There are few accolades missing from Sachin Tendulkar's overflowing trophy collection but a World Cup winner's medal is one.
Widely regarded as the world's best batsman, India's sporting icon has routinely broken one record after another since winning his first call-up as a fresh-faced teenager in 1989.
Tendulkar has dominated bowling attacks around the world with power and technical finesse, his shot-making often compared with Don Bradman, even by the late Australian himself.
The carnage started at school when he scored 326 not out as he put on 664 runs with Vinod Kambli, also a future India Test player.
Pundits predicted he would go on to break every batting record and Tendulkar continues to prove them right.
He already holds the world record for most one-day centuries (33) and runs (11,546), after becoming the first man to pass the 10,000 mark in the shorter version of the game.
His 31 Test hundreds have been bettered only by compatriot Sunil Gavaskar's 34. His total of 8,811 Test runs is also rapidly creeping towards Gavaskar's 10,122.
MAIDEN TEST
The youngest Indian to play Tests at the age of 16, he notched his maiden Test hundred a year later, scoring 119 not out against England at Old Trafford.
In 1990, he was chosen as the first overseas player to represent English county Yorkshire.
He was already a major draw in world cricket when he was promoted to open in one-dayers on a 1994 tour of New Zealand, a move which pitch-forked him to the top of the shorter version of the game.
His aggression was tailor-made for one-day cricket as he finished the 1996 World Cup as the top run-getter (523).
But Tendulkar could not translate the respect earned as the team's best batsman into success in his two spells as captain.
His first in 1996 lasted only 17 months before he was sacked as his personal form slumped. He took over again in 1999 only to opt out of the coveted post the next year following a wretched tour of Australia where India were trounced 3-0.
But his relentless batting exploits continued.
Some of his most memorable moments have come against Australian leg-spin great Shane Warne, who said he was reduced to having nightmares after being dominated by Tendulkar in the 1997-98 tour of India. Warne took eight wickets at great cost in three Tests.
Tendulkar equalled Bradman's 29 Test centuries by scoring 117 at Port of Spain in April last year against West Indies as India won their first Test in the Caribbean in more than 26 years.
Two ducks followed before normal service was resumed when he scored a match-winning 193 against England in the third Test at Headingley in August 2002.
Tendulkar revealed a new, more measured approach in 2002 by cutting out on risks.
PUBLIC DISGUISE
An intense player when on the pitch, Tendulkar jealously guards his privacy off it. His immense popularity has forced him to go out in public in disguise to avoid being mobbed.
In the last three years, there have been a series of fitness problems mainly attributed to wear and tear and which have kept him out of many one-dayers.
He has dropped down the order to lend solidity to the middle order which often used to underperform under pressure.
Tendulkar's preparation for his fourth World Cup has been far from ideal, however, and he managed only two runs in three one-day innings following an ankle injury.
But that will only add to the determination of a batsman who returned to the 1999 World Cup a day after his father's funeral to hit a match-winning 140 against Kenya.
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