Profile

India means Sachin and Sachin means India. So how did a shy 16-year-old cricketer come to embody a nation and its hopes and dreams? Sachin Tendulkar's career spanned a period of remarkable change in what is now one of the world's biggest developing economies. As he plays his 200th and final test match, Tim Franks looks at how Sachin's progress mirrored and even inspired India's over a quarter of a century.