Representing India the absolute honour: Tendulkar

Hyderabad: After becoming the first player in the history of cricket to gather 17,000 runs, Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar today said that he was glad to have the honour of representing the country in international arena for 20 years.

Tendulkar, who was chasing the milestone from the onset of the series against Australia, achieved the feat during his 141-ball 175, which he made for a losing cause.

"It`s the passion of representing India in international cricket that keep me motivated all the time. It`s always a dream to play for my country. I am absolutely honoured to do that for the last 20 years," Tendulkar said after the fifth one-dayer here today.

However, Tendulkar was quite disappointed after losing the crucial game to Australia by only three runs.

"We started off very well, there was a good partnership between Suresh (Raina) and me at one point of time. But we lost few crucial wickets and also the game itself. So it`s disappointing at the end of the day," Tendulkar said.

The Mumbai cricketer also praised young Suresh Raina, who scored run-a-ball 59 to make the battle interesting and shared a 137-run fifth wicket partnership with the batting maestro.

"Suresh is a terrific talent. We were trying to push the game as close as possible. We were chasing a big target, there was constant pressure on us, but we managed it well to bring the match quite close," Tendulkar said after being adjudged Man of the Match.

Tendulkar`s pile of runs now stands at 17,168 at an average of over 44. He has 45 ODI hundreds under his belt. Sri Lanka`s Sanath Jayasuriya is the second in the list with 13,377 while Australian skipper Ricky Ponting is way behind with 12,241 runs under his belt.

Rated as the world`s best batsman after Australian legend Sir Donald Bradman, Tendulkar has an awe-inspiring Test record.

In the whopping 159 matches that he has played, Tendulkar has scored 12,773 runs at an average of 54.58.

The break-up of Tendulkar`s run tally against various opponents:

2995 in 66 v Australia

1335 in 36 v England

1750 in 42 v New Zealand

2389 in 67 v Pakistan

1655 in 52 v South Africa

2749 in 74 v Sri Lanka,

1571 in 38 v West Indies

1377 in 34 v Zimbabwe,

354 in 10 matches v Bangladesh

57 in 1 v Bermuda

4 in 1 v Ireland

647 in 10 v Kenya

152 in 1 v Namibia

52 in 1 v Netherlands

81 in 2 v UAE

Bureau Report