This title aptly suits this great little master, who over the years have enthralled millions of people across the world with his amazing talent. His passion for and commitment to the game is unquestionable and he has always given his best to the team. Still, there are some people who say and will say that he fails to perform under pressure more often than not. They often compare him with Lara and Ponting, a few batsmen who come close to this batting wizard, saying Tendulkar doesn't stand up when the team needs him badly.

No doubt, he has succumbed to high pressure situations on a number of occassions and let his fans down, especially in the longer version of the sport. Rahul Dravid might have played more number of important and decisive innings than the little master and contributed heavily whenever India won a test match overseas.

Still Sachin has played some memorable innings in his illustrious career spanning more than 16 years- 148* at Sydney in 1991-92, pain-filled 136 against Pakistan in Chennai, 155* against Australia at Chepauk, 169 at Cape Town against SAF where he was fighiting against all odds, his comeback 241* at Sydney, etc. - which many batsmen would love to have against their names. Sachin has not played an innings like VVS Laxman's marathon at Kolkata (though his Chennai innings against Pakistan comes close to this) and I would agree with this. But Laxman's was once in a life-time innings and hope Sachin plays one such innings before bidding adieu.

Still Sachin is above all. He is still a special talent, a batsman from a totally different world. First, Sachin is not in the same league as Jaffer, Ganguly, Laxman, Ponting, Lara and even The Wall. Every time he goes out to bat, along with him come huge expectations of millions of people and his team mates, his own mountainous statistics and of course the position of his team (which is often in trouble given no consistent openers during the last decade). Never forget this is also true for Rahul Dravid, whom yours truly considers one of the best batsmen in the history of Test cricket.

The pressure Sachin has been handling since the mid-nineties is simply unbelivable. Never in his career did Sachin showed signs of frustration or anger in public. He was teased and tormented during India's tour of Australia in 1999-00 and had a forgettable tour of South Africa in 1996-97. During both the tours, he was the captain handling mediocre Indian teams. Not many would have come out of such trauma but Tendulkar came through with flying colours and importantly he is still serving the game.

Lara and Ponting come closer to Sachin but they are not as consistent as him. Of course, Ponting is in a form of his life during the last two years but has a strong team. But Sachin is altogether a different story. Support has come to him only during the last two-three years.

Regarding one-day cricket, he is the best and will remain the same for decades to come. We couldn't watch Sir Don Bradman or Sir Garfield Sobers or Ranjit Singhji play but we are lucky that the maestro belongs to our generation.

Finally, for all who believe Sachin should retire, my advice is to keep quiet and enjoy the craftsman at work. He has still got 3-4 years of cricket left in him.