'Sachin Miles Ahead'

Cricket Bible Wisden has devoted special space toSachin Tendulkar in its latest issue, eulogising the Indian batting genius forbeing "miles ahead" of his contemporaries and continuing to"write an elegant, belligerent and unprecedented history".

"Sachin is now 30. But to the world, and to Indiain particular, he is still a boy wonder," Wisden Cricketers' Almanac 2003said in its separate write up on Tendulkar -- "Batting for a Billion".

"Thirteen years and 105 Tests have passed since hefirst took guard at Karachi in November 1989, but the poet's son with thealmost-falsetto voice and the supremely dignified manner continues to write anelegant, belligerent and unprecedented history," Rohit Brijnath said in thearticle.

The write-up says though Tendulkar cannot be thegreatest batsman ever in history, "in Tests and one-dayers together, thereality of international cricket today, Tendulkar will take some catchingtoo".

"Tendulkar will never be the greatest batsman inhistory; that seat is taken. But as much as Donald Bradman's Test average(99.94) outstrips Tendulkar's (57.58), the gap diminishes substantially whenother factors are taken into account.

"Tendulkar travels more in a year than Bradman didin a decade; he has had to manage the varying conditions of 49 Test grounds, toBradman's ten; he has already played twice as many Tests as Bradman, and over300 one-day games, nearly all of them under the unrelenting scrutiny oftelevision.

Whereas Bradman had to cope with the expectations of asmall populace, not given to idolatry, in an age of restraint, Tendulkar mustplay God to one billion expectant worshippers.

PTI