Not a run machine

As November 15 comes around, much of the Indian cricketing fraternity and media is recalling their first memories of seeing Saching Tendulkar bat at the international level. On that day Rajdeep Sardesai, now CNN-IBN's editor-in-chief, was glued to the TV watching a 16-year-old Tendulkar with curls and rosy cheeks take on Pakistan’s fast bowlers. Twenty years later, he says, the locks are showing a hint of grey but Tendulkar is still doing what he does best: score runs for India. Read on in the Hindustan Times.

His real achievement is beyond the boundary. We live in an age of instant stardom and mini-celebrities, where fame is an intoxicant that can easily consume the best of us. Sachin, remarkably, has been almost untouched by the fact that he is contemporary India’s biggest icon, arguably bigger than even an Amitabh Bachchan or a Shah Rukh Khan. As Khan revealed in an interview, at a party there was a big noise when Big B entered. Then, Sachin entered the hall and Bachchan was leading the queue to grab hold of the cricket champion!