Sachin Tendulkar rues not being able to play alongside idols Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards

They were my batting heroes - Sachin Tendulkar on Sunil Gavaskar and Viv Richards.

New Delhi: Numerous established cricketers of this generation and several others aspiring to play for India one day consider Sachin Tendulkar as their cricketing idol and would give anything to play alongside the Master Blaster.

Tendulkar, though reconsigned as one the best batsmen ever, looked up to the original Indian Little Master Sunil Gavaskar and the legendary West Indian Sir Viv Richards in an attempt to learn a thing or two from the two cricketing greats.

When asked by The Hindu on the sidelines of India's 500th Test match, which is being played against New Zealand at Kanpur, on how he viewed India's journey, Sachin answered, “Fabulous. I really would have loved playing along side Sunil sir (Gavaskar) and Viv (Richards). They were my batting heroes.” Gavaskar warmly responded, “It’s nice of him to say that.”

Tendulkar was one of the former captains who were felicitated by the BCCI in Kanpur. Ajit Wadekar, Ravi Shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Sunil Gavaskar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin were also felicitated. (READ: India vs New Zealand, 1st Test: Tom Latham was caught off a legal delivery but was declared not out – Here's why!)

The Little Master might have missed opportunity to share dressing room with Gavaskar but the duo are consistently working in the background to elevate the impact and performance of cricket in the country in their own way.