Record-breaking Tendulkar eyes elusive WC

India’s star batsman Sachin Tendulkar is heading into a record sixth World Cup, still looking for an elusive title victory to cap his outstanding career.

And he is not alone in that personal search.

Such is status in the sport, having captured all the major batting records in Tests and one-day internationals, his India teammates say they want to win the trophy for him.

Aside from having scored the most runs and centuries in either Test or one-day cricket, Tendulkar is also the most prolific in World Cup history with 1,796 runs in 36 matches. He has also figured in teams that made the final in 2003 and the semifinals in 1996.

Though he didn’t elaborate on the importance of that World Cup trophy to him, the 37-year-old Tendulkar made his feelings clear when he said a recent event in his home city of Mumbai that he still wanted “to achieve something and everyone knows that.”

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni followed up by saying the team would like to win the World Cup for Tendulkar, a comment which triggered much discussion in cricket-mad India.

“That can be the biggest gift from the team to him. We will try to give it our best shot and make it the best World Cup,” said Dhoni, whose views were echoed by several other of the team’s leading lights, Harbhajan Singh, Yusuf Pathan and Virat Kohli.

However, the likes former greats Kapil Dev and Australia’s Steve Waugh were quick to argue that the Indian team’s World Cup should not be about Tendulkar alone.

In all the debate, Tendulkar has remained stoically calm, knowing that big-hitting batsmen like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Pathan and Dhoni also need to prosper.

For though he scores at a brisk pace and last year became the first man to score a double-century in ODIs with an unbeaten 200 against South Africa at Gwalior, he is generally known as a more dependable batsman because of his consistency and lack of inherent weaknesses.

Tendulkar is the only man to have scored 50 Test centuries and is now only three away from a new milestone of 100 international centuries with 47 made in one-dayers.

However, he would rather talk about the results of matches than his contributions.

“My efforts matter only when they help the team win,” he said ahead of the World Cup. “It is too early to speak about the performances of players, as it is all about what kind of form you are in during the tournament and how you peak at the right time.”

Tendulkar has been taking every precaution in the run-up to the event, which opens on Saturday with India’s game against co-host Bangladesh in Dhaka.

He played few one-day matches last year after that double-century and returned midway from a five-match series in South Africa after a hamstring injury.

If he has some happy memories from previous World Cups, there is also the low point of India’s surprise failure at the first hurdle of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

“It is always painful when the team loses, but our early exit in 2007 was particularly disappointing,” he said of a tournament where he was asked by team management to bat at number four rather than in his customary opener’s position.

India’s loss to Bangladesh triggered that early exit and, four years later, he has a chance to make amends on Saturday.

With the presence of several potential matchwinners in its batting lineup and a spin-led bowling attack that can be ruthless on the subcontinent’s slow pitches, India is rightly considered among the World Cup favourites.

Its warmup victories over defending three-time champion Australia and New Zealand have also raised expectations about its chances of claiming a World Cup trophy it last won in 1983.

India will start its campaign in Group B alongside Bangladesh, South Africa, England, West Indies, Ireland and Netherlands, four of whom will advance to the quarterfinals.

Tendulkar knows what is expected of him and with the final on April 2 being played on his home ground in Mumbai, the schedule is teed up perfectly for a fairlytale ending.