West Indies’ legendary batsman Sir Vivian Richards is celebrating his 66th birthday today (March 7). Fondly known as the ‘Master Blaster’ for his remarkable ball striking ability, Richards is widely deemed as one of the greatest batsmen to have played the game of cricket.

Viv has been an inspiration to batsmen for several generations. He was a part of that West Indian cricket team that ruled world cricket for nearly two decades. Richards was also voted as one of the five Cricketers of the Century by a 100-member panel of experts in 2000, along with Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs and Shane Warne.

During the course of his 17-year long illustrious career, Viv represented West Indies in 121 Tests, scoring 8,540 runs at 50.23 with the help of 24 centuries and 45 fifties. He also proved his mettle in the limited-overs cricket, amassing 6721 ODI runs in 187 matches at an extraordinary average and strike-rate of 47 and 90.20 respectively.

As the revered cricketer entered in the 67th season of his life, wishes poured in for him from the cricketing fraternity. From the former teammates to the opponents and contemporary cricketers, a lot of people are making the occasion special for Richards with their heartfelt messages on social media sites.

However, one particular wish that caught everyone’s attention was that of Indian batting legend, Sachin Tendulkar. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, the Little Master wrote: “Wishing my batting hero, @ivivianrichards a very happy birthday.”

It is worth mentioning here that Tendulkar and Richards share a very good camaraderie. Both the day batting legends have a mutual admiration for each other. While Viv holds a great deal of respect for Sachin’s cricketing achievement, the Indian batting maestro has often termed Viv as his batting hero while growing up in the 1980s.