Sachin Tendulkar's 24 years in cricket: 5 sports personalities who achieved similar greatness

So, one of the greatest batsmen the world has ever seen has finally announced his retirement from all forms of the game. Sachin Tendulkar has so many records to his name that it is hard to think they will ever be broken any time soon. But along with the plaudits that he has received, for the best part of a decade he also has had to contend with a lot of people doubting his loyalty and his contributions to Indian cricket.

But it doesn’t matter any more. Whether people like it or not, Sachin has and will always be one of the greatest sportsmen to grace the game.

How does one gauge the greatness of the records that Sachin has made his own over the years? Will there ever be another cricketer who can come close to achieving what he has?

There has perhaps never been any other cricketer who has lasted this long in the game with the same or a better level of performance. Therefore, we decided to take help from similar legends in other sports – legends that were at the top of their game for nearly long as Sachin has been.

Michael Jordan

What Sachin has been to cricket, Michael Jordan has been to the NBA. Instantly recognisable even by those who are not fans of the NBA, Michael Jordan, since his arrival on the scene, became an international star thanks to his performances on the court and was instrumental in the NBA getting an international following.

He made his debut in 1984 for the Chicago Bulls, and it didn’t take long for people to notice that he was a special talent. His defensive game was deemed the best and he quickly became popular for the number of points he kept scoring in every game. He helped his team do the “three-peat”, winning the NBA Championships 3 times in a row – in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Though he retired at the beginning of next season, he couldn’t keep himself away from the game for long, rejoining the Bulls in 1995. He helped them to another “three-peat”, courtesy the championships in 1996, 1997, 1998. Along with the title wins, the number of individual awards that he won is mind boggling!

Michael Schumacher

Formula One has had some great drivers, along with some extraordinary rivalries. But there has not been one dominant racer for an extended period of time. Well, perhaps, other than Michael Schumacher. The German’s time at Ferrari is perhaps the greatest period of domination the sport has ever seen. He won the world championship as many as 7 times, a record, and this included a run from 2000 to 2004, a 5 year period where he was untouchable.

Schumacher has many other records to his name. He’s the driver with the most number of race victories, he has the most number of pole positions, he has the most number of fastest laps, and he has the most number of career points scored. Also, in the 2002 season, he became the only driver in the history of Formula One to finish on the podium in every single race. In the 2004 season, he earned the record of most number of wins in a single season, by winning as many as 13 races. Truly unmatched, Michael Schumacher will live long in the minds of Formula One fans.

Martina Navratilova

Women’s tennis hasn’t seen a greater superstar than Martina Navratilova. There was Steffi Graf, there is Serena Williams, but neither can come close to what Navratilova has achieved in her career in all forms of tennis – singles, doubles and mixed doubles. In fact, she’s so good that she was even winning titles close to her 50th birthday, even if it was the mixed doubles title.

In total, she won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam doubles titles and 10 mixed doubles Grand Slams. And to add further to her legacy, 9 of the singles titles (Grand Slams) that she won came on the hallowed courts of Wimbledon.

Pele

To score more than a 1000 goals in your entire career is the stuff of legends, and Pele is definitely one. In a career spanning 21 years, he has scored as many as 1281 goals for both club and country. These goals came in a total of 1363 matches that he played for Brazil, Santos and the New York Cosmos.

With FIFA awarding the 1962 World Cup medal to him retroactively, he became the only player in the history of the game to have won three World Cups as a player. He is Brazil’s highest goal scorer, with a total of 95. He is one of the most popular ambassadors of the sport and is one person that even a non-football person would very easily identify.

Sergey Bubka

It is very rare for an athlete to dominate track and field events, especially something like pole vault. The margin for error is very minute, with even a slight deviation meaning failure. The technique needs to be perfect, and one needs to have confidence in one’s own ability when increasing the height.

Sergey Bubka did all that and more. In fact, he dominated the field so much that he broke the world record a total of 35 times in his 20 year career. That just shows you how completely he was on top of his game! Add to this the fact that he won 6 IAAF championships on the trot as well as the gold medal at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. We may never see another pole-vaulter achieve this kind of greatness ever again!

Which other sportspersons’ achievements do you think are on par with Sachin’s achievements in cricket? Let us know in the comments below!