India, March 12 -- The year was 2012. Sachin Tendulkar was far from his best. A year earlier, he had realised his dream of winning the 2011 World Cup, but everything seemed to go downhill thereafter. He scored 560 runs from eight Tests across England and Australia with four fifties, where India were blanked 0-4 in both series, and the pressure of scoring his 100th international century was breathing down his neck. Later, when England beat India for a rare series loss at home, Tendulkar's form dipped even further, as he finished with just 112 runs from four Tests at an average of 18.6.

Meanwhile, the teammates with whom he had shared the dressing room for years exited one by one - Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, in that order...