When Tendulkar met Tendulkar

India batting legend Sachin Tendulkar will become the first Indian sports personality to be portrayed at Madame Tussauds, in London. His wax figure was launched at the Taj Lands End Hotel in Mumbai on Monday.

Tendulkar met with Madame Tussauds sculptors in hometown Mumbai earlier in the year to be measured and photographed for the creation of his figure and donated the cricket whites his striking wax double is wearing. He follows in the famous footsteps of Bollywood giants Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan.

The figure was created at Madame Tussauds studios in West London over a three month period. The first step is to craft a perfect clay sculpture from which the moulds are made to make an amazingly life like wax figure. Then it is over to a team of skilled hair and colour artists to insert the hair by hand and build up life like skin tones using layer upon layer of oil paint; every freckle, mole, dimple and wrinkle are accurately reproduced.

"I am very impressed with the figure and delighted to be honoured by Madame Tussauds", commented the renowned batsman, who was delighted to come face to face with his likeness.

"I am glad he does not breathe," he added.

"It is the first time we have ever launched a figure overseas but we really wanted Sachin to see his likeness before it "meets" the public in the attraction," said Liz Edwards, Official Spokesperson at Madame Tussauds.

"The figure will now be returning to London to join the ranks of sporting greats past and present in our Sports Zone. There will also be a cricketing challenge around the figure where guests can test their skills against the 'masterblaster' and we know it will be a huge hit with fans."