There might be debates about who is the best Test player in the world, but when it comes to ODI cricket there is no doubt that he is the best player in the ODI cricket.
With 96 fifties, 49 hundreds, 154 wickets, 18426 runs at an average of 44.83 in 463 matches, he is undoubtedly the best in ODI's. Today he might have retired, but he still remains in the heart of every Indian cricket fan and will always be. You can either like him or ignore him, but you can't ignore.
Be it the legendary straight drive off McGrath or Brett Lee or be it that awesome pull off Andrew Caddick or the upper cut off Shoaib Akhtar in the 2003 world cup or be it that six over long on off Shane Warne which gave the bowler dreams of being hit for a six by the Legend in his dreams, there is not even a single shot in the cricket, which he hasn't mastered.
There were days, when we only had DD1 at our home, and I remember, the only two things which I used to wait for, was the Friday night movie and Indian cricket, and later for the reason that I could watch the Legend bat. When I was probably in 6th standard, that desert storm match in Sharjah, when India needed to qualify for the finals of the Coca-Cola cup, cannot be forgotten by any cricket lover. He single-handedly took on the Australian bowling attack to score 143 off 131 balls and led India to qualify for the finals. He didn't stop there and finally led the team to victory in the finals of the Coca-Cola cup after scoring 134 off 131 balls.
He is not only a cricketer, he is an Icon as he teaches us how to defy the impossible. He emerged as a true champion after he suffered from tennis elbow injury and finally led to the team to victory in the 2011 world cup. There have been moments in my life when I was down, when I thought of giving up, but every time when I switched on to his batting he gave me inspiration to fight, he gave me the courage to stand tall in front of the challenge ahead and destroy it and that is the reason I say that he is an Icon!
Now, I think criminals will have to be more careful, as someone rightly said, "Do your crime when Sachin is batting, because even the God is busy watching him bat".
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