But the ageing warhorse, who holds all the important batting records - most number of hundreds, maximum appearances, most runs - has awed fans with his application repeatedly in the past, and he has it in him to do it again.
Apart from the magnetism of Tendulkar's last Eden appearance, another intriguing factor could be the wicket itself. The one selected for the match is a virgin track as not even a Ranji Trophy match has been played on it after the ground was relaid last year.