JOIN USHe is quite the master of the great numbers, but statistics have rarely fascinated Sachin Tendulkar. While the rest of the world has embarked on a celebration spree upon Tendulkar bringing up his 50th Test century on Sunday, the man himself has been typically modest. Even though he claimed that 50 was just another number, it was obvious that becoming the first man to get to that milestone had thrilled him no end. By the same token, it was hard not to believe him when Tendulkar asserted that it was the love of the game, rather than an overwhelming desire to establish one record after another, that was his driving force. Perhaps, at some stage in the future when he puts his feet up and reflects on the career that was, Tendulkar himself will be staggered by his phenomenal feats. To complete 50 Test centuries is a monumental achievement, the ultimate tribute to one’s ability, skills, fitness, longevity, hunger and passion. It is difficult to see anyone catching up with him in the near future, but Tendulkar will lose little sleep to see if his place at the front of the pack is secure.
For long now, Tendulkar’s genius has transcended numbers, however impressive they might be. This latest feather in his cap merely adds to his legend which has grown remarkably in the last 21 years. It is in the fitness of things that the greatest batsman of his generation, if not of all time, should be the first to get to two landmarks that experts believed were in the realms of the impossible — a double hundred in one-day international cricket, and a mind-boggling 50 Test centuries. The 37-year-old has 46 one-day hundreds too, and it won’t be long before he brings up an unimaginable 100th international hundred! All these feats might project the image of a staid, boring, run-hungry machine to the uninitiated, but nothing can be farther from the truth. Tendulkar is the idol he is because these records have come his way during the course of providing unrestrained entertainment and glorious success to a nation that was, until recently, starved of consistently major sporting triumphs.
Tendulkar isn’t unaware that for all his individual brilliance, there still is unfinished business. A World Cup winner’s medal is missing from his cupboard of glittering riches, and in the final stages of his career, that is one anomaly he will aim to correct on home soil in the next four months.