Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has become the highest run-getter in Test match cricket. He achieved the feat during the Mohali Test of the ongoing series between India and Australia.

Sachin Tendulkar has sharp reflexes and nifty footwork. His timing is superb, and the way he places the ball into gaps with a free-flowing bat is a visual treat. His shot selection is no ordinary either. Tendulkar's copybook follow-through too is worth watching. The great batsman works hard to keep the scoreboard ticking, making his opponents feel edgy all the time. He is the backbone of Indian batting.

Having a rich array of shots - both sides of the wicket - makes it quite tricky for the opposition captain to set a field that can restrict Tendulkar. His impregnable defence also keeps the Indian dressing room optimistic all the time. Does he have weaknesses? It is very difficult to spot. Perhaps, the hook shot, which he generally avoids.

Summarising the characteristics of a player of Tendulkar's class may not be possible, yet it can be said that the Mumbai-born cricketer has enthralled cricket followers in India and across the globe with his extremely delightful batting display against top teams ever since he made his Test debut against Pakistan in November 1989 at Karachi.

In a highly illustrious career dotted with sporadic fitness problems and captaincy failures — amid pressures of non-stop international cricket, media spotlight and not to mention cricket-crazy Indians' expectations — Tendulkar has given top-quality batting a new dimension.

The 35-year-old man, having played a record 152 Test matches for his country, on his way to surpassing Brian Lara's tally of 11,953 runs, has made a world record with 39 centuries.

If the right-handed batsman has maintained a healthy batting average of 54.17 after around two decades of high-level cricket, the 5ft-5inch Tendulkar has also retained a tremendous record against Australia, the world's top Test team.

Facing top guns like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, followed by a speedy Brett Lee, the diminutive Tendulkar has piled 2,502 runs at an average of 55.60 against the Aussies with nine centuries and 10 half-centuries (by the time India's first innings ended in Mohali Test). The point to note here is that six of the said hundreds have been scored in Australia, generally considered a hunting ground for pace bowlers. Following two centuries in his maiden Test trip Down Under in 1991-92, Tendulkar had highly productive results in his first-ever home series against Australia, who at that time had Warne and McGrath in its squad. The master batsman's unbeaten 241 in the 2004 Sydney Test remains his best effort against Australia.

Does Sachin Tendulkar have weaknesses? It is very difficult to say. Perhaps, the hook shot, which he generally avoids.

Ironically, Tendulkar's Test best continues to be his undefeated 248 against the minnows Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2004. Nevertheless, the rock-solid performer, who took 10 years to post his first Test double century (217) — which he scored against New Zealand in 1999 at Ahmedabad — holds pretty impressive Test batting records against England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. Though his performances against South Africa and archrivals Pakistan lack consistency, he has played some great knocks against both nations. The 194 not out against Pakistan in Multan (2004) was a top-notch innings while his all three tons against South Africa came in their backyard.

Tendulkar, at different stages of his career, has been compared with the big guns of his time like Lara, Inzamamul Haq and Ricky Ponting. Some critics rate Lara above Tendulkar. Some even say Inzamam controlled his nerves in crunch situations better than Tendulkar.

It is also said that when it comes to under-pressure-batting, former Australian captain Steve Waugh, who lifted Australian cricket to new heights in the mid 1990s, has a clear edge over Tendulkar.

Ricky Ponting has played many timely knocks in his career. Ponting's visibly better skills against top class fast bowling also gives him a slight advantage over Mumbai's little master who got his very first golden duck in Test cricket at Kolkata in 1999 when Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar uprooted his middle stump with an awesome in-swinging yorker.

That Ponting has also been leading the world's top Test side for the last several years and performing consistently in the batting department is another plus for the Aussie captain.

However, at the end of the day, one should not forget that collecting more than 12,000 runs in Test matches, apart from accumulating 16,361 runs in 417 One-Day Internationals is no mean feat.