'Just being Tendulkar for a day would exhaust most people'

Sachin Tendulkar’s place as one of the greatest players to ever take up the game was never in question, and while according to  The Guardian, news of his retirement brought India to a halt — it also ran as a top news and features item in all cricket-playing nations. Here’s a quick roundup of the best Sachin features in foreign media: - The Guardian’s Andy Bull writes on how Sachin survived pressure of expectation to unite a nation. He also lauds the batsman for his incredible art. It takes 200 milliseconds to judge the ball, 200 milliseconds to decide on the right shot, and then 100 milliseconds to play it. It takes, they say, 150 milliseconds to blink. When you’ve grown so accustomed to watching him bat, it is easy to be blithe about the sheer skill it takes to be so good at such an ostensibly simple act. The cognition, the selection, the execution. It is all done in the time it takes to tap your finger twice on a table. [caption id=“attachment_1166193” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Who wants to be the next Sachin? Everyone. Reuters[/caption] Click here for the full article. - The Daily Mail have a huge feature with photographs, views from other players, an Andrew Strauss interview and a Tendulkar factfile too. Click here to read their cricket lead. - A Geoffrey Boycott and a Michael Vaughan column grace The Telegraph. While the former says that it’s the right time to end his career: “His legacy to cricket is more important than playing on for another year or two. That would not have enhanced his reputation. It would only swell his bank balance and he does not need any more money because he is already one of the richest cricketers ever," Vaughan writes in his piece: “It is like going back to being aged 11. He can be carefree and enjoy his remaining time especially now the 100 hundreds pressure is off his back. Tendulkar has spent a life in front of the lens as the God of Indian cricket. Just being Sachin Tendulkar for a day would exhaust most people.” - Chloe Saltau’s feature in The Sydney Morning Herald is on Sachin retiring as a ‘deity’ of the sport. She starts off by writing:  Australia’s first impression, in 1991, of Sachin Tendulkar was of a beautiful young batsman who made 148 not out at the SCG, in Shane Warne’s first Test. Two matches later, on a lightning pitch in Perth, against a snarling Australian pace attack, the boy who looked even younger than his 19 years, who had been brought up on slow, spinning Indian wickets, showed an astonishing mix of serenity and power to make 114. That night in the dressing room, Merv Hughes predicted Tendulkar would break Allan Border’s Test runs record. Click here to read the full article. - Rob Houwing’s feature on News24 on how South Africa got away lightly when it came to Tendulkar, can be found by clicking here. “Also just a little oddly, Tendulkar has flourished even less against South Africa on benign, often spin-friendly Indian tracks than he has on the bouncier strips of our country… Yet which South African fan of that more instant brand of cricket can contain a wince when recalling his then first-man achievement in scoring a double-century in the 50-overs game against the hapless Proteas at Gwalior in February 2010?" he writes.