Sachin Tendulkar and Off-Spinners.

It is debatable whether Sachin Tendulkar has been at the wrong end of leg-before-wicket dismissals in his long and illustrious playing career. However, the 'God of Cricket' is certainly not invincible when it comes to being out LBW to off spin. It was way back in 1989 when Tendulkar was the first time he was dismissed in this manner to an unheralded Sri Lankan off-spinner Ranjith Madurasinghe. Nearly 25 years later, off-spin still troubles world cricket's most celebrated player.

Playing his penultimate and 199th Test, Tendulkar was adjudged LBW to Shane Shillingford by umpire Nigel Llong after scoring 10. The ball struck Tendulkar on his back leg and the replays showed that it would have gone over the stumps. Many feel that more than this 'controversial' decision, it is the way in which Tendulkar was foxed by Shillingford's 'doosra' that got the better of the Master Blaster.

Tendulkar is not a stranger to being out LBW. In fact, he holds the record for being out that way most in Test cricket - 63 times. Incidentally history suggests that it is the late spin on many occasions that makes Tendulkar fallible to this mode of dismissal.

In his previous outing in whites for India, Tendulkar was out LBW to another off-spinner, not once, but twice in a single day when Nathan Lyon got him in the fourth and final Test against Australia on March 22 in Delhi earlier this year.

If we go deeper into what the statistics say, Tendulkar has not gone past 32 whenever he has been dismissed LBW by a frontline off-spinner, barring a 109 against Sri Lanka when he was adjudged despite a Muttiah Muralitharan ball pitching outside leg stump in New Delhi in 2005. This suggests that if Tendulkar is the new man in to bat, the opposition captain has a chance to get him out if he employs his main off-spinner into the attack.

Twelve out of the 63 instances, Tendulkar has been dismissed LBW by an off-spinner. The list of leading off-spinners apart from Muralitharan, who have dismissed Tendulkar includes Pakistan's spin guru Saqlain Mushtaq and England's Graeme Swann. Saqlain was the first Pakistan spin bowler to get Sachin out LBW in the Delhi Test in 1999.

Interestingly, it was Saqlain's words of wisdom that helped Shillingford execute his spin plans in his spell of 6 for 167 in the Kolkata Test. Known to be the inventor of the 'doosra', Saqlain recently conducted a clinic in Barbados prior to West Indies' departure for India tour and revealed all the knowledge he had about the Little Master.

"I've told them everything I know about Sachin. I told them about Indian conditions and the pace you should bowl at. You can't predict what'll happen in the match. The Windies boys are more than capable of troubling Sachin. It will be a good contest," Saqlain told an Indian newspaper before the start of the Test series.

And it proved an excellent contest between Tendulkar and Shillingford. The former was initially at ease against the latter's discomforting off-breaks. Tendulkar even dispatched Shillingford for two back-to-back fours either side of mid-wicket on a second-day Eden wicket. However, the iconic Indian, who is shy of 16,000 Test runs by 153, did look a tad uncomfortable against the off-spinner's 'doosras'. When Sachin lunged forward, the bounce and trajectory would peg him back.

With Tendulkar's history of getting out LBW to off-spinners against him, his farewell 200th Test is likely to throw up an enticing tussle between 'God' and spin.

Sachin Tendulkar, a hero

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting once said that he would probably be batting in a wheelchair if he survived in world cricket as long as Sachin Tendulkar.

The "Master Blaster" finally announced on Thursday that he was hanging up his boots after a 24-year international career which began with his debut in Pakistan in November 1989.
Feared and respected by opponents, Tendulkar changed the definition of Indian batting, shrewdly combining orthodox and unorthodox shots to dominate any attack on any surface at home or abroad.

As one of the game's greatest players, he has the most runs (15,837) and centuries (51) in Test cricket and was also the highest run-maker (18,426) with a record 49 hundreds in the one-day game, which he stopped playing last year.

The married father-of-two, 40, has scored an unprecedented 100 international centuries, holds most coveted batting records except Don Bradman's career average high of 99.94, and finally won the World Cup with India in 2011.

Legendary India opener Sunil Gavaskar, the first batsman to complete 10,000 Test runs, said he was convinced the 1.65-metre (5 foot, 5 inches) batsman would achieve greatness when he first saw him bat in the nets more than two decades ago.

"It is hard to imagine any player in the history of the game who combines classical technique with raw aggression like the little champion does. There is not a single shot he cannot play," he said.

Tendulkar shattered batting records, earned millions of dollars and was revered as a demi-god in India and particularly at home in Mumbai. But in the eyes of many fans, humility remains his prime virtue.

If there was any arrogance, it was in his batting because he loved to dominate bowlers before injuries to his elbow, back and ankle forced him to adapt his game in the latter years of his career.

"The way he conducts himself and handles fame and everything that goes with being Sachin is a great example for all sportsmen," Australian leg-spin great Shane Warne wrote in his book "Shane Warne's century".

"On the field, he has never put himself before the team."

Technically sound, temperamentally unflappable, quick to adapt to different conditions, Tendulkar came very close to batting perfection in his pomp.

He also became an unrivalled source of pride in a country with few international sporting heroes, capitalising on his status with commercial deals to advertise cement, watches, sportswear and apartments among others.

While little is shared about his private life, he is known as a fast-car enthusiast once reported to take his beloved Ferrari out in the early hours of the morning to beat the traffic in his native Mumbai.

Australia's Don Bradman, widely considered the greatest Test batsman of all time, once said Tendulkar's style of batting reminded him of his own, which was based on dominating and demoralising the opposition.

Under the guidance of his elder brother and to the bemusement of his late father, a college professor, Tendulkar spent hours honing his skills as a boy along with hundreds of others on a busy park known as the Oval Maidan in central Mumbai.

Like West Indian great Brian Lara, who holds the records for highest Test scores, he did not take to captaincy during his career, having had two brief stints which seemed to distract him from his batting.

The last few years have been marked by a steady decline, with commentators openly questioning his eyesight and voicing opinions that would once have been heretical -- that Sachin was no longer worth his place in the team.