Age: 36
Occupation: Cricketer
Previous TIME 100 Appearances: 0
The greatest batsman of his — or arguably any — generation, Tendulkar continues to smash records at an age most cricketers hang up their gloves. In February, he became the first man to score 200 runs in a one-day international, a feat comparable to Roger Bannister's 4-minute mile. Despite being held in reverence by a billion Indians (and in awe by hundreds of millions of cricket fans around the world), Tendulkar has a reputation, rare among sports gods, for humility and self-deprecation.