The crowd follows him everywhere. Whenever he is sent to the deep to field, a whole section of the crowd moves towards him to see their idol from a distance, a distance the youngsters among the crowd hope to cross one day. Sometime he raises his bat in acknowledgement, raising his hands, waving to admirers, that is what this genius is all about.

The master blaster created history at Delhi's Ferozeshah Kotla ground last year when he broke the 18-year-old Test world record of legendry Sunil Gavaskar.

With dogged Dravid alongside him after India elected to bat in the second DLF Cup ODI under slightly overcast conditions, Sachin ripped apart the sloppy West Indies bowlers with stunning regularity, managing it consistently to boot. India were able to post 309 runs riding on maestro's 142 not out in the second DLF Cup tri-series match.

His Test Record

The 32-year-old Mumbai batsman claimed the world record for most Test hundreds with his 35th century on December 10, 2005 on the opening day of the second Test against Sri Lanka.

Tendulkar, who last played a Test in home series against Pakistan early this year, reached the feat with a single after turning a Chaminda Vaas delivery towards fine leg.

The feat came at right time as Tendulkar was going through a lean patch and had recently been cured of the injured elbow.

Gavaskar had surpassed Sir Don Bradman's tally of 29 centuries at Chennai during the 1983-84 series against the West Indies.

Sachin Tendulkar had equalled Sunil Gavaskar's record for the most number of centuries in Test match cricket (34) on the day of the second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2005.

It has taken Tendulkar the better part of 15 years to get there and on reaching his 34th century with a quick single off seamer Tapas Baishya, Tendulkar took off his helmet and glancing skyward, raised his bat in acknowledgement.

The little master then also became only the third cricketer to score hundreds against every Test playing nation, after the legendary Australian, Steve Waugh, and Gary Kirsten of South Africa.

The batting genius then admitted he was honoured to match Sunil Gavaskar's Test record of 34 centuries. "It's a great feeling to equal a batsman like Sunil Gavaskar," he said.

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar said "When I first saw Tendulkar play a flick shot in the nets for Mumbai Ranji Trophy probables, I knew that he possessed the talent. Within a year he was playing for India and scoring runs in a manner that belied his age and delighted the spectators. He continues to do that a decade and a half after his debut and I hope he keeps doing that for years to come."

"We may not have the Kohinoor, but we have Tendulkar and to us Indians he's worth more and even more precious," he said.

Comapring the two, Polly Umrigar once said, "Both Tendulkar and Gavaskar are great batsmen with different styles and I would not like to compare them. But I am sure that we can expect many more centuries from Tendulkar as he has got age on his side."

Dilip Vengsarkar said, "It is a fantastic record and there are many more to come. Gavaskar played against some of the best fast bowlers of the world, while Tendulkar has got runs against top spinners who have more than 1,000 Test scalps to their credit.".

This man is all about moving mountains, all about reaching for the moons, all about achieving the impossible. Today, in the game of cricket, there is no more glittering example of an all-such conquering champion than Sachin Tendulkar.

He made his Test debut against Pakistan at Karachi in 1989, up against one of the best pace attacks at that time which included Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan. He was hit by a Waqar snorter on his nose and began bleeding profusely. The doctors adviced him to go off. But Tendulkar in his quirky young voice said: "Main khelega". And, the next Waqar Younis delivery went past the cover boundary for four.

Since then, he has not looked back. His name itself strikes terror among bowlers around the world, even those great bolwers like Shane Warne. Sachin's very presence is awe-inspiring.

He was gifted his first pair of pads by Sunil Gavaskar before his Test debut. He was also gifted a cricket bat by Dilip Vengsarkar which Sachin still treasures.

Sachin really hogged the limelight when he played a match-saving 119 not out against England in 1990-91 at Old Trafford at the age of 17. Later, as an 18-year-old, he took on a fearsome five-man seam attack led by Craig McDermott, Bruce Reid, Merv Hughes to score a dazzling century at Perth. And, at Cape Town in 1996, he scored one of his most memorable knocks, scoring 169 in the dark.

In 1998 at Chennai, his assault on Shane Warne elevated the battle to greater heights when he notched up a match-winning 155 in quick time. After the tour, Warne said, "I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player."

Again at Chennai in 1999, Sachin played yet another memorable innings. Arch-rivals India and Pakistan were playing a Test on Indian soil after 12 years. Battling back spasms and the all-fired up Wasim Akram and company, he scored an agony-filled 136 whiich almost took India to a thrilling win. He was very upset after India lost by a mere margin of 16 runs.

His game is built around grace, fluidity and magical sense of touch. Whenever this 29-year-old from Mumbai strides to the crease in any part of the world, you can feel the excitement that seizes the crowd. Tendulkar undoubtedly has filled stadiums - he once even emptied one, when a rioting crowd at the Eden Gardens, during a match against arch-rivals Pakistan went wild as they could not bear seeing him lose his wicket after a mid-wicket collision and was left-stranded.

Besides, he has two double hundreds under his belt, one against Zimbabwe and the other versus New Zealand.

During his long journey, Tendulkar went through various phases, one of which was captaincy. There were doubts whether he could psychologically handle tough situations and the pressure of captaincy showed on him.. His team showed signs of disintegrating, winning a match was not on their minds. Worse, Tendulkar's form was also showing signs of retreat with a few failures. He was stripped off the captaincy before the start of Independence Cup in 1998.

He has many years of cricket left ahead of him. And, it might be not be wishful to predict that before he finishes, Tendulkar would hold most batting records.

To think of it, he is just 32.

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