Many an adjective has been used to describe Sachin Tendulkar in a career spanning more than two decades and England skipper Andrew Strauss on Saturday added another one, calling him a mammoth of world cricket.
Tendulkar remains a thorn in the flesh for the rival teams globally and Strauss said his consistency for the last 22 years showed how prepared he is going into their Group B match of the World Cup here on Sunday.
"He is one of the mammoths of world cricket for the last two decades," Strauss told reporters ahead of England's clash with India on Sunday.
"The fact that he has been doing that for so long and so consistently is a great testament to his preparations," he added.
For a man, who holds virtually every key batting record and is dreaded by bowlers world over, Tendulkar remains a big threat and England will be trying to find ways to contain the iconic batsman.
Tendulkar could add only 64 runs in three matches in the 2007 World Cup, where India were knocked out in the first round and the senior batsman would look to make amends as it probably is his last World Cup.
Strauss also acknowledged that there is hardly any negative point in Tendulkar and said he is a true legend.
"There are normally no negative words that you can say about Tendulkar. He is absolutely a great legend," Strauss said.
Tendulkar made 50s on 17 occasions including seven times in the 2003 World Cup and was honoured for making most runs (673) in 2003. He also remains at the top for making most consecutive 50s in World Cups -- four each in successive matches in 1996 and 2003.
Tendulkar has also scored 50 plus runs in most consecutive innings in two world cups.
Tendulkar holds the record of most career runs at 17,657, highest individual score of 200, most matches (444), most 100s (46), most 100s against any one team -- nine against Australia, most 50s (93) and most boundaries (1,929).
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