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The world his oyster

Reuters/AFP, Johannesburg
Sachin Tendulkar is on the verge of being named the player of the World Cup, but the maestro would rather hold the silverware instead.
"Winning for India is more important than any record or award," the record-breaking batsman has always insisted.
India are two matches away from winning the title after a gap of 20 years and few players have contributed so much to a team's success as the 29-year-old.
Tendulkar has lived up to his reputation as the most prolific batsman of our times by scoring a record 586 runs in the nine matches so far, breaking his own World Cup record of 523 set in 1996.
He has almost single-handedly inspired India to seven wins in a row after a pathetic start when they failed to last 50 overs against the Netherlands and were shot out for their lowest World Cup total of 125 by Australia.
Tendulkar launched the comeback with 81 against Zimbabwe, 152 against Namibia, a brilliant 98 off 75 balls against the likes of Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram and 97 against Sri Lanka.
That has already won multimillionaire Tendulkar three gold watches for being man-of-the-match against Zimbabwe, Namibia and Pakistan.
One more award in Thursday's semifinal against Kenya or the final here on Sunday if India make it as expected will win him the player of the tournament award from the legendary Garfield Sobers of the West Indies, widely acclaimed as the greatest cricketer of all time.
Tendulkar is four points clear of Sri Lankans Marvan Atapattu and Chaminda Vaas, who are playing in Tuesday's first semifinal against reigning champions Australia at Port Elizabeth.
During the competition, Tendulkar overtook Pakistan great Javed Miandad to hold the highest aggregate of World Cup runs and also became one of two players along with Mark Waugh to have accumulated four World Cup centuries. Aside from Atapattu and Vaas, the only other players that can catch Tendulkar are India captain Saurav Ganguly and Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya who have seven and six points respectively.
Tendulkar's performance will have finally silenced a growing band of critics who said he may have set new batting benchmarks but rarely won matches for India.
It was evident from the start that Tendulkar was focused on helping India to World Cup glory just as Kapil's Devils had done in 1983 when the modern master was just
nine years old.
"Sachin has just one goal, to win this tournament for India," said team official Amrit Mathur. "He is totally focused on doing that, nothing else matters."
Having endured frustration in his three previous World Cups, Tendulkar is determined to change the trend this time.
As an 18-year-old in his first World Cup in Australia in 1992, Tendulkar saw India fail to make the semifinals. Four years later, crowd trouble in Calcutta's Eden Gardens saw the hosts being knocked out of the semifinals.
The 1999 World Cup in England was both tragic and a disappointment for Tendulkar, who was forced to return home due to the death of his father in Bombay, came back to score a century against Kenya but failed to take India past the Super Sixes.
Captain Saurav Ganguly and coach John Wright helped Tendulkar's cause here by reverting him back to the opening slot where he has scored all but one of his record 34 one-day centuries.
Tendulkar's thrilling batting in the tournament prompted Australian great Greg Chappell to
label him a "genius whose deft touches and raw power are virtually unmatched in the modern game."
The Indians already knew that. Now they are hoping he delivers when it matters most.
The leading Kenyan in the rankings is all-rounder Thomas Odoyo with five points. He shares ninth place in the standings with the top Australians Andy Bichel, Brett Lee and Ricky Ponting. Lee, who has been placed second twice and third once, is the highest player in the standings not to have been named man-of-the-match in the tournament to date.
The man-of-the-tournament is based on the cumulative man-of-the-match results awarded by the ICC match referee.
After every game the ICC match referee selects the top three players. As well as being presented with a gold watch worth 1,4600 dollars, the man-of-the-match also receives three points towards the man-of-the-tournament award.
The second best player on the day receives two points and the third best gets one point.
The man-of-the-tournament will be presented by legendary West Indies all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers at the end of the final.
STANDINGS
Points Player
12 Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)
8 Marvan Atapattu (SL)
Chaminda Vaas (SL),
7 Saurav Ganguly (Ind)
6 Wasim Akram (Pak)
James Anderson (Eng) John Davison (Can) Sanath Jayasuriya (SL)
5 Andy Bichel (Aus)
Andy Blignaut (Zim) Vasbert Drakes (WI) Herschelle Gibbs (SA) Lance Klusener (SA) Brett Lee (Aus)
Thomas Odoyo (Ken) Ricky Ponting (Aus)