Sir Sachin Tendulkar - The Greatest Cricketer Ever

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Originally Posted by selvakumar

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imagnie the atmosphere in mumbai or chennai...chumma stadiume konja neram aadeerukkum

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Mumbai :notthatway:
Chennai - :thumbsup:

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Mumbai :x naansens !
They booed at Sachin in the England series 2006.

Chennai - the most knowledgable cricket audience in India- just lapped up Sachin. Chennai is his pEttai. 4 great Test centuries :bow:

It was 4 centuries in his first 5 tests ('93 England, '98 Australia, '98 Pakistan and '01 Australia). After that he has gone without a century or 50 for the next 4 matches played there. We have been witness to some nice strokes but then disappointing end to those innings. But we have only been 'disappointed', it was we who missed the 'treat'. It is the kind of crowd he deserves.

Thalaivaaaa :notworthy: :notworthy:
collection of quotes by lesser mortals about god over the years

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Andrew Symonds
wrote on an aussie t-shirt he autographed specially for Sachin. "To Sachin, the man we all want to be"

Mathew Hayden:
I have seen GOD , he bats at no.4 for india in Tests.

Ravi Shashtri:
He is someone sent from up there to play cricket and go back.

Brain Lara:
Sachin is a genius , i am a mere mortal!

Barry Richards:
Sachin is crickets GOD

Martin Crowe:
The shot played on this ball is only possible for the GOD of cricket.

Ian Botham:
If someone says that Sachin is not a big match player , throw that person from the highest peak of the world.

Shane Warne:
I would go to bed having nightmares of sachin dancing down the ground and hitting me for sixes.

Sourav Ganguly:
He batted like GOD today.

Viv Richards:
He is 99.5% Perfect.. I’ll pay to watch him play.

Dennis Lillie:
If I had to bowl to Sachin I would bowl with a halmet on. He hits the ball so hard.

Michael Kasprowicz:
Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours."

Barry Richards:
Consensus is that Sir Donald Bradman was the best batsman ever to play Cricket. Sir Don did not play One-Day Cricket but if he did, he could easily be Sachin Tendulkar.

Richie Benaud:
He has defined cricket in his fabulous, impeccable manner. He is to batting what Shane Warne is to bowling.

Geoffrey Boycott:
Technically, you can't fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow nothing is a problem.

Sir Garfield Sobers:
I have watched a lot of Tendulkar and we have spoken to each other a lot. He has it in him to be among the very best.

Jeff Thompson:
Sachin is an attacker. He has much more power than Sunny. He wants to be the one to set the pace. He has to be on top. That's the buzz about him.

Hashim Amla:
Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it.

Shane Warne:
"Sachin Tendulkar is, in my time, the best player without doubt - daylight second, Brian Lara third."
Shane Warne delights the Indian press with his views on batting greats of this era

Martina Navratilova:
Tennis legend joins the Sachin Tendulkar fan club after watching him bat at Sydney.

Steve Waugh:
"You take Don Bradman away and he is next up I reckon."

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?'"

Allan Border: (after India won the Coca-Cola cup )
"Hell, if he stayed, even at 11 an over he would have got it."

Ajay Jadeja
"I can't dream of an innings like that. He exists where we can't."

Desmond Haynes
In terms of technique and compactness, Tendulkar is the best

Mark Taylor
He's a phenomenon. We have to be switched on when he plays allow him no boundries, for then he doesn't stop

Wasim
"Cricketers like Sachin come once in a lifetime and I am privileged he played in my time,"

"Tuzhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?" Wasim Akram to Abdul Razzaq when the latter dropped Sachin's catch.


Anil Kumble -he's shy little gentleman

Navjot Sidhu:
"His mind is like a computer. He stores data on bowlers and knows where they are going to pitch the ball."

Azhar
The more I see him, the more I want to see him.

Harsha bhogle
if sachin plays well..india sleeps well

Andy Flower:
There are 2 kind of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the others.

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. Kasprowicz has a superior story. During the Bangalore Test, frustrated, he 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".

Rudy Kortzen
"I never get tired during umpiring whenever sachin is on crease"

Saurav Ganguly:
SACHIN MADE 9 CENTURIES IN ONE YEAR BUT MANY CRICKETER DIDNOT MAKE 9 CENTURIES IN THEIR WHOLE CARRIER.

Harsha Bhogle:
There’s no better sight on the cricket field than watch Tendulkar bat.

Rev David Shepherd, England.
"Sachin Tendulkar! If he isn’t the best player in the world, I want to see the best player in the world".

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Michael Kasprowicz:
Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours."

