Cricket ---> 20 years of Sachin Tendulkar - The Le

Yes, can you belive it,, hes been here for 20 years now. Sachin Tendulkar begins a third decade in world cricket next week.

The Little Master truly was little when he made his test playing debut at the tender age of 16 in November of 1989. And he couldn't have had a tougher induction: in Karachi, Pakistan, he faced the fearsome bowling attack of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis (also making his debut). While his 15 runs can hardly be considered memorable, the way in which he withstood the numerous blows to his body was an instant indication that the boy was quickly becoming a man. Sure enough, Tendulkar scored his maiden test fifty a few days later.

He has since then risen to become the world's most successful batsman in both test and one-day cricket, a result of both his unparalled genius with the bat and amazing longevity in the game.

The world was a different place when Tendulkar began. No one sent e-mails or browsed the world wide web, Nelson Mandela was still in jail, the Soviet Union had not broken up and mobile phones had not become a way of life.

When he started, Tendulkar's current captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was an eight-year-old schoolboy and team-mates Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli were barely a few months old.

Tendulkar has scaled the summit, scoring more test runs (12,773) and centuries (42), and more one-day runs (17 178) and hundreds (45) than any other batsman.

And he is not done yet. One of his cherished dreams is to win the World Cup in front of millions of worshipping home fans when India co-hosts the 2011 showpiece with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

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thanks for everything sachin, and keep it going !!!