'Waxing' praise for Tendulkar's genius

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has captured the imagaination of the entire cricketing world ever since he made his international debut as a 16-year-old against Pakistan 20 years back. Tendulkar was earmarked for greatness almost as soon as he broke on to the scene, and the Master Blaster, has surpassed all expectations of him in his stellar career.

Tendulkar already holds many cricket records including being the highest run-scorer in Tests and one-day cricket, as well as having the maximum number of centuries in both those formats of the game. Off-the-field, Tendulkar was a one-stop brand ambassador for many prominent companies for quite a while, and his star status in India has left behind every Bollywood superstar, with the exception of Shah Rukh Khan.

The cricket maestro is all set to add another feather to his long list of achievements when he becomes the first-ever Indian sports personality to be portrayed at the internationally-renowned Madame Tussauds in London in April. Tendulkar will join fellow cricketing legends Brian Lara and Shane Warne to have their wax figures as part of Tussaud's A-list line up.

Tendulkar's legend has only grown with time, and with the addition of his wax statue at Madame Tussauds, his story will be told over and over as generations of cricketing fanatics get up, close and personal with the maestro long after he is gone. It is a bit too early to start writing Tendulkar's cricketing obituary, because he does have a couple of years more left in him.
But, if one were to attempt to list his achievements, it would be one endless exercise for sure. Tendulkar has seen the most number of cricketers come and go in one's international career as he has seen cricket undergo a sea-change during the 20 years of his stint with the Indian cricket team. But, what hasn't changed is the passion and love that he has for the game and the country. For a man who has achieved so much, Tendulkar still has the same hunger and intensity when he takes the field, and is as equally disappointed now as he was at the start of his career when things didn't go his way.

Any other sportsperson would have buckled under the expectations and scrutiny of more than one billion people whenever he set foot on the field, but Tendulkar has taken this as a driving force and has touched such heights that many of them will probably remain untouched for eternity. Tendulkar is and has always been a role model, inspiration, mentor and guiding light to his teammates as well as to the legion of his adoring fans. Therefore, it is only fitting that the legend's wax statue at Madame Tussauds will only assist in telling his story to the generations who haven't been fortunate enough to watch the second-best batsman in cricket's history play the game.

To borrow a line from the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire, 'Jai Ho' Tendulkar and keep entertaining us with your genius for as long as you can, and the audiences world over will soak in the magic for however long it continues.