Finally, Sachin Tendulkar achieved on Feb 24, 2010 what has never been done before in limited overs international cricket – he scored a double hundred against a respectable South African bowling attack at the Capt. Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior. The fact that no one in almost 40 years of one day cricket has ever done this before speaks of the magnitude of this achievement. Sachin was batting at his best; and no bowler, including the adversary of Nagpur, Dale Steyn could bother him.

As expected, as soon as this accomplishment was into news, cricketers, news anchors, columnists, commentators and experts (somehow I could never understand their qualification for this post) re-ignited the popular debate – is Sachin greater than Don Bradman as a cricketer? The Indian fraternity was unanimously in favor, whereas there were mixed responses from elsewhere. This will perhaps go on for some more time with both sides dishing out arguments and statistics in their support, until the frenzy dies down. The little man meanwhile has skipped the inconsequential third one-day and is happily spending some time with the family.

This is not the first time such comparisons have happened for Sachin. When he started his career, the ‘Prince’ Brian Lara was all set to take up the baton from the King himself, the great Viv Richards. Lara had played more first class cricket than Sachin and hence was a better known name and already was seen as a potential, where as Sachin was still just a prodigy known mostly in India. As these two cricketers gained international acclaim for their performances over the years, the evaluations started about the greater of the two and went on for a few years. While Lara had a penchant for big scores – he broke the world records for the highest individual score in test and in first class cricket within first 4 years of his debut – Sachin made his name for his exciting batting against some of the toughest bowling attacks and hostile batting venues, enough to demonstrate his appetite for big events. His big scores meant that Lara got a bigger share of the limelight than Sachin, but Sachin was more consistent of the two. He kept scoring his runs and hundreds regularly and hardly had a lean patch longer than a year. The competition between the two made cricket lively for over a decade, until Lara announced his retirement from international cricket. Sachin went on and other than the two mentioned above broke almost every other record a batsman can. The competition and hence the comparison faded into oblivion.

Even more interesting has been the race for the top between Sachin and the legendary Don Bradman. Sachin is nowhere close to Don’s unbelievable batting average and hasn’t got a triple hundred – Don had 2 – but has proven his class all over the world unlike Don, who played all his cricket either in Australia or England. Moreover, the volume of cricket that Sachin has put in over last 20 years of cricket is more Bradmanasque than Don’s batting average! His constancy and reliability have been unmatched and his zeal for excellence and continuous improvement are appreciated the world over. Even the great Don had concurred that Sachin comes closest to him of all batsmen.

These are all unfair comparisons, for these are legends who made their names in differing situations, times and teams. They were as different to each other in their batting skills as chalk and cheese. Don Bradman belongs to an era long gone by, while Brian Lara is a recent phenomenon, but has served his due to the game. Sachin keeps going; and his passion for the game seems eternal. He stills loves the game; demonstrates joy, excitement, sorrow and all other emotions as a debutant would. He is still young at heart and it is this little boy in Sachin Tendulkar that keeps him going, looking to scale new heights. I am sure he doesn’t care about these comparisons, for he has already etched his name in stone at the very top.