'Sachin Tendulkar is my hero' - Mahesh Bhupathi

India's tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi, writing in DNA, says despite being fully aware of the fact that athletes cannot perform daily, he selfishly expects Sachin Tendulkar to score every time he bats for India. And time and again, Tendulkar delivers. That, says Bhupathi, is what sporting geniuses do.

We [Indians] are fanatical about our cricket, and I remember after the team came back to outrage from an early exit at the World Cup in the West Indies, I said playing cricket for India is possibly the highest pressure job out there across all industries.

For Sachin, I am thinking it’s triple the pressure. Not only do all of us expect him to score, all his teammates expect him to, and he has his own internal expectations. But time and again, he delivers. That’s what sporting geniuses do. They are big stage players and they thrive on delivering under pressure. Roger will never play a bad Grand Slam final, Tiger will never miss the cut at the PGA Championships, Sachin will always deliver in a big tournament.