Sachin, the best of the best of the best.

My god. He is the best batsman EVER.

Date: 5th November 2009

Venue: Hyderabad

No one will ever surpass this Little Master. No Richies, no Sunils, no one.

I am truly privileged to have seen him play, from the time I understood cricket, as a child. He was an inspiration to go out on the streets and hit that tennis ball as far away as possible! And today, he blew our minds off with his Blitzkreig. I would've loved to hear Ponting say, "We din't lose to India. We lost to Sachin, again."

It is really amazing, how the Little master went on batting like he did 10 years ago. The moment I saw him play, I knew that Sachin would be the only reason for India to get close to the total. And it truly happened so. When wickets kept falling at regular intervals, it became certain that it was only Sachin who could take control. What more can I say?

The master never let the required run-rate cross 8 even once while chasing 350 runs. What makes today's innings mind-blasting is the fact that as a 36 year old, after standing in the field for 50 overs, he made chasing 350 look easy and batted for 47 overs. That is 97 overs of standing and running around! If I were Dhoni, or even a part of the Indian contigent, I'd have fallen at his feet. Sachin is God.

People compare Sachin to Don Bradman and I find that absurd. With all due respect to Sir Donald Bradman, batting avg of 99.6 requires a bow, Sachin and Don are opposite faces of a coin and hence not comparable. I say this because both have played at very different times and under very different circumstances. For starters, the Don has never played a limited over match! Of-course he was devastating as a Test Batsman, but, considering the overall conditions at which Sachin has played and is playing, I would rate him a tad higher than the Don.

First of all, Sachin has borne pressure from a billion people and has single handedly won matches for India, over and over again.

Besides, the Don played mostly only against England. But, the master has played against all test playing nations, both tests and ODIs.

Enough, I won't compare anymore. Sachin rules.

India has produced many brilliant cricketers, the likes of Gavaskar, The Haryana Hurricane, Kumble, Dravid and so on. But the most outstanding cricketer has to be Sachin.

Next is Kapil. I take pride in mentioning a few of his achievements here. As a bowler, he has been the highest test wicket taker in the world for 5 years, highest ODI wicket taker for 6 years. As a batsman, he has scored over 4000 test runs including about 8 centuries. Who can forget his 138 ball 175* against Zimbabwe in '83, where he rocketed 6 maximums and added 129 for the 9th wicket, the highest partnership even today? This paved way for India's World cup winning finals against the fearsome Windies. And, who can forget that super fantastic brilliant catch he took to get rid of Viv? That turned the match and paved the way for India's only WC victory.

It is sad that Sachin was never a part of a WC winning squad. But still, he is the highest run getter in WCs till date, not to mention in all forms of the game barring T20. And at 20 years into Indian cricket he still stands tall amidst ruins. No wonder he is the recepient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. I can't believe Dhoni too has the same award. Thats like Obama havnig the Nobel Peace prize, which Mother Teresa also has!

Sachin, I pray for thee, I pray to thee. May you continue inspiring people and showing them you are matchless.