Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, The dimunitive master blaster from India notched the record book once again , probably for the n’th time in his career that now enters its 21st Year of International cricket. At nearly 37 years young he seems to defy everything we know of eyesight , reflex, speed and Stamina. His thirst for runs and Indian victories seems unquenchable and thankfully so.

Sachin, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly to name but a few are classic examples of the contribution sports medicine , physicall fitness and personal discipline have made to sports today. Considering the quantum of competitive cricket they play it far surpasses the achievements of longevity of all time greats like Sir Len Hutton -who made 50 plus in his last test at the age of 39 , Sir Dennis Compton , who again played till he was 39, John Edrich who played his last test at the age of 41, Sir Garfield Sobers who played till he was 38, The Don played his last test at 40, Tom Graveney played at 42, Cowdrey opened for England at 43 and our own Vinoo mankad who bowled 55 overs in an innings in his last Test at 43. All these greats did play at a fairly advanced age – even for their times.

In fact another thought is – how would they have fared if they were equipped with modern safety gear, bats , pitches etc. But comparisons are always odious – how would Kamalhassan have done if he had worked under Guru Dutt or Sivaji Ganesan for Cecil B Demille ? What more would Einstein or Ramanujam have discovered if they had the benefit of modern super computers ?

The answer is clear – Genius and Class when combined with passion and dedication will always succeed and stand apart. They would have made their mark in any era – The nightmare of most bowlers would be when The Don and Sachin were both batting for the opposite side. Which reminds me of what Shane Warne ( he played till he was 38) said of the little Master

“I’ll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don’t think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player.”

Some more memorable quotes on the Master…..

“Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching.”

A placard at the SCG when Sachin Tendulkar was on his way to a magnificent century

Nothing bad can happen to us if we’re on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it.”

Hashim Amla, the South African batsman, reassures himself as he boards a flight.

Yaseer Hameed:

“Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job.”

“To Sachin, the man we all want to be”

What Andrew Symonds wrote on an Aussie t-shirt he autographed specially for Sachin.

BBC on Sachin:

“Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium,there is something we don’t know, something beyond scientific measure.

Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that,forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their TV sets and switch off their lives “

“But the finest compliment must be that bookmakers would not fix the odds -or a game – until Tendulkar was out.”

“Tuzhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?”

Wasim Akram to Abdul Razzaq when the latter dropped Sachin’s catch.

Brian Charles Lara:

“Sachin is a genius. I’m a mere mortal.”

“We did not lose to a team called India…we lost to a man called Sachin”

Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1998)

M. L. Jaisimha:

“The more I see of him the more confused I’m getting to which is his best knock.”

Glenn McGrath:

“The joy he brings to the millions of his countrymen, the grace with which he handles all the adulation and the expectations and his innate humility -all make for a one-in-a-billion individual”

Anjali:

“I can be hundred per cent sure that Sachin will not play for a minute longer when he is not enjoying himself. He is still so eager to go out there and play. He will play as long as he feels he can play”

Matthew Hayden:

“I have seen God, he bats at no. 4 for India”

Anil Kumble:

“I am fortunate that I’ve to bowl at him only in the nets!”

Shahrukh Khan-

“Q: Who do you think as most important celebrity ?

Shahrukh: There was a big party where stars from Bollywood and cricket were invited. Suddenly, there was a big noise, all wanted to see the approaching Amitabh Bachhan. Then Sachin entered the hall and Amitabh was leading the queue to get a grab of the genius!!”

Navjot Singh Sidhu:

“India me aap PrimeMinister ko ek baar katghare me khada kar sakte hain,par Sachin Tendulkar par ungli nahi utha sakte..”

Waqar Younis:

“He can play that leg glance with a walking stick also.”

A banner once said “I will see God when I die,till then I will see Sachin Tendulkar”

Allan Donald:

“Sachin Tendulkar has often reminded me of a veteran army colonel who has many medals on his chest to show how he has conquered bowlers all over the world”

Allan Donald again:

“I was bowling to Sachin and he hit me for two fours in a row. One from point and the other in between point and gully. That was the last two balls of the over and the over after that we (SA) took a wicket and during the group meeting i told Jonty (Rhodes) to be alert and i know a way to pin Sachin. And i delivered the first ball of my next over and it was a fuller length delivery outside offstump. And i shouted catch. To my astonishment the ball was hit to the cover boundary. Such was the brilliance of Sachin.His reflex time is the best I have ever seen. Its like 1/20th of a sec.To get his wicket better not prepare. Atleast you wont regret if he hits you for boundaries.”

