proud to have a player like Sachin."International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat called Sachin a modern-day great.

"This is indeed a magnificent feat and not likely to be easily emulated. Fans have admired Sachin for more than twenty years and have recently waited with great expectation for his 100th international century."Like millions of others I have personally followed his career ever since he first played for India as a gifted 16-year-old and now, more than two decades later, his passion and personal records, which include more than 33,000 runs is a modern day wonder," said Lorgat.

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