Sachin Tendulkar defeated the internet today. Cricinfo wouldn’t refresh its live scoreboard for 10 agonising minutes when Sachin reached 199. The BBC scoreboard went down. It was only on Twitter, where variations of Sachin, Tendulkar and God dominated the trending topics, that I found out that he had made the first double hundred in ODI history.

These innings, and the last 12 months of Sachin’s career, would seem to confirm that he is the greatest batsman of his time (his time being the last 21 years). If longevity is the measure of greatness than Sachin has no peer. For consistency he is matched only by Ricky Ponting.

To be called the greatest though, a sportsman needs a certain indescribable quality that allows him to transcend his sport. Muhammad Ali is the not greatest boxer of all time if results and technique are your sole criterion. Yet it would be ridiculous to leave him off a list of the 10 greatest sportsmen of all time.

There is no arguing that Sachin Tendulkar has greatness in him, but not as much as Brian Lara, I would argue. Not one Tendulkar innings would match up to, say, the three best innings played by Lara (caveat: I am referring only to Test, or real, cricket). While Tendulkar’s career has progressed in a straight line, Lara has zigzagged and yet it is the West Indian who repeatedly showed his greatness by winning Test matches single-handedly. Even more important, he did so with a panache and style that Tendulkar, steady and dependable Tendulkar, lacks.