Tendulkar was able to create such a distance between him and the next-best by, obviously, playing over a long period - his is the longest career in ODI history - but also by doing so at a ridiculously high standard almost throughout that period. It helped also, that he opened the innings through most of his career as an ODI batsman, which gave him the best opportunity to score runs and rack up hundreds. His outstanding batsmanship, which combined tight defence with an ability to score freely all round the wicket with minimal risk against different bowling attacks in different conditions, ensured he maximised those opportunities to score runs. Along the way he also became the first batsman to score 200 in an ODI innings.
Tendulkar's ODI career changed when he moved from the middle order to open the innings. The first time he did so was in his fifth match of 1994, against New Zealand in Auckland. He scored 82 off 49 balls - a strike rate of 167.34 - in a match in which no other batsman who faced more than 12 balls managed a rate of 75. India won the match with 160 balls to spare - their eighth-largest victory margin in terms of balls remaining - and it was clear that India had unearthed an option which could be of immense value to them in limited-overs cricket. None could have imagined at the time, though, that Tendulkar would end with such staggering numbers.
From the moment he started opening, his ODI career graph swung upwards and stayed high almost throughout his career. From March 27, 1994, which was the first time he opened, he averaged 47.08 in 394 matches, at a strike rate of 87.71. During this period he didn't open the batting in 50 matches, and in those games his average fell to 36.70.
| Period | ODIs | Runs | Average | Strike rate | 100s/ 50s |
| Before 1994 | 65 | 1679 | 31.09 | 74.32 | 0/ 12 |
| 1994 to Dec 2000 | 198 | 8220 | 45.66 | 88.96 | 27/ 38 |
| Jan 2001 onwards | 200 | 8527 | 48.17 | 86.41 | 22/ 46 |
| Career | 463 | 18,426 | 44.83 | 86.23 | 49/ 96 |