The Little Master could not have designed a more apposite tribute to his 20 years in the game than his stupendous innings of 175 last week. He has had this way of reinventing himself as he has careened along on a two-decade journey, redesigning his approach, adding some shots and subtracting others while all the time maintaining his preeminence at the crease.

Genius has this way of opening a tap of talent as it were and letting it flow. That is what happened on the night the Aussies set that impossible-looking 351 as a target. To shed early diffidence and get the seven runs to 17,000 out of the way may have consumed a few deliveries. But, from there on, it was a batting masterclass all the way.

Sachin's bat seemed all middle as he played the ball later and later in what was, perhaps, a sign of the times in a man steeped now in the ultimate wisdom of batsmanship. Even at 36, that impish sense of delight at bringing off the paddle sweep, the scoop or the deliberate late cut or off glide was testimony to his spirit.

It is in the preservation of the freshness of the spirit behind his batting that sets apart the likes of Sachin and Ponting, who is eternally chasing Tendulkar landmarks, so far apart from the others. It is the innate creativity that enables them to be so innovative even as all conceivable records, in run accumulation as well as in longevity, keep falling by the wayside.

Ponting himself was left in wonderment as he saw Sachin take on the target with the kind of single-minded devotion he had shown some dozen years ago in Sharjah. In that tournament we had begun to believe that had Sachin wanted he would have made even the sandstorm go away, as it indeed seemed to after his innings in the preliminary game against Australia had been interrupted for a while.

So complete was his mastery then, as it is now. It's a remarkable story of endurance without any drop in quality. In fact, if anything, the quality has gone up in terms of all parameters, including choice of strokes despite the ravages of age and the wear and tear of a long career in the rough and tumble of international sport.

Also, remarkably, Sachin seemed to accelerate every time he lost a batting partner. This was where he resembled the Sachin of old, well prepared to finish a task all on his own. A pity then that such a fantastic innings must find a tame end in one innovation too many by way of an overeager scoop-pull stroke. But then, how do you blame a batsman for playing strokes in the face of a climbing asking rate?

Sachin will be quite the toast of the nation as the 20th anniversary of his Test debut nears. The coming Sunday should be memorable as India rises to toast one of its most loved sportsmen, a man who always swore by the team ethic and who kept himself completely free of the kind of prurient controversies that tended to enmesh very rich, global sportspeople.

In maintaining his clean as well as his high sporting performance Sachin has raised the bar so much for Indian cricket and Indian sport. He is going to be a hard act to follow, especially for GenNext that has success in the form of riches ready on a platter thanks to the IPL. It is doubtful if any of them can sustain the standards of excellence and good conduct of a major national icon.