LONDON: Sachin Tendulkar said “life has truly come full circle” after a portrait of the India cricket great was unveiled at Lord’s on Thursday.

Tendulkar is one of the greatest batsmen cricket has known, scoring 34,357 runs in Test matches, one-day internationals and one T20 for India in an international career that spanned 24 years from 1989 to 2013.

That total is over 6,000 more runs than the next highest of 28,016 compiled by Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara.

“I remember standing near the pavilion, soaking in the history and dreaming quietly,” Tendulkar said of his first visit to Lord’s in 1988 as a teenager in a post on X.

“Today, to have my portrait unveiled at this very place is a feeling that’s hard to put into words. Life has truly come full circle. I’m grateful, and filled with wonderful memories.”

The portrait, by Stuart Pearson Wright, is painted from a photograph taken by the artist in Tendulkar’s home in Mumbai 18 years ago and was unveiled before the first day of the third Test between England and India.

It is the fifth portrait of an Indian player in the collections of Marylebone Cricket Club, the owners of Lord’s.