NEW DELHI (AP) – The most prolific batsman in international cricket history is retiring.
Sachin Tendulkar – revered more than any athlete in India, where cricket overshadows all sports – said today he is leaving the game next month after playing two more Test matches against the West Indies.
His 200th Test match will be his last.
At 5-foot-5, the 40-year-old Tendulkar is known as the Little Master. He is widely regarded as cricket’s greatest batsman since Donald Bradman, the Australian great who played in the 1930s and ‘40s.
Having made his Test debut for India in 1989 at age 16, Tendulkar has scored 15 837 runs in 198 Tests and 18 426 runs in 463 One-Day Internationals. He is the only batsman to score a century – 100 runs in an innings – 100 times across both formats.
“All my life, I have had a dream of playing cricket for India,” Tendulkar said in a statement. “I have been living this dream every day for the last 24 years. It’s hard for me to imagine a life without playing cricket because it’s all I have ever done since I was 11 years old.”
