For a generation that grew up adoring Sachin Tendulkar, Leo Messi was like a beacon of hope after the 'Little Master' left the stage in 2013. Different disciplines all right, but Messi, who isn't much taller to Tendulkar in physical stature, had a similar towering influence on the Indian mindscape.
Just the way a Tendulkar century made our day while a dismissal messed it up, flashing images of a Messi goal the night before could keep us going through the drudgery of daily desk routine. And now, as Messi closes in on the greatest landmark of his one-and-a-half decade long career, we find similarities with the moment Tendulkar himself said was the highest point of his: winning the 2011 ODI World Cup.
