It has been 20 years, yes you read it right 20 long years since this man has kept us all mesmerized by not only his magical cricketing skills but equally so by his humbleness, modesty and innocence too. The impact which this man has on the way the entire country conducts itself is unbelievable, because when he is playing well, he puts smiles on billion faces, people everywhere seem to be far more friendly and accommodating, they don't even mind if you step on their feet and hurt them painstakingly, they won't even mind if the tea vendor serves them a horribly distasteful tea, and even the ever so disgruntled bank cashier serves you with a smile. Such is the impact and this magician is better known as Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!
Over the span of 20 years people have made constant comparisons between the inform batting heroes of that season, but one name has always remained constant out of the two guys who are being put under the scanner, other name though have been changed from Inzamam ul Haq to Mark Waugh, Brian Lara to Saeed Anwar, Sanath Jayasurya to Ricky Ponting , but Mr Tendulkar has always been so very consistent not only with his batting skills and performances but also with his temperament and with the way he handles this huge amount of success with such a great degree of poise. Absolutely exemplary!
Such are the expectations from this man that people expect him to score a century every time he walks out to bat. And I personally feel people are not wrong in expecting this from the great man. When you have hit close to 90 international centuries against so many formidable oppositions, the expectations are bound to be so high, so he is himself to blame for thatJ. On a serious note, such has been our mindset over last so many years that even if he scores a 37, 40 or a 46 we treat it as a failure and we start talking about the fact that Sachin is out of form, on the contrary if a certain Suresh Raina or for that matter Virat Kohli hits 35 odd runs we classify that as an impressive performance. Such is life in his case, right? Now consider how do you feel if you are asked to sing in front of 4 of your close friends??? Or imagine how you felt when you were in class 5 and your parents expected you to do well in each and every school test??? Or just give a thought that you are working in your office with your team and all the team members have their eyes set on you to deliver something on a set deadline??? You feel PRESSURIZED! Right??? Now just spare a thought for the man who is answerable to more than 100 crores team mates, friends or parents for over 20 years to do good, better or best and where even an average performance is treated as a failure. Isn't that some real pressure? JBut that's what makes the man GREAT and separates him from his contemporaries like Ricky Ponting who plays for only 1/10 th of the hopes and for a nation where the primary sport is Rugby and not Cricket, Kevin Pieterson who plays for a nation where his fans and followers are far more considerate and accommodating and again where the primary sport is soccer, Inzamam Ul Haq who played for a nation which only cares about their team not losing to India and where the primary sport is again not cricket but is Terrorism. So the amount of pressure and expectations are immense, and hence this consistency and poise is worth appreciating beyond words even in his rare moments of lows. But we have hardly given it a thought and I am sure we will never give it a thought in future too. Ofcourse his is the most analysed career in the history of the game.
Another cribbing point for people has been that Sachin never plays in key encounters, be it finals, be it qualifiers or be it any crucial tie. But the facts and statistics defy all this and for those who still act smart by saying that what's the point of accumulating so many runs and achieving so many feats when you never play when required, here is an eye opener. Sachin has been a part of a final/decider/crucial tie for 38 times and he has hit 6 centuries and averaged a staggering 56 in those encounters which is way above his career average of 44. In all, Sachin has scored 1833 runs in finals, which is easily the highest- Sanath Jayasuriya is next with 1613. Sachin also ranks very high in terms of all-time- averages in finals: among those who've scored at least 500 runs in finals, only three have a higher average. One of them is
A group of smart heads also believe that the great man chokes under pressure, he can't finish matches, he can't hit the winning runs and hence the real match winners are the likes of Bevans, Husseys, Yuvrajs and Dhonis. Well with all due respect to these gentlemen who have also done very well for their country over a long period and have well and truly won many a matches on their own, isn't it unfair to tag a 120 something made by Sachin as a failure, while chasing a target of 260, where he gets out with his team needing only 30 odd runs and rest of the team fails to score even these many runs. People tend to hail those guys who hit a 40 something and take their sides to victory and rather abhor and detest a 100 something contribution of Sachin, just because he has not hit the winning shot. Absolutely illogical! How can one discount that Sachin comes in to bat as an opener, bats for around 40 overs and takes his team to a situation where the guys to follow can actually think of winning, in contrast we give more importance and credit to a guy who has batted for just 10 odd overs and just because he has hit the winning run, he becomes a match winner or a finisher. But people never give a thought that what has actually allowed this finisher to hit that winning shot is nothing but that solid, full proof batting of the master himself for 40 odd overs, unless otherwise we couldn't have been in a situation to even dream of a victory. That's why for those lost matches, many a times I feel Sachin should have got out cheaply rather than scoring a century, because nobody would have blamed him or even remembered him in that case, but yes such is our psyche. And for those who believe Sachin is a curse and
We can go on speaking about the great man's laurels, achievements, feats and accomplishments, but we will fail every time to scale them up through our words. When legends like Don Bradman, Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar, Sunil Gavaskar and many such all time greats have hailed our beloved little master for his excellence and raise their hats in true admiration of his unmatchable abilities and saluted him out of respect, we are just mere mortals to talk about this 8th wonder of the world. Because this guy won't be remembered for chest thumping, air jumping and abusing every single person present on the ground after hitting a hundred (much like the likes of Yuvrajs and Kohlis do:)), but he will always be remembered for the grace, exuberence and that ever so infectious childlish smile of his with which he has played all his life. But if I am allowed to express my selfish desires, I would dearly love to see Sachin score 100 international centuries (needs just 13 more), I want him to score 15,000 test runs( needs 2000 something more), I wish him sitting atop 20,000 ODI runs(needs only 3000 runs more) and last but not the least I want all his contemporaries and team mates to fulfill one dream of his, that is to help him in lifting up the world cup before he hangs his boot. What an icing it would be on an already well baked cake, if he gets an opportunity to hold the coveted trophy that has eluded him from 20 odd years, in front of his home crowd and birth place, on the historical Wankhede stadium. That really would be a fairy tale finish to this great man's illustrious career.
I still fear and dread of the day when he will hang his boots, I can't imagine how our lives would be without him on the cricket field, it will be almost impossible to accept that moment and I wish that day never comes and he keeps on playing for ages, not because I want him to further strengthen his records but I want him to make me and my life so very beautiful, friendly and accommodating. He has been a GODLY figure for his flawless artistry and remarkable mannerism and he will always to continue to be my GOD till the day this game is played and may be beyond that too .Let us all Salute the little champion for all the selfless moments in which he has served our country and made us smile and feel proud, it is a real moment to celebrate 20 years of GODSmanship. Cheers to the CHAMPION!!!
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