The Hindu : Sport : Tendulkar stunned at his wax likeness

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Tendulkar stunned at his wax likeness

Special Correspondent

— Photo: Vivek Bendre

Sachin Tendulkar (left) with his wax statue at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday.

MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar’s first close look at his wax replica created by Madame Tussauds’s artists left him at a loss for words, followed by a feeling of relief that the image in front of his eyes was just a wax figure.

“I am glad that it can’t breathe. There is so much detail in the work…I did not know what to say,” Tendulkar said.

The work of art in wax was shown to the India’s cricket icon at the Taj Lands End Hotel, with wife Anjali and children Arjun and Sara in attendance.

Madame Tussauds museum will unveil the statue for public viewing on April 24, his 36th birthday.

He is the first Indian sporting celebrity whose likeness will be displayed by the London museum.

Liz Edwards, official spokesperson for Madame Tussauds, cited growing numbers of Indian visitors to the museum as the reason for putting up Tendulkar’s figure among the wax exhibits.

“Our guests vote for the wax figures they would like to see at the museum. Sachin Tendulkar’s name came up quite frequently,” she said.

The wax figure shows a beaming Tendulkar, his bat raised in one hand, helmet in the other.

The batting maestro had picked out the pose himself. “The image was taken when celebrating after I had created (the) record (at Mohali against Australia after overtaking Brian Lara to become Test cricket’s highest run-getter). I thought the photo was ideal,” he said.

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