Ganguly wishes Tendulkar on his World Record

The opening partnership of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in one-day cricket once used to put the fear of God among the rival bowlers. They still hold the record of scoring highest number of runs (6,609) for the first wicket, which came in 136 innings at an average of 49.32.

Ganguly, the former Indian skipper who retired from international cricket towards the end of 2008, still maintains that he enjoyed batting most with Tendulkar.

Did you congratulate him?

Sourav Ganguly: Oh yes and he immediately replied back. How can I prevent myself from sending a congratulatory message on such a big world record?

Now that he has crossed the 200-mark, will there be more surprises from the Little Master?

I sincerely believe we'll be getting more. He would be playing till the 2011 World Cup. Maybe he would decide not to play one-dayers after that. But if he wants, he can play for two more years even in one day matches. And as long as he plays, there will be surprises.

If you have to describe Sachin Tendulkar in one word…

Phenomenon. We are really lucky that we belong to the same generation. The next generation will never know what they had missed!

Nasser Hussain says that Sachin is greater than Sir Don. Your opinion...

I have not seen Sir Don. But among those I have seen, Sachin is clearly the best.

You have seen Sunil Gavaskar and Vivian Richards...

Yes. In Tests, Sunnybhai and Sachin are at par, but in one-dayers, Sachin is much ahead. Viv Richards was a batsman of different kind. But just have a look at Sachin's numbers 93 international hundreds, 30,000 international runs, around 450 one-day matches and 165 Test matches. It's simply amazing.

And if you have to consider his stature among the sporting icons of this generation?

Roger Federer in tennis, Tiger Woods in golf and Armstrong in cycling — Sachin would be in the same class with these three.

Only seven more hundreds needed to complete a century of international hundreds…

The way he is playing now, I'll not be surprised if he gets it in this year! In the last two years, he has been in great nick. Can you tell me how many hundreds he had scored in the last two years? 

Six in Test matches and four in one-dayers. Since 2009 to date, his Test average is 78 while it's 62 in one-dayers.

See, even now, his appetite is the same. He has an insatiable hunger for runs. He is proving it every day that age is not at all a factor for a performer of the highest class.