Sachin Tendulkar: The early years

Mumbai, Nov 8 Visiting Sri Lankan team skipper Kumar Sangakkara today lavished praise on Sachin Tendulkar, who would be completing 20 years in international cricket on November 15, calling the Indian the “greatest player of the modern era”.

“He (Tendulkar) has been brilliant. To have survived the tough test of public expectation in India is something, which should be commended. The runs (he has scored) are an added bonus. He’s probably the greatest player to play the game in the modern era and compares with the (Donald) Bradmans and all the legends of the past,” Sangakkara said.

“We run out of superlatives when talking about Sachin. He keeps getting better and better. Being that consistent under such pressure (from fans), especially at home is a wonderful thing,” the Lankan captain and one-down batsman gushed.

Having smashed a number of records in his awe-inspiring career, Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar became the first player in the history of the game to cross the 17,000-run mark on Thursday.

Tendulkar was chasing the milestone from the onset of the series against Australia and achieved the feat when he, requiring seven runs coming into the fifth ODI, played an on-drive to fetch three runs off pacer Ben Hilfenhaus .

The 35,000 strong packed crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium erupted to joy as Tendulkar reached the magic figure in the company of opening partner Virender Sehwag .

Tendulkar reached his new ODI milestone in his 435th match and 66th tie against the World champions.

Veteran Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya is second on the list with 13,377 runs while Australian captain Ricky Ponting has a lot of catching to do with 12,241 runs under his belt.

The diminutive Mumbaikar, who made his ODI debut Pakistan in 1989, is already way ahead of his contemporaries when it comes to accumulating runs.

Rated the world’s best batsman after Australian legend Sir Donald Bradman, Tendulkar has an awe-inspiring Test record.

In the whopping 159 matches that he has played, he scored 12,773 runs at an average of 54.58.