The master blaster, who turns 38 today, is not only scaling heights in his game but also in the popularity list among top sportsmen. He is set to break the twitter record for maximum followers.
Tendulkar has already crossed the one million mark for followers. As of yesterday he was being followed by 1,010,515 fans and is a follower of only eight people.
Among the eight, three are his India colleagues — Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan.
With a passion for racing cars, Tendulkar also follows auto guru Hormazd Sorabjee and Indian Formula One star Narain Karthikeyan. Among other celebrities, he follows Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and photographer Atul Kasbekar.
After winning the World Cup, his last tweet before his birthday said: "I am praying for Sri Sathya Sai Baba's quick recovery. Hope everyone will join me in prayers for his return to good health."
Tendulkar joined Twitter on May 4 last year. Usually he celebrates his birthday privately in Mumbai with wife Anjali and their two children, but today he is busy with his Indian Premier League commitments in Hyderabad, taking on the Deccan Chargers.
Celebratory cake
All tickets for the match at the Uppal Stadium have been sold and according to information from Hyderabad, the Sachin Fans Association will bring a 39kg cake into the stands to cut up and celebrate their hero's birthday.
The Mumbai Indians are also planning to ask Tendulkar to cut a cake before the start of the match.
In Mumbai, there are a group of fans who celebrate his birthday every year. During the World Cup final, this group, who are like a walking encyclopaedia on Tendulkar, were present at the Wankhede Stadium.
Meet them and they are ready to reel out many little known facts about the master blaster — like how many fours he hit in his century for Mumbai, or how Tendulkar, in 1987, went to MRF Pace Foundation and met Dennis Lillee with a request to make him a fast bowler. They will even tell you the date when Tendulkar fielded for Pakistan as a substitute during a one-day practice match at the Brabourne Stadium in 1988.
In 2009, the year the IPL was held in South Africa, Tendulkar celebrated his birthday with the Mumbai Indians team in Durban.
His teammates, after getting him to cut the cake, smeared it all over his face. Tendulkar said at the time: "I feel like 16. It is the good wishes and blessings that count."
At 38, he is batting with the enthusiasm of a teenager.
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