Sachin Tendulkar would not mind marking the occasion by becoming the first cricketer to reach 100 international centuries. The 1,000th Test match, between Pakistan and New Zealand in November 1984, saw a century in each innings by Javed Miandad.
But while India are currently touring the West Indies, playing against disorganised opponents on pretty deserted grounds, Tendulkar has been staying in London, at a property he owns near Lord’s.
Preparation has been the fundament of his success — his genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains over his batting — so this time he is spending in reconnaissance for the England series can be considered part of his master plan to make an immortal mark on the 2,000th Test.
‘‘He has been a regular visitor to Lord’s in recent weeks,’’ says an MCC spokesman. Tendulkar, however, has not had a single net-session himself.
What he has been doing, as an honorary life member of the club, has been going to the MCC cricket academy to coach his 11-year-old son, Arjun — and passing on tips to other people using the indoor nets. Thus must the children of Israel have felt when Moses was given the tablets Tendulkar’s practising will start in earnest this week, ahead of the Indians’ only warm-up fixture in this country, against Somerset (including Andrew Strauss) on Friday week. But, for someone who has learnt by the age of 38 exactly how and when to peak, relaxation has to come first.
As the captain of Mumbai Indians — on well over a million dollars for the six-week tournament — he was playing in India until May 27, and needed a rest after his long season, which had climaxed in the fulfilment of his ambition to win the World Cup, at his sixth attempt.
By coming to England early with his family, Tendulkar has escaped the humidity of the build-up to the monsoon in his native Mumbai.
He has also escaped the equally intense and suffocating scrutiny of the masses, who force him to use disguises to get out of his apartment block, where he lives with his wife Anjali, the daughter of an Indian businessman and an English social worker.
In London he has been able to relax, with far fewer bodyguards than normal. At Wimbledon last week he had a long conversation with Roger Federer — and perhaps commiserated with him on what a pitifully small fan-base the tennis champion has by comparison.
(When Tendulkar attended Wimbledon in 2006 and sat next to Mervyn King, he could have commiserated with him on the comparatively small financial resources that the Governor of the Bank of England has at his disposal.)
Early in his career Tendulkar became the first cricketer to earn a million dollars a year — by legitimate means, that is — and he still amasses endorsements almost as if they were runs.
Last week he visited Winchester as part of another business venture he has signed up to: in cricket-themed entertainment centres you will be able to bat against an image of Tendulkar (or other, better, international bowlers) that runs in and delivers a semi-hard ball at you; or bowl against an image of him that deals with your delivery after calculating the trajectory and rotations of the ball.
He has taken his two children with him to Winchester — Arjun and his 13 year-old daughter Sara.
The son is said to bat studiously and without conspicuous natural talent — yet his father was famously turned away by a coach at an early age for not being sufficiently talented (this was before Tendulkar put his mind to work to make the utmost of what he has). His daughter, on the other hand, bats freely, unburdened by expectation.
Another business venture is the Tendulkar Opus, about his life. The initial publicity said that 10 copies of the full edition would be sold at £49,000 each with a sample of his blood included.
The more prosaic reality is that an interim edition is due to be published at the end of this summer, at £200 a copy, and a larger edition costing four figures when he retires.
Not that there is any sign of that, because in the last couple of years — free of the tennis elbow injury that had dogged him and had stopped him driving to the offside — he has married the aggression of his youth to the defence of his mid-career.
To become the first to score 100 international centuries — he has 51 in Tests and 48 in one-day internationals, without a rival in sight – would set the seal on his career.
It is the statistics which have turned Tendulkar from famous to immortal: his Indian team-mates Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have played more match-winning Test innings, but Tendulkar has assembled the numbers after his name, like an academician his letters.
The effect of Tendulkar’s preparation in London will be that he is in a happy frame of mind when the rest of the Indian party arrives from the West Indies, and if Tendulkar is happy, then so is the whole Indian dressing-room.
This was not grasped by Greg Chappell when he was India’s coach, publicly criticised Tendulkar and dropped him down the one-day batting order.