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:lol:
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=QXRkHervQJc
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=H3xYBiGBtAo
:notworthy:

Sachin Tendulkar's five greatest innings
Sachin Tendulkar has become the most prolific run-scorer in the history of Test cricket. Here are five highlights from the Little Master's Test career.

1) 119 not out, England v India, Old Trafford, 1990.

In England, this series will always be remembered for Graham Gooch's 333 in the first Test at Lord's. But that was not the only remarkable batting feat of the summer. For a 17-year-old playing in alien conditions, and under the most intense pressure, Tendulkar's century at Old Trafford was arguably even more impressive than Gooch's achievement. India were struggling to avoid defeat on the final day at 127 for five, but Tendulkar batted for four hours with the tail to guide his side to safety. It was his first Test century, and confirmed the arrival of a special talent.

2) 114, Australia v India, Perth, 1992.

Back in the days before Perth became just another batting track, Australia's quick men would start salivating as soon as their plane crossed into Western Australia. In 1992, the WACA was as its most lethal, but Tendulkar's innings of 114 brought Craig McDermott and Merv Hughes to their knees. With wickets tumbling at the other end, Tendulkar, still only 19, met the challenge head on. The Australian public have loved him ever since.

3) 169, South Africa v India, Cape Town, 1997.

Another epic counter-attack in hostile conditions. South Africa racked up 529 in the first innings before their stellar seam attack reduced the tourists to 58 for five. Tendulkar, then approaching his peak, wasted no time in taking the fight back to the Proteas. In partnership with Mohammad Azharuddin, Tendulkar hit 26 boundaries in his century, almost all of them absolute crackers.

4) 155 not out, India v Australia, Chennai, 1998

Many of Tendulkar's finest innings were played outside of India, or in a losing cause. But his greatest series came at home, against the world's best team, and ended in a glorious victory. With Shane Warne bowling around the wicket and into the rough, Tendulkar used his eye, his feet and his innovative stroke play to destroy the greatest slow bowler in history. Warne would later admit Tendulkar's fireworks left him clueless and the Australian named Tendulkar as No 1 in his list of 50 greatest cricketers.

5) 136 v India v Pakistan, Chennai 1999.

India were set an unlikely 271 for victory, which seemed impossible when they collapsed to 82 for five. Chronically hampered by a back injury, Tendulkar stood firm and refused to accept defeat. Through dogged will and astonishing skill, he coaxed India close to the winning line before falling to Saqlain Mushtaq. Tendulkar's wicket prompted an Indian collapse, and another superhuman effort ultimately ended in defeat.

Oz tour set up Sachin's magic show

SACHIN Tendulkar yesterday revealed his maiden tour of Australia 16 years ago had played a key role in shaping his brilliant career.

Centuries in Sydney (148 not out) and Perth (114) in that five-Test campaign of 1991-92 gave the man who is now Test cricket's leading run-scorer confidence to prosper in any conditions against any attack.

Tendulkar's coming of age in Australia came less than five months after he notched his maiden Test ton in England -- a match-saving and unbeaten 119 in Manchester.

"I think the first hundred will always be the important one," he said. "It was a special one because we kept ourselves alive in that series in England.

"The Australian tour immediately after in 1991-92 was extremely good for me because I had a good tour, scored a couple of hundreds at Sydney and at Perth, two different kind of surfaces.

"That gave me immense confidence. I felt I could tour anywhere in the world now and score runs. That was probably the turning point of my career, I would say."

Tendulkar's ton against a four-man battery of Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes, Mike Whitney and Paul Reiffel on a WACA Ground wicket which, in those days, was a haven for pace bowlers, remains one of the great innings played on Australian soil.

Only 19, Tendulkar cut, pulled and hooked Australia's quicks to all parts of the ground.

While he still is capable of the spectacular, Tendulkar isn't the force he once was and it's doubtful he would be able to craft such a knock now, aged 35.

He refuses to be specific about how long he would like to play, but the indications are he would like to play the 2011 World Cup to be held in across the subcontinent.

National selection chairman Kris Srikkanth said yesterday he believed Tendulkar could play for another two years, after he passed Brian Lara's run-scoring record on day one of the second Test against Australia.

Tendulkar holds the run-scoring records in Tests and one-day internationals.

‘Tendulkar an extraordinary batsman’

NEW DELHI: Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday led a galaxy of cricketing greats in praising record-smashing Sachin Tendulkar, saying his compatriot had always been an extraordinary batsman.

Tendulkar became the leading scorer in Tests on Friday when he shattered retired West Indies captain Brian Lara’s record of 11,953 runs during his innings (88) against Australia in the second Test in Mohali.

