Kolkata: Trinamool Congress chief and former Union Sports Minister Mamata Banerjee on March 2 urged the Centre to confer the nation's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna to batting genius Sachin Tendulkar.

Praising the maestro for his majestic knock of 98 in 75 balls, which propelled India to an emphatic six-wicket victory over Pakistan in the World Cup match at Centurion on March 1, Banerjee told reporters that she would shortly write to President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in this regard.

"He played a superb knock. The way he soldiered on despite a muscle strain shows his tremendous guts," Banerjee, who watched the entire match at her residence, said.

PTI