His successor, Gary Kirsten, did realise, and almost made giving Tendulkar all the throw-downs that he wanted in practice the central part of his job.
India’s new coach, Duncan Fletcher, is sure to be Kirsten-style rather than Chappell when he meets up with the ‘Little Master’ — a title that will be inadequate if the Indian makes an immortal mark on the landmark occasion at Lord’s.
Tendulkar has...
51: the most Test centuries
48: the most one-day international centuries
14,692: the most runs scored in Tests
18,111: the most runs scored in one-day internationals
6: the most centuries in World Cups
1,894: the record number of runs in ODIs in a calendar year (1998)
As the captain of Mumbai Indians — on well over a million dollars for the six-week tournament — he was playing in India until May 27, and needed a rest after his long season, which had climaxed in the fulfilment of his ambition to win the World Cup, at his sixth attempt.
By coming to England early with his family, Tendulkar has escaped the humidity of the build-up to the monsoon in his native Mumbai.
He has also escaped the equally intense and suffocating scrutiny of the masses, who force him to use disguises to get out of his apartment block, where he lives with his wife Anjali, the daughter of an Indian businessman and an English social worker.
In London he has been able to relax, with far fewer bodyguards than normal. At Wimbledon last week he had a long conversation with Roger Federer — and perhaps commiserated with him on what a pitifully small fan-base the tennis champion has by comparison.
(When Tendulkar attended Wimbledon in 2006 and sat next to Mervyn King, he could have commiserated with him on the comparatively small financial resources that the Governor of the Bank of England has at his disposal.)
Early in his career Tendulkar became the first cricketer to earn a million dollars a year — by legitimate means, that is — and he still amasses endorsements almost as if they were runs.
Last week he visited Winchester as part of another business venture he has signed up to: in cricket-themed entertainment centres you will be able to bat against an image of Tendulkar (or other, better, international bowlers) that runs in and delivers a semi-hard ball at you; or bowl against an image of him that deals with your delivery after calculating the trajectory and rotations of the ball.
He has taken his two children with him to Winchester — Arjun and his 13 year-old daughter Sara.
The son is said to bat studiously and without conspicuous natural talent — yet his father was famously turned away by a coach at an early age for not being sufficiently talented (this was before Tendulkar put his mind to work to make the utmost of what he has). His daughter, on the other hand, bats freely, unburdened by expectation.
Another business venture is the Tendulkar Opus, about his life. The initial publicity said that 10 copies of the full edition would be sold at £49,000 each with a sample of his blood included.
The more prosaic reality is that an interim edition is due to be published at the end of this summer, at £200 a copy, and a larger edition costing four figures when he retires.
Not that there is any sign of that, because in the last couple of years — free of the tennis elbow injury that had dogged him and had stopped him driving to the offside — he has married the aggression of his youth to the defence of his mid-career.
To become the first to score 100 international centuries — he has 51 in Tests and 48 in one-day internationals, without a rival in sight – would set the seal on his career.
It is the statistics which have turned Tendulkar from famous to immortal: his Indian team-mates Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have played more match-winning Test innings, but Tendulkar has assembled the numbers after his name, like an academician his letters.
The effect of Tendulkar’s preparation in London will be that he is in a happy frame of mind when the rest of the Indian party arrives from the West Indies, and if Tendulkar is happy, then so is the whole Indian dressing-room.
This was not grasped by Greg Chappell when he was India’s coach, publicly criticised Tendulkar and dropped him down the one-day batting order.
His successor, Gary Kirsten, did realise, and almost made giving Tendulkar all the throw-downs that he wanted in practice the central part of his job.
India’s new coach, Duncan Fletcher, is sure to be Kirsten-style rather than Chappell when he meets up with the ‘Little Master’ — a title that will be inadequate if the Indian makes an immortal mark on the landmark occasion at Lord’s.
Tendulkar has...
51: the most Test centuries
48: the most one-day international centuries
14,692: the most runs scored in Tests
18,111: the most runs scored in one-day internationals
6: the most centuries in World Cups
1,894: the record number of runs in ODIs in a calendar year (1998)
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