The below article was written by Chetan Narula, a professional sports writer, who works as a full time cricket journalist.
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You can’t point a finger at the PCA Stadium authorities in Mohali for celebrating like this. Even if the ‘Master’ himself wasn’t too excited by his own admission, it was one of the moments of the year, of Indian cricket’s folklore, for it will live on for time immemorial. The roaring crackers that lit up an afternoon sky, the deafening applause they induced was, but a brilliant reminder of the way one special cricketer is celebrated in this country.
Inevitable is the obvious word that comes to mind as one thinks about the legend of Sachin Tendulkar. Nineteen years ago, when he first set foot on this journey, every one already knew that this would, one day, happen. Sooner or later, he would become the leading run scorer in Test cricket. And after having already achieved that crown in ODI cricket, he is now the undisputed king, the Numero Uno!
No surprises there, then, as he played a marginally outside the off-stump ball for a quick dash of runs and raised his bat to sheer bliss amongst the many beholders. Anything less from him after all these years would have been astonishing!
Since making his debut against Pakistan in ‘89, he has played under seven captains, himself included. He has seen more team transitions than any player in the world. One would have some trouble even finding cricket journalists who have witnessed something similar. Umpteen numbers of players have come and left. Some are just arriving, some are ready to go. But this Little Man continues to overshadow all that goes around him. How? Simply by giving a hundred percent every time he is in the field.
Be it batting, fielding, standing at the slips, bowling his mixed-up varieties, or even practice sessions, Tendulkar is there playing cricket, enjoying cricket, doing what he loves most. And it rubs off on the team, and how!
It will be pointless to recount the instances when oppositions have suffered against him. Bowling attacks comprising some of the modern game’s greatest exponents have been forced into submission, and not only on Indian shores. What won’t be pointless is mentioning that he is the greatest batsman of all time, so proclaims the greatest leg-spinner and arguably the best bowler cricket has ever seen, Shane Warne. Does one need a better testimonial?
If the answer is affirmative, then it would just take the very words of the greatest batsman that ever was, Don Bradman, who confirmed the uncanny resemblance the Indian had with him. No wonder he makes the Bradman XI, while other greats of the same time fall by the wayside.
Not because, his records will stand the test of time. Probably not! There is too much cricket being played today, and just a little amount left in him, that probably Ricky Ponting will overtake him in Tests. And some one else in the ODIs! But it will take some doing, as undoubted talent isn’t the only fuel that fires his engines.
The key to Tendulkar being hailed as immortal is because he could handle all that the game could throw at him. And that is the secret behind the durability to his game. To not let what others think or surmise has been the hallmark of his years, the reason why every brickbat and stone hurled at him has been converted to milestones.
Yes there have been critics. Every time he goes out to bat, he just can’t fail. He is criticized for scoring seven consecutive nineties, can any one beat that? No, why? Because probably Brian Lara had only a couple of tens of thousands of Calypso loving beings to please! Around ten times that number of ‘Tendlya supporters’ live in Mumbai alone.
For with great achievements in this game, come greater expectations, even greater fame and money. And if it so happens to be Indian cricket that we are talking about, double those amounts then. Victories here are celebrated like the festival of lights, defeats mourned like the loss of loved ones. Add Tendulkar to the equation, and the pressure intensifies to a higher value than ones measured in the darkest trenches of the deepest oceans.
The ardent Indian cricket fan though will have a good day at home and office, if a Tendulkar ton has just lit up his life. Or, maybe not, if the maestro failed to get going!
Either way, it is this passion that he ignites in us, that defines the way cricket has been watched in this country for the last two decades. Amongst the unrelenting demands of a billion cricket crazy fanatics, he still finds time to instill the fever in us that reaches a crescendo when he goes out to bat in a world cup match, as also the expectations every time he played out each of those 150-plus Test matches. He mesmerizes us, the unforgiving Indian public, by blowing away the Akhtars and the Warneys, and at the same time burns the admiring yet watching foreign fans with envy.
Yes, he is a part of our lives; each moment he has given us, celebrated (or criticized), now and long after he is gone, for there will be a time that we will indeed bid adieu to the child in him who loves playing cricket. This child, as our youngest family member and with all the love, we call Sachin!
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The key to Tendulkar being hailed as immortal is because he could handle all that the game could throw at him. And that is the secret behind the durability to his game. To not let what others think or surmise has been the hallmark of his years, the reason why every brickbat and stone hurled at him has been converted to milestones.
Yes there have been critics. Every time he goes out to bat, he just can’t fail. He is criticized for scoring seven consecutive nineties, can any one beat that? No, why? Because probably Brian Lara had only a couple of tens of thousands of Calypso loving beings to please! Around ten times that number of ‘Tendlya supporters’ live in Mumbai alone.
For with great achievements in this game, come greater expectations, even greater fame and money. And if it so happens to be Indian cricket that we are talking about, double those amounts then. Victories here are celebrated like the festival of lights, defeats mourned like the loss of loved ones. Add Tendulkar to the equation, and the pressure intensifies to a higher value than ones measured in the darkest trenches of the deepest oceans.
The ardent Indian cricket fan though will have a good day at home and office, if a Tendulkar ton has just lit up his life. Or, maybe not, if the maestro failed to get going!
Either way, it is this passion that he ignites in us, that defines the way cricket has been watched in this country for the last two decades. Amongst the unrelenting demands of a billion cricket crazy fanatics, he still finds time to instill the fever in us that reaches a crescendo when he goes out to bat in a world cup match, as also the expectations every time he played out each of those 150-plus Test matches. He mesmerizes us, the unforgiving Indian public, by blowing away the Akhtars and the Warneys, and at the same time burns the admiring yet watching foreign fans with envy.
Yes, he is a part of our lives; each moment he has given us, celebrated (or criticized), now and long after he is gone, for there will be a time that we will indeed bid adieu to the child in him who loves playing cricket. This child, as our youngest family member and with all the love, we call Sachin!
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