Sachin Tendulkar added one more to his already bulging cap of feathers when he was named Wisden's leading cricketer in the world for 2010. Tendulkar enjoyed what was even by his standards an outstanding year in 2010, hitting over 1500 Test runs with 7 hundreds. He also went past the previously unthinkable mark of 50 Test match hundreds in 2010. In ODIs, he became the first batsman to hit the 200-run mark, doing it against the might of the South African attack.
The master batsman, who began this month with what he described as his proudest moment when he helped India win the World Cup on his home ground in Mumbai, is the seventh recipient of the Wisden award.
Unlike the winners of Wisden's coveted five cricketers of the year, it is possible to be named the world's best in the almanack more than once - and Tendulkar made it an Indian hat-trick, after Test opener Virender Sehwag took the honour in each of the last two years.
Tendulkar's citation concludes: "Wisden acknowledges his greatness by naming him as the leading cricketer in the world for 2010."
Alongwith naming its leading cricketer, Wisden also named its World Test Eleven for 2010. He has been pencilled in at his usual Number Four spot, with Sehwag picked as one of the openers. The other opener was Tamim Iqbal. The Bangladesh left-hander is also named one of the cricketers of the year, this year commuted to four rather than five as Wisden announced last week.
Tamim is the first from his country to receive the accolade, and shares it with England batsman Eoin Morgan - breaking new ground for his native Ireland - the prolific Jonathan Trott and Chris Read - County Champions Nottinghamshire's captain and wicketkeeper-batsman.
The World Test XI was dominated by Indians with VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni and Zaheer Khan also part of it alongwith Sehwag and Tendulkar. Laxman played what was possibly the knock of the year when he took India to a one-wicket win over Australia in Mohali and rarely put a foot wrong through the year. Zaheer Khan was outstanding for India and the single biggest bowling factor in their maintenance of the top spot.
The world team also contains two of England's 2010/11 Ashes heroes, off-spinner Graeme Swann and fast bowler James Anderson. Also, for the first time in the short history of the Wisden Test XI, there is no room for an Australian.
The Wisden Test XI: Virender Sehwag (India), Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Jacques Kallis (South Africa), VVS Laxman (India), MS Dhoni (India, capt & wk), Graeme Swann (England), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Zaheer Khan (India), James Anderson (England).
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