Five days at Wankhede?

The Sachin Tendulkar Party ended early in Kolkata after India beat West Indies by an innings inside three days. But fans hoping to get their money's worth in his final Test, at the Wankhede, have the assurances of Mumbai chief selector Sudhir Naik, who was the ground's former curator and is reprising that role for this Test at the request of the Mumbai Cricket Association, that "the wicket will have something for everybody".

"It is going to be a sporting track, Naik told the Daily News & Analysis. "Seamers will enjoy first couple of days and will get a good bounce and carry while the spinners will come into play on the fourth and fifth day. The batsman will have a say in between. It will be helpful for strokeplay. Sachin will definitely enjoy playing here and would like to get some runs. Since it will have bounce and turn, he can sign off in style with a good knock."

While Tendulkar has completed 24 years in international cricket, what have his team-mates from his first tour, to Pakistan in 1989-90, been up to all this time? The website cricketcountry.com takes a look at who's doing what.

Salil Ankola
Ankola's only Test was the one in which Tendulkar had made his debut. His international career extended till early 1997 without much impact, and despite being a part of several touring squads he did not get to play a lot of matches.

He later shifted career and acted in Kurukshetra (2000), Pitaah (2002), Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne (2003), Silence Please... The Dressing Room (2004), and Riwayat (2012). He also acted in the television soaps Sshh... Koi Hai and Savitri.

Vivek Razdan
Razdan was a fast bowler for St Columba's School in Delhi, opening bowler with Bollywood star Rahul Dev; the school wicket-keeper was a somewhat bigger star in the form of Shah Rukh Khan.

Picked after just two First-Class matches, Razdan never played a Test after the tour. All his five career wickets came in a five-wicket haul during the Sialkot Test. He tried to make a comeback, improving his batting in the process, but eventually retired from First-Class cricket at 25.

He currently works as a commentator for the ESPN-Star network and coaches in Delhi.

WV Raman
A champion of domestic cricket, Raman later became the first Indian to score an ODI hundred outside Asia against a Test-playing country. He played till 1996-97 and was dropped for good for the same reason as Manjrekar's. Raman went on to coach Tamil Nadu and Bengal as well as the Indian Under-19 side. Once considered as the coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, he is now the assistant coach of Kings XI Punjab. He is also a popular columnist.

In the Independent, Stephen Brenkley marks the milestones of Tendulkar's career.

Day 725: 15 December 2008
Perhaps his finest hour. The country was in a state of crisis after terrorists launched a murderous attack on Mumbai. England suspended their tour but, with emotions on all sides still running high, agreed to return. In the First Test, moved to Chennai, England set India an improbable 387 to win. Tendulkar took them home on the last day with 103 not out in more than five hours on a wearing pitch. He dedicated the century to the 173 victims of the attack.

In the UK Daily Telegraph, Shane Warne writes of his contests with Tendulkar and the friendship they shared off the field.

His best years were between 1994 and 2000 when he was just brilliant. He is still a very good player but it is hard to compare the Sachin of today to the man of 15 years ago.

In the mid-1990s, he was phenomenal against the quicks and spin. He judged the length of a ball so quickly, which enabled him to have a lot more time to play the right shot or let it go.

Sachin also kept it very simple. He was still at the crease so, if it was pitched, up he drove it, if it was short, he pulled it. It was his judgment of length and clarity in his head with shot selection that made him so dominant against all opposition bowlers in all sorts of conditions...

I have had some great times at his house with his family and some quite interesting dinners together. He is a fascinating man to talk to with wide interests. We would sit at his house with earphones on listening to Mark Knopfler playing the guitar and we would also share information about opposition teams and players. We would talk tactics about the game.

Tendulkar's school, Sharadashram Vidyamandir, has displayed a collection of rare photographs from his early playing days, open only to students and the staff, hoping the success story of its most famous alumnus inspires the youngsters.

The Indian Express tracks down Tendulkar's namesake, a plastic surgeon born in Mumbai five years after the cricketer.

"My wife, Sarika, tells her friends she's married to Sachin. It's an old joke now." He adds, "My friends used to show other people their contact lists with my name, saying they know Tendulkar. That prank didn't work, since my voice was different."