With hundred centuries and over 34,000 runs in international cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, the highest run-getter in both Tests and ODIs, is the God of the religion called cricket. His exploits on the field have brought hope and joy to millions of fans. And yet, like God, he has his set of detractors always willing to remove him from the pedestal. In this revised and updated edition, the authors, who consider themselves fans and analysts in equal measure, follow the career of the cricketing demigod - his advent, his peak, his fall, his resurrection and, finally, his retirement. They also talk about India's sensational WC 2011 triumph and Tendulkar's decision to retire from international cricket. Armed with irrefutable statistical data, which they contextualize and analyse with rigour, the authors seek to end all debate on Tendulkar's status as the greatest cricketer of the modern era. They compare him with his peers in both forms of the game, and provide the viewpoint of experts, players and commentators, so that the reader can independently draw conclusions. And if you still don't believe that Sachin is God's gift to the world of cricket, well, God help you!

About the Author

VIJAY SANTHANAM was born in Madras. He studied at the University of Roorkee (now Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee) and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. His career spanning twenty-one years included senior marketing roles with Procter & Gamble and BP. Having planned for and happily taken early retirement from corporate life, Vijay is now able to pursue his passions wholeheartedly: writing, teaching, following sports and other interests. His latest book, My Stroke of Luck: Alphabet to Author, was first published by Hay House India in June 2013 while the second edition was published by a Singapore-based publisher, House of Rose Professional, in January 2015. Vijay is also a visiting professor at IIM Lucknow. He is currently based in Guangzhou, China. His Twitter handle is @santhanamvijay SHYAM BALASUBRAMANIAN is a graduate of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad. He spent his childhood in Bombay (now Mumbai) and lived just fifteen minutes away from the Wankhede stadium. His passions are writing, following cricket and decoding game tactics across sports. This book offered him an opportunity to pursue all three areas. He also follows international football and tennis, usually at the expense of sleep. He thinks cricket teams could borrow tactics from some of these sports to win in certain game situations, and thinks that much more rigorous statistical and performance measures can be implemented. He is deeply interested in the 'business' side of sport, including sports franchise profitability and monetization of sports properties.Shyam has two decades of business experience in different parts of the world: India, South-East Asia, UK and the US. His twitter handle is @shyam-bala