"If Cricket is a religion, Sachin is the God."
"Cheats. India play with 20 players. 10 + 10dulkar."
"Sexy Shot."
"Sachin Aala re."
"East or west, Sachin is the best."
These are just a few of those numerous banners which define someone special. As you might have guessed till this time, this post is all about Sachin. And since cricket is not a cup of tea for girls, so I would appreciate if even after being a female you go through it once :). I am writing this post just because the temptation to write something on Sachin was too hard to resist for me.
The name Sachin - in itself - is iconic. When I meet a group of unknown people for the first time, it is really tough to remember most of the names. But if that name happens to be Sachin, I always get it mapped to the correct person. This has happened to me on a no. of occasions. Sachin is a dream persona. One that most parents want their child to become. But alas! None has come even within miles of "The Little Master".
So what is it about Sachin that makes him super special? When Sachin made his International debut at a tender age of 16 years & 205 days against Pakistan in 1989 in Karachi, nobody thought that today after almost 20 years, this lad would still be going so strong. That test match was the advent of a champion. A Master. Although he did not do well in first innings of that match, the way he handled the body blows from Imran, Wasim and Waqar made it evident that there was something special with this baby faced boy. And after his first series he had 2 Half centuries in his kitty even though he batted as low as on no. 6, overshadowed by his 'then' more illustrious colleagues like Srikkanth, Shastri, Prabhakar, Sidhu, Manjrekar and Azhar. And just in his 9th match, barely 9 months after his debut, Sachin hit a magnificient first Test century at Manchester which helped India draw the match. He was all of 17 at that time, and didn't possess a Driving License.
But if that first test century was late, then imagine till how long he had to wait for his first One Day International century. 79 matches to be precise. And that came at the batting position Sachin loves the most in ODIs. Opening the innings. And after that he never looked back. The slow start in terms of no. of centuries became a rapidfire roadrash, that's still going on. 39 in tests and 42 in ODIs. And the counter is still in the incremental mode. By the time he retires. he'll create a Mt. Everest of runs, which no one in near future can think of climbing even half-way.
Such is the mesmerising effect of Sachin's batting that even today people watch the match just to see Sachin bat. And even today, if he gets out early, TV sets just go on Stand-by. The flicks, the pulls, the ferocious cuts, fine leg glances, lofted shots, are all music to the ears. You name it and he just guides his bat, and the rest is taken care of by one of the heaviest bats this game has ever seen.. But all these don't include the shot which he thrives on.. the bread and butter shot for him and an eye candy for the viewers.. I am talking about his drives, be it square drive, the beautiful extra cover drive or the ever so special drive straight down the ground, which lets us see the full MRF logo on the straightest possible bat, with the body moving just 2 paces forward with the momentum of the shot. The elan, the charisma, and the authority with which every shot comes out, seems like the grand Pacific is just on a high tide in a whirlwind manner, sweeping everything that comes its way. And the sufferers are none other than the paltry humans, whom the world knows as bowlers.. And who knows it better than one Henry Olonga.. a decent bowler, whose only mistake was to proclaim that he knows how to get Sachin out. And the very next match, finals of Sharjah, Ind vs Zimbabwe, the whole Zimbabwean team had to bear the brunt of Henry's remarks.. the target was though very meagre, Sachin made it look like next to nothing. The slice over third man for a six set the tone, followed by cuts, pulls, hookes, drives and the match got over much before the stipulated 50 overs, and the master came back not out 124 in a score of 197.
But this blog would remain incomplete if I don't mention the 2 greatest innings which Sachin played.. back to back.. Venue - Sharjah again(lucky place).. Opponents.. the ever so machinesque .. Kangaroos.. Well in cricket when we talk about Kangaroos, Kiwis, Tigers etc., it doesn't mean that we are on a safari.. These are the names to represent countries like Australia, New Zealand and India. So, the two matches came in the scorching heat of April, 1998. Both times India were set stiff targets from aussies, and for once the totals looked intimidating. But if you have Sachin in your side, then even impossible spells itself as i m possible. Anyone who missed those 2 matches, missed innings of a lifetime. Aussies are real tough nuts to crack, and to handle the pressure, you need an even tougher nut which would never crack.. The game to qualify for the finals is still Sachin's greatest innings ever as far as I am concerned. He battled hard alone(with a bit of support from our best stumper Mongia), firstly against the bowlers and then against the nature Gods .. as Sharjah witnessed a sandstorm, and an even greater Sachin storm after that which saw him score 143. A storm which helped India storm into the finals, and finally win the trophy, once again courtesy another brilliant 134 from Sachin. Aussies were doomed, and the debate of the century (who is best, Sachin or Lara) got settled, once and for all.
