Will Sachin follow in the footsteps of these cricket greats?

As batting icon Sachin Tendulkar prepares for his farewell 200th Test in Mumbai, we take a look at what some legends of the game did after retiring from cricket.

As Sachin Tendulkar jets into the final leg of his long and illustrious cricket career many are wondering what the great man will do after hanging his boots.

Having played cricket all his life, it is difficult for anyone, including the batting icon himself, to imagine a life outside cricket. It will be interesting to see whether he pursues his other favourite passion – yes, cooking -- and returns to the restaurant business, which he tried once without much success, or takes up coaching.

Some legendary cricketers, like Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, took up different professions within or outside cricket, though, nowadays, many of them turn to commentary which helps them stay connected to the game without going through the rigours of it while also making good money.

Interestingly, Tendulkar's retired teammates in the last few years -- Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid -- all turned to commentary and write columns for newspapers and websites.

Ganguly tried his hand in the IPL with limited success before he called it quits. Same with Laxman.

Dravid, though, achieved a lot of success with Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, even taking the team to the play-offs in the last edition despite losing a few key players in the spot-fixing scam.

He also contributes regular columns for a cricket website.

Former India spin great Anil Kumble is also actively involved with writing columns for newspapers and is currently president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association. He was chief mentor of Mumbai Indians and instrumental in their maiden IPL triumph last season.

He was also appointed chairman of the ICC cricket committee last year and is also the chairman of the BCCI's Technical Committee.

Rediff.com takes a look at what some legends of the game did after retiring from cricket.

Don Bradman

The world’s greatest batsman was more than active in his life after cricket. After retirement, Bradman was conferred Knighthood in 1949 (he was made a Knight Bachelor) for his services to the game. Till date he is the only Australian to be knighted.

In 1950, he was busy with his memoir Farewell to Cricket, following which he received offers from the Daily Mail to travel and write about the Australian tours of England in 1953 and 1956.

Bradman retired from his stockbroking business in June 1954. Besides that he served as Australia's chairman of selectors twice, from 1960-63 and 1969-72.

He was known for picking aggressive and positive players who could entertain the fans.

He passed away in 2001 at 92 years of age.

Garfield Sobers

Regarded as the greatest all-rounder the game has ever produced, Sir Garfield Sobers played 93 Tests for the West Indies, scoring 8032 runs at an average of 57.78. He also took 235 wickets, at an average of 34.03.

In 383 first-class matches, he scored over 28,000 runs and took over 1000 wickets. Towards the end of his career, he spent time with South Australia and Nottinghamshire.

Sobers was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975 for his services to cricket.

He turned to literature and became an author. He wrote several factual books on cricket, like King Cricket (1967), Sobers: the changing face of cricket (1996); Sobers: Twenty years at the top (1988).

He also wrote a children’s novel about cricket: Bonaventure and the Flashing Blade (1967).

He published his autobiography in 2002.

Sobers tried his hand with movies and television too. He had a popular television series - This is your life.

Since his retirement from first class cricket, he is involved in promoting equality for a number of charities, including Scope, which campaigns for equality for people with cerebral palsy.

In June 2011, Scope held a Gary Sobers Golf day to raise both funds and the profile of the charitable organisation.

He is an active commentator too.

Brian Lara

The only batsman in the current breed whose name is taken in the same breath as Tendulkar.

When Brain Lara announced his retirement from the game, it came in as a shock to many. He had just broken Matthew Hayden’s record of highest individual score and, certainly, looked as if he still had the passion to come out on top.

It was surprising to see that in the time of Twenty20 cricket, he has taken it easy post retirement.

So, be it be the golfing buddies or kicking the ball or promoting his charitable foundation in Trinidad, Lara was rarely seen in cricketing context till the recently-concluded Champions League T20, as a consultant with Trinidad and Tobago.

He did try his hand in the rebel Indian Cricket League, which prevented him from associating with the IPL in its early years.

Lara established the Pearl and Bunty Lara Foundation, a charitable organization, in memory of his parents, which aims to address health and social care issues.

Besides his skills with the bat, he is a talented football player too. Coming from a land of beaches, it is not surprising to see that the southpaw enjoys his time kicking the ball around with friends, Dwight Yorke, Shaka Hislop and Russell Latapy.

Like other cricketers who like a good swing, Lara participates in various golfing events, enjoying his time away from the glare.

Shane Warne

The greatest leg-spinner of all-time is the most active off all the names mentioned in the list.

It was called ‘the end of an era’ when Shane Warne, Damien Martyn, Justin Langer and Glen McGrath decided to hang their boots in January 2007. But Warne is still very much around the cricket platform.

Following his international retirement, he played a full season at Hampshire in 2007. With the advent of the cash-rich Indian Premier League, he was snapped up by Rajasthan Royals for US $450,000, where he played the roles of both captain and coach.

He led his team to the title in the inaugural season in 2008 and achieved a so-called cult status in the country.

However, after a few unsuccessful attempts later, he called it quits in 2011, only to make a shock comeback in the Australia’s Big Bash League before retiring from all formats in July 2013.

Since his active international and first class cricket career, Warne boarded Australia's Nine Network in 2008, following which he was signed by Sky Sports in 2009 as a member of the commentary team. He also does on and off commentary in India, and covered Australia's recent tour of the country.

Warne is also involved in many corporate endorsements. Since retiring from Test cricket, he signed a two-year agreement with 888 Poker to represent them at poker events, like the companies 888 UK Poker Open, the Crown Casino Aussie Millions, and World Series of Poker (WSOP).

He is also active in the Shane Warne Foundation (TWSF), a charity which assists seriously ill and underprivileged children.

The charity has distributed £400,000 amongst deserving causes since 2004.

Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar, the original the ‘Little Master’, is regarded as one of the best Test batsmen India has produced. He was perhaps the only batsman in the world who had the courage to stand up to the rampaging West Indian pace battery in the 1970s and 80s without even wearing a helmet.

After becoming the first man to cross the 10,000-run mark in Test cricket, he quit the game on a high.

He went on to become a popular commentator, both on television and print. Besides, in 2004, he served as advisor to the national team during their home series against Australia.

He had a stint with the International Cricket Council as well before he was forced to choose between commentating and being on the committee. He left the committee to continue his career as a broadcaster.

Gavaskar tried his hand at acting on the silver screen, wherein he played a lead role in a Marathi movie, Savli Premachi. The movie was not well-received by movie-goers.

Years later, he made his Bollywood debut -- he had a guest appearance in the 1989 Naseeruddin Shah-starrer Maalamal.

Gavaskar also exercised his vocal chords, singing a Marathi song Ya Duniyemadhye Thambayaala Vel Konala, which was written by noted Marathi lyricist Shantaram Nandgaonkar.

The song depicted the similarities between a cricket match and real life.

Muttiah Muralitharan is synonymous with off-spin bowling. Perhaps, only former Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mustaq has created as much of mystery around like Murali.

Murali stands high on top the bowlers list as the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket. Standing high at a colossal 800 wickets, he announced his retirement 2010.

Since then Muralitharan has confined himself to the IPL, where he played for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kochi Tuskers and Chennai Super Kings. He is a highly-sought after play in the Australian Big Bash, the newly-formed Caribbean Premier League and several other T20 leagues around the world.

He likes to be away from the limelight and is rarely seen in public, other than at cricket matches.