Sachin Tendulkar, regarded as the greatest batsman in cricket, today called it quits from Test cricket, announcing his retirement after his 200th match against the West Indies next month, bringing the curtains down on an extraordinary career spanning a marathon 24 years.
Here are few quotes by some famous cricketers on him:
Time magazine's quote on Sachin Tendulkar in 2011: "When Sachin Tendulkar travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam. When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to "open" the Nehruvian economy. It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will."
"Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it", said Hashim Amla once.
BBC: "Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives- BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar."
Peter Roebuck: "On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt at one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing a century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This genius can stop time in India!"
Sir Donald Bradman: "I saw him (Sachin) playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...his compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel"
Matthew Hayden: "I have seen God, he bats at no. 4 for India"
Hashim Amla: "Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it"
Andy Flower: "There are two kinds of batsmen in the world. One, Sachin Tendulkar. Two, all the others"
Brian Lara: "The only batsman I would love to see by paying for the tickets and sitting in the stand just to watch him is none other than Sachin Tendulkar" and "Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal"
Mark Taylor: "We did not lose to a team called India, we lost to a man called Sachin (after the two famous innings in Sharjah in 1998)"
A placard at the Sydney Cricket Ground: "Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching"
Dennis Lillee: "If I've to bowl to Sachin, I'll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard"
Andrew Flintoff: "When you bowl at him you are not just trying to get him out, you are trying to impress him. 'I want him to walk off thinking 'that Flintoff, he's all right isn't he? I feel privileged to have played against him"
Abdul Qadir: "I was fielding in the covers when Tendulkar came out to bat in his debut Test at Karachi. I still remember Waqar Younis was in peak form at that time. Tendulkar tried to drive Waqar through the covers off his very first ball in Test cricket but was beaten all ends up. But I walked to captain Imran Khan and told him 'this kid looks very good' and Imran agreed with me."
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