Peter Rebouck, Aussie journalist:

“On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations.The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century.This genius can stop time in India!!”

NKP Salve, former Union Minister (This was when he was accused of ball tempering):

“Sachin cannot cheat. He is to cricket what (Mahatma) Gandhiji was to politics. It’s clear discrimination. “

Andy Flower:

“There are 2 kind of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the others.”

Hansie Cronje:

“I had to remind Gary Kristen often that he was in the covers to field against Sachin not to applaud him”

Shane Warne:

“You have to decide for yourself whether you’re bowling well or not. He’s going to hit you for fours and sixes anyway.”

During the Bangalore Test, frustrated, Michael Kasprowicz went to Dennis Lillee and asked, “Mate, do you see any weaknesses?” Lillee replied, “No Michael, as long as you walk off with your pride that’s all you can do.” 

“Cricket is my religion, Sachin is my God”

“What do you call a critic of Sachin Tendulkar?Atheist” “Indian defeat was God’s way of saying… ‘I exist’. He was threatened that Sachin would take over”

Ravi Shastri:

“Sachin has been sent by God to play cricket and then go back.”

Ajay Jadeja:

“I can’t dream of an innings like that. He exists where we can’t.”

Adam Hollioke:

“In an over I can bowl six different balls. But then Sachin looks at me with a sort of gentle arrogance down the pitch as if to say ‘Can you bowl me another one?'”

Paul Strang:

“What we (Zimbabwe) need is 10 Tendulkars.”

Dennis Lillee:

“If I’ve to bowl to Sachin, I’ll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard.”

Sir Donald Bradman:

“I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two…his compactness, technique, stroke production… it all seemed to gel !”

Desmond Haynes:

“In terms of technique and compactness, Tendulkar is the best.”

Sir Viv Richards:

“I think he is marvellous. I think he will fit in whatever category of Cricket that has been played or will be played, from the first ball that has ever been bowled to the last ball that’s going to be. He can play in any era and at any level. I would say he’s 99.5% perfect.”

Mohammad Azharuddin:

“The more I see him, the more I want to see him.”

Steve Waugh:

“We won with ten, but lost to one”

Harsha Bhogle:

“For every ball Sachin has two shots in his mind. And he gets out when he plays the third one”.

“People say they saw Christ walk water..People say they saw Gandhiji win us freedom..People say they walked alongside Buddha ‘The Enlightened One’. I will always say ~~ I SAW SACHIN BAT ~~”

Greg Chappell:

“He is a perfectly a blanced batsman and knows perfely well when to attack and when to play defensive cricket.He has developed the ability to treat bowlers all over the world with contempt and can destroy any attack with utmost ease”

Mark Waugh:

“The pressure on me is nothing compared to Sachin Tendulkar.Sachin,like God,must never fail.The crowd always expects him to succeed and it is too much pressure on him.But,he rarely disappoints them”

Brett Lee:

“You might pitch a ball on the off stump and think you have bowled a good ball and he walks across and hits it for two behind midwicket.His bat looks so heavy but he just waves it around like it’s a toothpick”

Shane Warne:

“Don’t sledge Sachin,rather befriend him”

Michael Kasprowicz:

“Don’t bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours.”

Wasim Akram:

“Cricketers like Sachin come once in a lifetime, and I am privileged he played in my time.”

Mathew Hayden:

“When Tendulkar goes out to bat, it is beyond chaos – it’s a frantic appeal by a nation to one man.”

Shane Warne:

“You have to watch India in India truly to appreciate the pressure that Sachin Tendulkar is under every time he bats. Outside grounds, people wait until he goes in before paying to enter. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer”

Geoffrey Boycott:

“Technically, you can’t fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow nothing is a problem.”