Winning World Cup 2011 for India is Tendulkar's biggest dream

Tendulkar, who have been called the "closest thing to batting perfection" by Sunil Gavaskar, "99.5 percent perfect" by Viv Richards, a "genius" by Brian Lara and "cricket's God" by Barry Richards and has earned the respect and awe of bowling greats like Shane Warne, Wasim Akram and Richard Hadlee, said he wanted to spare his body the rigors of playing for India in the sport's quickfire format, the Twenty20, but relished the thought of playing for the nation in World Cup 2011.

The batting legend, who has featured in the Indian squad for the past five World Cups, also said helping India win World Cup 2011, which will be hosted by the sub-continent, is his biggest dream and the fact that 2011 final is scheduled for the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, where Tendulkar wielded his first bat, could be some climax to a career that has brought only admiration and acclaim.

Tendulkar recalls that he was 10 when India won their only World Cup, in 1983 at Lord's. "I watched the final at my friend's place. My friends who were much older were celebrating, jumping around. I joined in but I was clueless about what was happening. (But) That is when I started taking cricket seriously. Until then it was fun messing about with a tennis ball. I saw from those celebrations that cricket can change the mood of the entire nation. That is why it (winning the World Cup for India) is my dream," he said.

And despite the Men in Blues losing to England in the Super Eight of ICC Twenty20 World Cup, which send them crashing out of the tournament, Tendulkar confidently maintains that the team has the "required ammunition" to win biggest tournament in the ODI format.

"I am hoping that India win the World Cup because we have all the required ammunition. We have a fantastic team combination and that is why there have seen fantastic results," Tendulkar said.