Tendulkar retires from ODIs

Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday announced his retirement from international one-day cricket after scoring a record-breaking 49 centuries in the 50-over format.

The 39-year-oldis the world's top run-getter in one-day cricket, with 18,426 runs from 463 matches at an average of 44.83.

"I have decided to retire from the one-day format of the game," he said in a statement.

"I feel blessed to have fulfilled the dream of being part of a World Cup winning Indian team (in 2011).

"I am eternally grateful to all my well-wishers for their unconditional support and love over the years." Tendulkar, who is also the highest scorer in Tests, said that he was quitting to allow the Indian selectors to build a team for the 2015 World Cup which is being held in Australia and New Zealand.

"The preparatory process to defend the World Cup in 2015 should begin early... I would like to wish the team all the very best for the future," he said.

Tendulkar, who has been dubbed the "Little Master", made his one-day debut aged 16 in Gujranwala on a tour of Pakistan in 1989. He lasted just two deliveries before being dismissed by Waqar Younis without scoring.

But in what turned out to be his last two one-day innings, during the Asia Cup in Dhaka in March, he made 114 against Bangladesh to record his 100th international century and then scored 52 against Pakistan.

He played in six World Cups since 1992 and finally found success in his last appearance in the tournament when India defeated Sri Lanka in the final in Tendulkar's home city of Mumbai on April 2, 2011.

He was carried off the pitch at the end of the game on the shoulders of his team-mates.

Tendulkar was two months away from his 37th birthday when he smashed the first-ever double century in the history of one-day internationals, making an unbeaten 200 against South Africa in Gwalior in February, 2010.

It was unclear if he will continue to play Test cricket, where he has scored a record 15,645 runs in 194 matches at an average of 54.32 with 51 centuries.

Tendulkar is also the star batsman for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL), a domestic Twenty20 tournament.

Tendulkar was part of a famed Indian middle order which included Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Venkatsai Laxman -- all of whom have now retired from all levels of the game.

His announcement on Sunday comes only weeks after Ricky Ponting, second only to Tendulkar in the list of highest run scorers in Test cricket, played his last match for Australia.

Tendulkar, a record-setting batting 'god'

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting once said that he would probably be batting in a wheelchair if he survived in world cricket as long as Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar spent 23 years at the crease in the one-day game before retiring from 50 over cricket on Sunday with a record unlikely to be matched.

The 39-year-old amassed a record 18,426 runs in 463 one-dayers with 49 centuries. South African Jacques Kallis is his nearest active contemporary with 11,498 runs and 17 hundreds.

"I think he is an amazing player," Ponting once said.

"You look at his records, and they are quite incredible. And to think that someone can stay in the game for 20 years is pretty remarkable as well." Feared and respected by opponents, Tendulkar changed the definition of Indian batting, shrewdly combining orthodox and unorthodox shots to dominate any attack on any surface at home or abroad.

He brought not only flair and flamboyance, but also aggression to Indian batting, doing away with the days of the defensive approach with his attractive stroke-making against both pace and spin. Legendary India opener Sunil Gavaskar, the first batsman to complete 10,000 Test runs, said he was convinced Tendulkar would achieve greatness when he first saw him bat in the nets more than two decades ago.

"It is hard to imagine any player in the history of the game who combines classical technique with raw aggression like the little champion does. There is not a single shot he cannot play," he said.

Tendulkar shattered batting records, earned millions of dollars and was revered as a demi-god by his fans, but humility remained his prime virtue. If there was any arrogance, it was only in his batting because he loved to dominate bowling with exciting and aggressive strokeplay, always putting the team's interests first in a glorious career.

As he helped India rise steadily in both Test and one-day cricket, his refrain was often that "I never play for records" or that "individual delight fades before a team's celebration".

"The way he conducts himself and handles fame and everything that goes with being Sachin is a great example for all sportsmen," Australian leg-spin great Shane Warne wrote in his book "Shane Warne's century".

"On the field, he has never put himself before the team." Technically sound, temperamentally unflappable, quick to adapt to different conditions and a shrewd judge of line and length, Tendulkar came very close to batting perfection. Tendulkar earned the sobriquet of "Master Blaster" for the audacious batting in the first decade of his career before becoming more selective in his shot-making following injuries to his elbow, back and ankle. Such was his stature that his failures were as hotly debated as his successes and when he missed a match due to an injury his medical bulletins became a national obsession.

Australia's Don Bradman, widely considered the greatest Test batsman of all time, once said Tendulkar's style of batting reminded him of his own, which was based on dominating and demoralising the opposition.

That Tendulkar will still be available for India in Test cricket will come as a relief for team-mates and fans alike despite his lean streak in recent months.