The man who hardly needs any introduction.

Sachin Tendulkar seemed destined for greatness from an early age, starring in a world record stand of 664 with friend Vinod Kambli aged 14.

Tendulkar, who turns 43 today, made his Test debut at 16, against Pakistan. And from there on, records started to tumble.

In a career spanning two decades, Tendulkar scored an incredible 100 international centuries, the only player to do so, and amassed more than 33,000 international runs.

Tendulkar was in a league of his own in limited-overs cricket and etched his name in history books in 2000 when he became the first cricketer to score a double century in an ODI – against South Africa.

By the time Tendulkar retired in 2013, he had become the most iconic cricket of India and also the world.

1971: Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lanka’s former off-spinner and World Cup winner, currently an umpire (45).

1976: Steve Finnan, Irish right back who played all four levels of English league football & Football Conference (40).

1977: Ryan Mitchell, Australian swimmer who won 4x100m medley relay silver at Sydney Olympics (39).

1997: Lydia Ko, New Zealand golfer and youngest world No1 in golf (19).