Huge sand cake for birthday boy Sachin Tendulkar in Puri

Sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik and his students on Saturday sculpted a huge cake and 38 bats in sand on the beach of his home town Puri as a birthday gift to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar who turns 38 on Sunday.

Hundreds of tourists and fans visited the site and saw the colourful sculpture which was created using 20 tonnes of sand.

The work on the sculpture began Friday and was completed Saturday, Pattnaik told IANS.

The work has been displayed on Puri beach, 56km from Bhubaneswar, and will continue to stay Sunday, the birth day of the master blaster, he said.

Pattnaik said this is a special year for Tendulkar because of India's victory in the cricket World Cup.

"That is why we created the bats and a big colourful birthday cake to pay tribute to the legendary cricketer," he said.

"I have sent the photographs of this sculpture to Sachin at his Mumbai address," said Pattnaik, who has participated in more than 50 international sand sculpture championships across the globe and has won many prizes.