All-time combined India-Australia Test XI

#5 Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar was one of the finest ever to have played the game

Sachin Tendulkar was the most complete batsman of all time. He was a prolific run getter and arguably the biggest cricketing icon the game has ever seen.

His batting was all about the perfect balance, precision in stroke-making and anticipation, which are gifts given to geniuses. Above all, Tendulkar could score all around the wicket and adapt to different pitches and conditions.

He was equally adept at scoring a quickfire 50-ball hundred and then blocking 30 balls in a row for the need of his team.

The sight of him dancing down the track and lofting the likes of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath over the top is still one of my fondest memories in cricket. One of his greatest ever innings too came against the Australians at Perth, when as a 19-year-old he smashed a century.

A few years later he received the ultimate compliment from the ultimate batsman: Don Bradman confided to his wife that Tendulkar reminded him of himself.

For the record, Tendulkar scored 15,921 runs from 200 Test matches at an average of 53.78.