He came into the Bombay team at the age of 15, and into the Test team a year later. He was at this time a schoolboy, and still looked like one. But he had a remarkably calm temperament, and an extraordinary versatility of strokeplay. When he felt the time was ripe, he could attack the bowlers with a brutality and power I have never seen in any other Indian batsman in the last 40-odd years. Tendulkar, like Gavaskar, is a short man, but then, one may remember if one reads cricket history, so was 'The Croucher', Gilbert Jessop, who was probably the greatest hitter of all times. If one looks at his old photographs one can see The Croucher's physical resemblance to Tendulkar. Jessop, like Tendulkar, had broad shoulders for his height, was thick through the hips, and had longish arms. With the assistance of these, he made the fastest century in Test history at the Oval in 1902, hammering 104 in 75 minutes against one of the most powerful Australian attacks ever.