Supreme Modern Batsman

There are more flamboyant batsmen. Batsmen with marginally higher batting averages. Batsmen who are more destructive or harder to dislodge. Yet Sachin Tendulkar stands alone as the supreme modern batsman.

Tendulkar is widely considered the heir to Don Bradman, the best ever batsman. The flame was handed down by Bradman himself who, observing the Indian in 1996, was struck by an uncanny similarity of styles. "His compactness, technique, stroke production, it all seemed to gel," Bradman said.

Another Australian legend, the leg-spinner Shane Warne, confirmed Tendulkar's coronation when he judged the "Little Master" to be the best batsman he had bowled against. The next best, Brian Lara, came a distant second in Warne's view.

Tendulkar has less flair than Lara, whom he last month overhauled as the leading run scorer in Test history, but a stronger all-round game. Short and squat, he has extraordinary balance and is nimble on his feet - Warne joked that he suffered nightmares of Tendulkar skipping down the pitch towards him to clatter the ball back over the bowler's head.

The Indian has scored runs against all forms of bowling on all types of pitches. He can bat aggressively or defensively as the situation demands; his range of strokeplay is unequalled.

He has scored more Test centuries (40) and more one-day international centuries (42) than anyone else.

He plays shots with surgical precision, not so much demolishing a bowling attack as dismantling it with deft flicks and powerful strikes. The calculated violence that gained him the nickname "Master Blaster" has faded as age and injuries take their toll.
Tendulkar is highly methodical - in 2003 he entered a Test match against Australia after a run of innings in which he had repeatedly been dismissed playing an off-side shot. He resolved to eradicate the shot from his repertoire and proceeded to score 241 not out, mostly on the legside, against one of the best bowling attacks ever assembled.
The sole criticism levelled against him as a cricketer is his supposed failure to play match-winning innings. Former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev complained last year: "Sachin has big records to his name but until he wins matches for India . . . people will raise fingers at him."

It is a contentious viewpoint, bitterly contested by Tendulkar's hundreds of millions of fans. It also overlooks the extent to which he has transformed the identity of cricket in India, bringing professionalism and focus to a game still bearing the fusty stamp of amateurism. He channels a nation's resurgent ambitions into a remorseless appetite for runs.