LONDON – Sachin Tendulkar has been named Wisden’s Cricketer of the Year for 2010, crowning a golden month for “the little master” which also saw him play a starring role in India’s World Cup triumph.
Tendulkar’s honour from the cricketing bible means India has won the accolade three years running following the back-to-back awards for Virender Sehwag in each of the previous two years.
It follows another prolific run-scoring year for the 37-year-old, who rattled off more than 1,500 Test runs including seven Test hundreds, including a record 50th overall, in 2010.
Tendulkar is also on the brink of hitting 100 international centuries, currently on 99. He also became the first player to hit a double-century in a one-day international.
“Wisden acknowledges his greatness by naming him as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2010,” Tendulkar’s citation in Wisden read.
Tendulkar’s batting also saw him earn a spot in Wisden’s 2010 Test XI, along with fellow Indians Sehwag, V. V. S. Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Zaheer Khan.
Other players to feature in the world XI were England off-spinner Graeme Swann and fast bowler James Anderson, South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis and paceman Dale Steyn, Bangladesh’s opener Tamim Iqbal, and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara.
However for the first time, no Australian has been included in the all-star line-up.