Gavaskar, the first batsman to complete 10,000 Test runs, said he was convinced that Tendulkar would achieve greatness when he first saw him bat in the nets two decades ago.

“I stood hidden in the players’ enclosure and had my first glimpse of the genius of Sachin Tendulkar,” Gavaskar wrote in his column under the headline ‘A talent designed by God himself’.

“He played a couple of forcing shots to midwicket off the backfoot off (former India paceman) Raju Kulkarni, and that was enough to convince me that he was a special talent.

“There wasn’t the slightest of doubt that he was destined to bag all batting records.”

The 35-year-old Tendulkar also holds three more world marks — most runs in One-Day Internationals (16,361) and highest number of centuries in Tests (39) and One-Dayers (42). “It is hard to imagine any player in the history of the game who combines classical technique with raw aggression like the little champion does,” said Gavaskar. “There is not a single shot he cannot play. The batting records couldn’t be in better hands, for here is a player with special talent who has been a role model for a generation.” — Agencies

Sourav/LM please post the news links when posting them. :)

Tendulkar becomes leading Test run-scorer

'I can't be running after every record ' - Tendulkar

Cricinfo staff

October 17, 2008

Top Curve
Sachin speak

* On the journey:
Success is a process and during that journey sometimes there are stones thrown at you and you convert them into milestones. It's a great feeling.
* On how long he thinks he can keep the record:
I don't what is going to happen in future. I started as a 16-year-old, without any such targets. There might be another 16-year-old, who might not be having any targets and who knows where he is going to go.
* On the pressure:
"To be honest, I was not under any pressure for this record. I knew that I have to go out and play my game. It will come at some stage. There was no burden as such. Today I decided just to watch the ball as closely as possibly."
* On the sparse crowd to witness the record-breaking run:
"I did not feel anything about the poor crowd attendance. It's about quality not quantity. I got a fantastic reception in a pleasing moment. I appreciate it every applaud whichever came in my way I take it wholeheartedly."
* On the missing World Cup:
"That is something I would like to have. We were close to it in 2003. It was so close yet so far. I'm not looking that far ahead [2011]. I just want go out and enjoy myself and my game and not think of any targets. If it there is in the vicinity I will focus on it. Right now I want to enjoy myself."
* On getting there in Mohali:
"I always wanted to do it in front of the home crowd and I'm quite happy that an Indian has achieved that record. It is not my record, it is India's record. I'm happy it has been done here."
* On his family not being there at the ground:
"It is not my family style to go over at the top. I know they will be extremely happy."

Bottom Curve

It was about 15 minutes into Sachin Tendulkar's press conference. He had answered wide-ranging questions, not all pertaining to the match or his record. Before the next question came his way, the media coordinator asked him if he would like to continue. Tendulkar moved away from the mike, and although he could not be heard, it seemed he said something to the effect of "Why not?" The press conference continued for the next 11 minutes, way longer than the ones at the end of a day's play.

Tendulkar was in that kind of mood. He looked animated, spoke in three languages - English, Hindi and Marathi - and looked relieved and happy, and was subtly funny. He started off by admitting that although the record was not a big distraction, the anticipation around it did mean something. "During all the talk about the record, I concentrated on how to score runs for the team, but everybody I used to meet would talk about only one thing. Now that it is done, I know I wouldn't be asked the same question again and again."

On a personal level, he doesn't have a "what next" now? "I started as a 16-year-old, and there was no targets then," he said. "I just wanted to go enjoy every moment. That is what I like to continue with - not to think of too many things and complicate my game in the process.

"I have not played for records. I can't be running after every record [answering a query about breaking Brian Lara's 400]. I would be looking after what the team needs. The team obviously needs it. If it comes my way, I will take it. If it doesn't come, there will be no regrets."

Despite that attitude there must have been moments when he would have realised he could end up the leading run-getter in both Tests and ODIs. "As the career progresses, there is sub-consciousness mind starts thinking about it," he said. "You know that people start talking about it the records. That is how you are aware of all these things.

"There have been occasions that I didn't know how many runs I needed [to get to the record]. A couple of team-mates did not believe. I was willing to swear on anyone that I don't know. That is when they believed. The beauty is just to go out and play, and while doing that the records were meant to be broken and various milestones achieved."

What was he thinking when it happened? The steer towards the third-man boundary that got him past Brian Lara? "When I looked up, obviously I had two thoughts in my mind," he said. "One was I thanked the almighty and the second, I thanked my father. Today I miss him. He would definitely be a proud man, and I just thought of him."

