Incredible hunger for run was ingrained in Sachin: Rahul

What stands out in an exceptional career of unbelievable achievements is Sachin Tendulkar's ability to change, adapt and mould his batting according to the conditions around him.

What stands out in an exceptional career of unbelievable achievements is Sachin Tendulkar's ability to change, adapt and mould his batting according to the conditions around him. What makes him a phenomenal player is that he has done so many things, be it scoring the highest number of Test and one-day runs or scoring a century of international centuries. What he has done is set a benchmark for future generations which, probably, would be almost impossible for anyone to emulate.

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I think his incredible hunger for runs was ingrained in him while he grew up playing cricket in Mumbai's Shivaji Park and it is fantastic to see him still retain that desire, that hunger to keep on scoring. Just imagine, he started playing cricket a long, long time ago, 22 years to be precise. Everything around him has changed. Not only has the game changed a lot in these years, his own body has gone through a lot and it is not easy to be adapting to these changing conditions. That he has done exactly that makes him someone very special, a truly amazing player.

One of his special qualities has been that he has made all of us realise that certain feats which we all thought were never possible to achieve, could be done. His 100thhundreds is one of them. He has created a new milestone, which to my mind is like Don Bradman's average of 99.94, the most memorable feat any cricketer has achieved.

Like overtaking Bradman's average appears almost impossible today, Sachin's century feat too will in all probability stay for ever. If anyone does overtake him, he will have to have as phenomenal a career has Sachin has.

(as told to Hindustan Times)