I would say Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest batsman in the history of ODI cricket to date. His records are amazing in the 50 overs game. He holds almost all the major batting records in ODI cricket including the recent 200 not out against South Africa.

The one thing I like most in Sachin Tendulkar is that he can play almost all kind of shots in cricket. Whether it may be a drive shot, coming down the wicket, sweep or reverse sweep, he can play all kind of shots. Also, he plays equally well against both spin and fast bowlers.

I have heard some people saying that he only has sheer volume of runs and he is not a match winner. I don't know on what basis they say like that. I remember that there were days in Indian cricket if India lost Sachin Tendulkar's wicket early, there will not be much score on board. The things have changed over time. Now, the Indian team has a lot of good batsmen. But, still Sachin is one of the top batsmen in the team and he has contributed for India's victory in many matches. The recent 200 against South Africa is an example.

And, I don't think it is easy for someone to broke most of his records in ODI cricket. He has scored 46 centuries in ODI cricket and has scored over 17,000 runs with no one close to him. He was awarded 61 "Player of the Match" awards and 14 "Player of the series" awards. He has never been below 26th rank in ODI cricket since 1992.

Summing up all these things, I can say he is the greatest batsman in the history of ODI cricket.

But in Test cricket, Australian legend Don Bradman has the best records than Sachin Tendulkar. There are also other cricketers like Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara who have best performances in Test matches close to that of Sachin Tendulkar. But, Sachin Tendulkar leads them in many ways including most runs, centuries, etc.

Sachin Tendulkar didn't get the opportunity to play in international Twenty20 cricket after his debut match. If he had played, he may have records in that format also.

Above all, when I think about someone who is playing for more than 20 years in international cricket and still have the same level of fitness & passion and who just love the game, I can't say anything other than that he is the greatest batsman in the history of cricket.

I was not surprised to see the term SachinisGod on Twitter trending topics when he hits the historic 200 runs.