Sachin Tendulkar with other legends of the game
Tendulkar with the biggies
Tendulkar and Waqar Younis made their Test debuts together, but only played four Tests against each other. Frosty India-Pakistan relationships meant Tendulkar did not get as many opportunities against the neighbours' fast-bowling arsenal in the longest format as he should have. But there were plenty of interesting encounters in ODI cricket. When Abdul Razzaq dropped Tendulkar during his dazzling 98 in the 2003 World Cup game, Wasim Akram is said to have put his hands up in exasperation and yelled, "Tujhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?(Do you know whose catch you've dropped?)"•Sandra Teddy/Getty Images
Glenn McGrath and Tendulkar matched wits several times during the course of their careers and honours were mostly shared. Tendulkar came on top in the World Cup game in 1996, the Chennai Test of 2001, and in the 2000 ICC knockout game in Nairobi, where he famously responded to McGrath's sledging. McGrath dismissed Tendulkar 13 times in international cricket, including first-over dismissals in the 1999 and 2003 World Cup games. However, none was as controversial as Adelaide 1999, when Tendulkar was ruled out after ducking into a bouncer that kept low and hit him on the underarm. •Hamish Blair/Getty Images
Tendulkar accumulated several accolades during his career, but the ultimate compliment came from the ultimate batsman - Don Bradman. "I saw him 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 felt that this player is playing with a style similar to mine."•Getty Images
Tendulkar brought his A-game to World Cup cricket. He easily topped the run-charts in 1996 and 2003, and was the second highest run-getter when India won the title in 2011. He was peerless in the 2003 tournament, where his consistent run of scores turned around India's lacklustre start to the campaign and propelled them into the final. Garry Sobers, seen here presenting Tendulkar with the Player-of-the-Tournament award, would have approved.•Getty Images
The riveting 2011 New Year Test in Cape Town featured masterclasses from some of the greatest players in the game: Dale Steyn at his hostile best, and batting excellence from Jacques Kallis in both innings. But the highlight of the game was Tendulkar's 51st Test century, rated the best Test innings of the year by ESPNcricinfo. Here, Tendulkar looks on as Kallis completes a single in the second innings, even as India's hopes of a series win in South Africa recede on the fourth day.•AFP
For a while in the mid-2000s, when Tendulkar battled poor form and injuries, there was a real possibility that Ricky Ponting would score more Test runs and hundreds than him. Tendulkar, however, returned strongly in the last lap of his career to put distance between the two. They unwittingly fell into opposing camps during the Monkeygate scandal in 2008, but any ill-will from that episode would have dissipated when they opened the innings for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2013.•AFP
Tendulkar's early years in the Indian team had him playing under the watch of Kapil Dev, and later Mohammad Azharuddin. He would go on to build a formidable alliance with the latter by the mid-90s, a period when India's batting hopes rested largely on their shoulders.•AllSportUK
Steve Waugh's band of world-beaters brought out the best in Tendulkar. In the '90s, it was mostly a case of one man against a champion outfit. India's hopes against Australia lived and died with Tendulkar. By the 2000s, India had begun to assemble a line-up of batsmen who could stand up to Australia, like in the 2003 tour - Waugh's final series. Waugh fought hard in his final innings, on the last day in Sydney to ensure the series was drawn 1-1, before hoicking Anil Kumble to the leg side, where Tendulkar completed the catch.•William West/AFP
Imran Khan was Pakistan's captain in Tendulkar's Test debut in 1989. Imran even top-scored for Pakistan with an aggressive 100 in the first innings. Imran was well into the last lap of his career by the time Tendulkar found his feet at the highest level. They did play against each other in a 1992 World Cup league game. Tendulkar was Man of the Match in India's win, but Pakistan famously went on to win the big prize. This picture was taken at Imran's cancer hospital in Lahore during India's tour of Pakistan in 2006, when Tendulkar played the last of his 10 Tests in that country.•Associated Press
Tendulkar always had the better of Shane Warne in their many storied battles. He made specific plans to tackle legspin from the rough ahead of the 1998 series, and took Warne to the cleaners on a turner in Chennai to set the tone for the rest of the tour, and the Sharjah tri-series that followed. Tendulkar constructed two of his best ODI hundreds in back-to-back games against Australia to give India the series. Warne confessed (in jest) that he was having nightmares of Tendulkar dancing down the track to his bowling.•AFP
No one scored more runs in Tests and ODIs than Tendulkar. No one picked up more wickets in Tests and ODIs than Muttiah Muralitharan. Their head-to-head contests, however, did not carry the sort of needle one would expect from such a match-up. Muralitharan enjoyed reasonable success against India, including a memorable eight-wicket haul in his final Test to finish with 800 wickets. He dismissed Tendulkar 6 times in 14 innings, conceding 32.67 runs per dismissal. Call it even. •AFP
Tendulkar formed one of the most consistent ODI opening alliances with Sourav Ganguly, but Virender Sehwag's emergence meant that partnership had to be broken. When he appeared first on the scene, Sehwag caught the eye with his uncanny resemblance to Tendulkar at the crease. But Sehwag soon developed a distinctive style of his own to become one of Test cricket's game-changers, while his association with Tendulkar at the top was perhaps the most feared in ODI history. They were the first two batsmen to breach the 200 barrier in ODI cricket.•AFP
Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar had several things in common: Mumbai roots, shortness in stature, and an insatiable appetite for runs. In the early '90s, it became apparent that Tendulkar could well be the man to reach the lofty heights attained by Gavaskar. This picture was taken in 2004, on the day Tendulkar completed his 34th Test century, equalling Gavaskar's career tally.•AFP
India did not win a Test outside the subcontinent - not even in Zimbabwe - through the '90s. Things changed in the 2000s, as the team picked up famous wins in Australia, South Africa, England and West Indies. The key change was that India found a world-class set of batsmen to give Tendulkar the support he sorely lacked in the 90s. •Indranil Mukherjee/AFP
What Tendulkar was to India's batting, Anil Kumble was to their bowling. India's formidable home record in the '90s was built on the back of Kumble's mastery of the conditions. In the 2000s, Kumble began to have a bigger impact outside the subcontinent. The period coincided with the rise of India's golden generation of batting, and their gradual rise to the No. 1 rank in Test cricket. Here, on the last day of his Test career, Kumble gets a hug from one of his oldest mates in the India whites.•AFP
Throughout their careers, Brian Lara and Tendulkar served as yardsticks for each other's ambitions and abilities. Tendulkar's calling card was the number of runs and hundreds he accumulated, while Lara's name became synonymous with the gigantic peaks he scaled in individual innings - 375, 501* and 400*. Despite the differences in their methods, they remain big fans of each other and very good friends. •AFP