So far, those who are not too familiar with cricket would be thinking that Sachin has never seen downs in his life. Well, although this article might depict him as a deity(which he is), still there are a few human elements which none can get away with. Not even Sachin. He has had 2 failed attempts at captaincy, which shows that batting is a much easier job in comparison. And then there are accusations that he has not won a test match for India in such a long time. But then people forget that many matches became one-sided contests when Sachin wielded his willow and his stay at crease inspired others to perform notches above their actual potential. Such is the greatness of the man that he has bore the mighty weight of expectations of this 1 billion Indian population, and has never ever wilted under such an enormous pressure. Still when he gets out early, people abuse him, and for the past 6 years at least I am listening, "Sachin should retire now", "He has lost it" and so on and so forth.. Still its Sachin due to whom we were able to beat Aussies in Australia in 2 consecutive finals of the recently concluded CB series. The architect of countless Indian victories has not lost it.. and will never lose it. And critics are silent again(for the umpteenth time).
On this note, I would give a break to my fingers which are keen to keep writing more and more about this phenomenon. Just one last compliment for Sachin, which again came in the form of a banner at Sachin's Cricket Ground(SCG - actually Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia for not so cricket crazy) which someone held in the crowd in a recent match.
“Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching.”
5 comments:
One of the best articles I'have ever read about tendulkar
superb man ........... tune kuch aag to shant kar di sachin k baare mai duniya ko batane k liye specially to his critics...........
well done buddy !!!!!!!!
double thumps up !!!!1
This is an exquisite piece of writing .. you have really written your heart out and many of his fan's too :).. and any amount of writing cannot not suffice to describe the greatness of this sportsman...:)
A good article, but author is a bit biased. Well, Sachin is no doubt one of the greatest cricketer, world has produced. His batting is a pleasure to watch, definitely, but like moon, he do have a black spot, He has never won a Test match for India. No no, don't tell me that he has made a match one sided. Well, he did it frequently in one dayers, but failed to do,even once in the highest level of cricket. When he hit his first test century at Manchestor and then another one on the bouncing track of Perth, it gave birth to every indian fan that this boy will establish a new milestones for India in Test cricket. But then again, for any such significant inning, we had to wait for almost five years, when he played that superb inning at Johanesberg and another one, next year at Chennai against Pakistan. But on both occasion, he missed. First at Johanesberg, he was man in form, and a big score was needed from him in second inning, but he played one of the most irresponsible shot of his life, and threw away his wicket and then again at Chennai, when he took India at the verge of winning, he did that blunder, he played a shot, that Gavaskar has always asked him not to play against Saqlain. The only test series or matches where he really helped India in winning matches was at the time, which was the peak of his life, i.e. 1998, series against Australia. The fact is, Sachin never justified his talent in Test Cricket. Fact is, a test match needs consistency throughout five days, and Sachin has seldom delivered in both innings. Fact is, a Test match needs a performance in fourth inning, which is the most difficult task, but Sachin seldom delivered in fourth inning.
Conclusion is, Sachin is best one day cricketer in all respect, but he falls quite short in longest and highest version of game. He falls short from the icons of past and he falls short from his contemporaries.
And just today when I re-read my blog, one thing popped up. We can no longer say that Sachin hasn't won us a test match. In this span of 2.5 years (when I wrote this article), Sachin has won test matches against Aus, Eng, NZ(away),Ban(away), SA, SL and Aus (again recently). Also, he has achieved what no one else has - a double century in ODIs. So what's next - A Test Triple ton may be. One World Cup title (other teams would be praying more than India for this, since if this doesn't happen, then they might have to face Sachin for 4 more years :)). All the best Little Master. Keep going on...
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