Hyderabad: Team India captain Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell have expressed the hope that Sachin Tendulkar, who completed 16 years of international cricket on Tuesday, will go on to record two decades of excellence at the highest level.

Both said so during a chat with The Telegraph. Incidentally, Mohinder Amarnath is the only Indian to have played (with breaks, of course) close to 20 years.

Speaking exclusively at the Taj Residency, ‘birthday boy’ Sachin himself merely observed: “November 15 is special, yes... Thus far, it has been a nice journey and I’m looking forward to more appearances and more Indian wins...”

Over, now, to Chappell and Dravid...

Chappell: Sachin’s amazing... Even after 16 years, his enthusiasm and energy level is unbelievable... He has over 23,000 runs in Tests and ODIs and I can assure you most batsmen would be delighted to have that many in just first-class cricket... I don’t know how many have played for two decades, but Sachin has some years left and I hope he’s going to complete 20 at the highest level.

Dravid: What an achievement! I mean, it’s fantastic... I wish Sachin the very best and would like him to play for two decades... That will be some feat, won’t it?