“I think, apart from Sir Garfield Sobers nobody else has played 20 years in international cricket and 20 years playing at the very highest level and to the very highest standard is an achievement beyond compare,” Gavaskar said of the 36-year-old, who completed his two decades in international cricket today.
“No place can be too high for this young man and he is young because as far as his enthusiasm for the game is concerned, he is almost childlike. That is what is keeping him going on and on,” he told a television channel.
Gavaskar, himself a celebrated batsman of his era, said he started understanding cricket only post 1960 and is yet to see a batsman as complete as Tendulkar.
“Since 1960, from when I started to understand a little bit of cricket, he has been the greatest batsman that the game has seen,” he said.
Published 15 November 2009, 17:48 IST