Journalism of Courage
India’s favourite son Sachin Tendulkar bid an emotional farewell to cricket at his home Wankhede Stadium on Saturday,signing off as sport’s most prolific run-scorer after a sparkling career that spanned almost a quarter of a century.
BBC
Sachin Tendulkar: Worshipped by Hindus as a living god
If you ask anyone in India to describe Sachin Tendulkar the answer you will probably get is that he is the god of cricket. The 40 year old,who is a devout Hindu,does not like the phrase. He recently told his adoring fans that he “is not a god as he makes mistakes and gods do not”,but that had little impact on many of his disciples,because Sachin for some is an example of a living god.
The Wall Street Journal
Farewell to Cricket’s Little Master
For so many peopleessentially,anyone more than a couple of years younger than himTendulkar more or less is cricket. He has been the game’s most recognizable figure for two decades,its biggest star and very frequently its finest batsman. His retirement removes a constant from cricketthe game’s purest source of technically perfect batting pleasure,a source none of us really believed in our heart of hearts would ever go away.
The New York Times
Where the Gods Live On … and On
In a land of chronic inefficiency,he was remorselessly efficient; in a land with a global inferiority complex,he was the best in the world; in a land where public figures are strutting peacocks,he was often a picture of painful humility; in a land that thirsts for self-respect,Sachin Tendulkar spelled pride.
The Guardian
Sachin Tendulkar’s last Test marks the end of a vision for India
Tendulkar’s extraordinary talent only partly explains his extraordinary stature in his homeland. His 24-year international career has charted India’s rise. From relatively modest origins in Mumbai,it was practice as much as his prodigious raw ability that brought the diminutive teenager rapid fame. At 16 he became the youngest Indian to make his Test debut,against Pakistan. It was 1989 and India’s economy produced a mere $300bn,India Today magazine noted last week. Now the country’s GDP is approaching $2tn.
Fox Sports Australia
Comparison of cricket’s greatest batsmen: India’s Sachin Tendulkar v Australia’s Don Bradman
Get out the calculators. Tendulkar has amassed a run tally most would have considered impossible prior to his Test debut as a 16-year-old against Pakistan in 1989. Tendulkar has scored 15,837 runs over his Test career with two matches remaining – 2,459 clear of his nearest rival Ricky Ponting. Add to that 18,426 ODI runs and a handful more in T20Is and you have a grand total of 34,273 international runs. Quite simply,the world has never seen an international run machine like Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
