Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

Highlights of Tendulkar's Test career

• Highest number of Test centuries (39), overtaking Sunil Gavaskar's record (34) on 10 December 2005 vs Sri Lanka in Delhi
• Fastest to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket history. He holds this record along with Brian Lara. Both of them achieved this feat in 195 innings.
• 4th highest tally of runs in Test cricket (10,668)
• Career Average 55.70 - highest average among those who have scored over 10,000 Test runs
• Second Indian to make over 10,000 runs in Test matches

Highlights of Tendulkar's ODI (One Day Internationals) career

• Highest ODI run-scorer in the world with 16,007 aggregate ODI runs (as of 05-Feb-2008)
• 41 ODI centuries - highest in the world
• Played most number of ODIs (409) (as of 05-Feb-2008)
• Played most number of consecutive ODI matches (185 matches from Sharjah, 1989/90 to Sharjah, 1997/98)
• Most Man of the Match (53!) awards
• Appeared on the most grounds (90 different grounds)
• Most ODI runs by any batsman in any given calendar year - 1,894 ODI runs in 1998
• Most Centuries by a player in one year - 9 ODI centuries in 1998
• Most centuries vs. Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
• Holds the record for scoring 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year. He has done it six times - 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003.
• First and the fastest cricketer to cross 10,000-run mark, 11,000-run mark, 12,000-run mark, 13,000 run-mark and 14,000 run-mark in ODIs. The only player to have scored over 16,000 runs till-date
• Only cricketer to cross 14,000-run mark in ODIs
• One of only six players to pass 10,000 runs in ODIs (Sanath Jayasuriya, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara, and Inzamam ul Haq are the others)
• Highest individual score among Indian batsmen (186* against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999)

Tendulkar's World Cup History & Records

• Most runs (1,732 at an average of 59.72) in World Cup Cricket History
• 673 runs in 2003 Cricket World Cup, highest by any player in a single Cricket World Cup
• Player Of The World Cup Tournament in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

 When Sachin Tendulkar made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989, it was clear to me and a lot of my team-mates that he is destined for great things. The reason for this assessment is simple, as even at that young age of 16 years he had shown against us that he had plenty of guts and courage and was hungry to succeed at the top level.

His career over the last 21 years and his 50th Test hundred only confirms the volume of talent he has and his dedication and commitment to Indian cricket.

- Congratulate Tendulkar on his 50th Test ton

Yet, I really don't know what this fuss is about Sachin becoming the first man in cricket history to score 50 Test centuries.

Watching him all these years I have no doubt left in my mind he is the best batsman in the history of the game.

When Sir Donald Bradman was playing people used to say no one can match his records; when Sunil Gavaskar scored 34 centuries people said no one could break his record. But, in the case of Sachin's feat of 50 Test centuries, I really don't see anyone breaking that record for a long time.

 The way he is going at 37, he seems likely to soon become the first batsman in history to also score 100 international hundreds. That is a record one can only dream about.

For me and Waqar Younis, our biggest regret remains that for 10-long years, between 1989 and 1999, their were no bilateral Test matches between Pakistan and India, and we never got a chance to bowl against him.

Yes, we did play a couple of One-day matches on mostly flat pitches against him, but the real battle between bat and ball comes in Test matches and that sadly was not available to us although at that time we were ranked as the best opening bowling pair in international cricket.

I will always regret the missed opportunities, because I can recall clearly the first time we played against him. It was in 1989 and India was coming to Pakistan and there was a lot of media hype about this teenage batsman who had set a new World school record with Vinod Kambli.

AND ABOVE MOMENT IS BECAUSE OF HIM ONLY