Thanks a ton!

When India needed a hero,especially with Amitabh Bachchan gradually phasing out,a boy in his teens inadvertently filled that void. Tendulkar became a bed-time story even before he could turn 15. Following his debut in Pakistan as a 16-year old,the maidans were replaced by the Manchesters,Sydneys and Perths (his first three centuries) of this world. Two months before his 20th birthday,the legend came back a full circle as Tendulkar finally scored his first century at home. Incidentally,the 165 against England in Chennai was his first hundred in a winning cause. But overall,it was his fifth. At that point,he had already played 47 ODI innings without a century. And for that to happen,he would have to wait another 19 months and 29 innings.

The destroyer

Age 21-26,Era 1994-99

In Colombo,he scored his first ODI ton in September 1994,nearly five years after making his debut. By the end of the year,he would have a collection of three. In 1996,playing in his second World Cup — his first at home — Tendulkar kickstarted the campaign with a hundred against the Kenyans in Cuttack. He followed it up with a blazing one against the Sri Lankans in Delhi. He fell 35 runs short in the semis,and India crashed out of the Cup. But Tendulkar’s appetite for the big ones only grew to insatiable proportions. Twenty-three years old at that point,Tendulkar had six centuries — 11 short of the ODI record held by Desmond Haynes (17) . By the start of 1998,Tendulkar had gnawed five away from Haynes. By the end of that terrific year,where he scored 1894 runs,SRT had stretched that record to 25 per cent of its previous mark.

The accumulator

Age 27-30,Era 2000-03

After the glory years of ’98 and ’99,which saw nine ODI centuries in the former and five Test centuries in the latter (both his highest in a calendar year in the respective formats at that time),Tendulkar showed his human side during the initial half of the 2000s. With the new millennium,Tendulkar settled in for the long haul. So not long after the computer analysts sighed off the farcical Y2K threat,they used their machines to figure out just why Tendulkar’s statistics stopped climbing exponentially.

In fact,at the point,Tendulkar underwent several physical and physiological changes. Approaching 30 — when batsmen begin to buy post-retirement plans — Tendulkar’s curly mop shortened,the clean shaven look gave way to the stubbly french beard and the runs were scored without a backlift. During this period,he brought up the fiftieth over all (against Zimbabwe in Nagpur),and shot past Don Bradman’s mark of 29 Test centuries in Port of Spain,2002. But apart from these sparse highs,Tendulkar had adjusted into the role of the scrapper,baking those big hits on his backburner.

The slip

Age 31-35,Era 2004-08

To put things in perspective,Pete Sampras’s birth,rise and fall as a tennis sensation all happened before Tendulkar could face his first major slump in the game. Sampras won his first Grand Slam a year after Tendulkar made his debut,and retired with 14 (the most then in men’s tennis) a year before the Indian batsman faced his first century-draught,in the 15th year in the game. Between March 2004 and February 2006,Tendulkar’s ODI hundreds came to a grinding halt — just one sitting sadly amidst ruins of low scores in a two year period. Between March 2005 and May 2007,he scored just one Test century too — the record snatching 35th — watching helplessly as his average fell below the 30s in that epoch.

In the period,the world threw everything at Tendulkar — atheists,critics,tennis elbows and Greg Chappells.

The resurgence

Age 36-39,Era 2009-12

In what would be arguably his greatest year in the game,he shook the pillars of popular belief in 2010 with an ODI 200 in February and seven Test centuries through the year — which included two double-hundreds,and his 50th overall. The half-century of Test hundreds came in the backdrop of a losing match in Centurion,as would the 100th hundred two years later in Mirpur,Bangladesh. In between,he would score two more centuries in the successful World Cup campaign to take his quadrennial tally to six,a record,but both would come in non-winning causes.

From his first to his hundredth,the world has changed in intangible ways. While other so called legends have come and gone,Tendulkar has remained an unblinking constant,whose longevity can be archaeologically studied on the canvas of his centuries.