Sourav Ganguly was a special partner to have when the record happened. He reminded Tendulkar of the fact that he was his partner when Tendulkar got his 35th century. "If you can remember that in the middle of all that ..."

He also dedicated the record to Ramakant Achrekar, his childhood coach, his family who have been by his side "whether or not he did well", and especially "my mother".

Almost in paternal manner, he subtly put his critics in their place. "I don't need to prove anything to anyone," he said. "I have been around for 19 years, and those 19 years I did not play cricket to prove anything to anyone, whether it was first year of my cricket or 10th, or 15th, or 19th.

"I'm not here to answer to what x, y and z is writing or saying about me. It is their opinions, and I don't take all those opinions seriously ... But sometimes I don't know how they can figure out what's going on in my mind when sometimes I myself can't figure that out."

That was the only time he sounded mildly sour, but only mildly. The talk eventually went back to the celebration when he got the record. "The duration [of the fireworks] was bit worrying." When a journalist informed him they had planned 11,954 crackers, he said, "Eventually I figured out it was 11,954 crackers or something like that."

© Cricinfo

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/indv...ry/374396.html

http://www.cricketnext.com/news/tendulkar-is-master-of-adjustments-border/34891-13.html

Tendulkar is master of adjustments: Border

Cricketnext.com

Posted on Oct 18, 2008 at 11:43

Mumbai: Former Aussie skipper Allan Border said the secret of Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s phenomenal success is his technique to adjust to all kinds of wickets anywhere in the world.

"My earlier insight into Sachin’s precocious talent was on India’s 1992 tour to Australia. The visitors struggled in the series, but Sachin stood out, and it was clear that he had arrived. During that I was amazed at his impeccable adjustments in technique, and his stunning proficiency off the back foot," Border wrote in his column in the Hindustan Times.

"Sachin made a brilliant 148 on a Sydney featherbed, but it was his 114 at Perth that convinced me that he would be a force to reckon with in future. In early 90s WACA was far quicker and bouncy, putting batsmen’s technique to tight scrutiny. He enjoyed playing strokes off the front foot, but his adjustments and supreme control off the back foot at Perth were a treat to watch," he added.

"Sachin has dominated a number of world-class performers in his outstanding Test career. He has outsmarted Shane Warne on numerous occasions, and has performed exceptionally against fast bowlers of the caliber of Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Waqar Younis," Border observed.

"He can play shots all-round the wicket like most great batsmen, but is particularly among the best at playing straight. His trademark straight drive with the high elbow and full face of the bat is a purist’s delight, and a few play that shot better than Sachin," he added.

http://www.cricketnext.com/news/cnni...4916-13-0.html

CNN-IBN Exclusive: Little Masters look back & at road ahead

Rajdeep Sardesai | CNN-IBN

Posted on Oct 19, 2008 at 18:46 | Updated Oct 19, 2008 at 19:02

Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar are among an elite group of men who know what its like to hold the world record for most Test runs. And now for the first time, the two legends reflect on their feats and the road ahead.

They sat down with Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai in a CNN-IBN world exclusive.

Rajdeep Sardesai: What is the one piece of advice you would like to give Sachin Tendulkar today, if there is anything? I am sure you gave him when he was 15 or 16, when you first saw him but today after he has scored 12,000 runs would you want to set more targets for him?

Sunil Gavaskar: I think I did that four years ago but I am not going to do that. I won't advice him but want to make a plea, 'Please regain the World Cup for us in 2011.'

Rajdeep Sardesai: You are putting pressure on him!

Sunil Gavaskar: If this is pressure then just imagine the pressure he is under otherwise.

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Rajdeep Sardesai: Do you believe that he is still fit enough?

Sunil Gavaskar: Yes, of course he is.

Rajdeep Sardesai: Are you one of those who believe that age should not be a factor or in fact, a batsman gets better with age?

Sunil Gavaskar: Yes, a batsman get better with age.

Rajdeep Sardesai: So he can certainly play World Cup 2011?

Sunil Gavaskar: Yes, it is only a couple of years away.

Rajdeep Sardesai: Sachin, is that a goal? Is that a goal left?

Sachin Tendulkar: It has always been a dream because that is the ultimate thing that you can get for your country.

Rajdeep Sardesai: Is that the one thing perhaps that is missing from this fantastic career?

Sachin Tendulkar: We came so close to it in 2003 and it is by far the best World Cup that I have played and has been a part of. We came so close to it but I think in the finals we just tried too hard to get the Cup back home.

(You can catch the world exclusive with Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar in conversation with Rajdeep Sardesai on Friday 24th October at 8 pm )