Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar: Bringing back the Child in us.

 

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who stormed into one day international cricket by making his debut against Pakistan in the year 1989 has been a wonderful servant for the game of cricket and more importantly an excellent human being. His journey in one day international cricket is quite incredible, he started his career by batting in the middle order and played some electrifying cameo’s including the quick fire fifty against Pakistan in the 1992 world cup. It was in 1994 against a match versus New Zealand at Auckland, Sachin pleaded to the Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin to open the innings and the rest as they are history.

Sachin scored his first one day international hundred against Australia in his 79th match; he has scored 49 centuries in one day cricket out of the 463 matches that he has played. After that match, he has scored a century in every eight matches (463-79/48 centuries) which is extraordinary and virtually impossible record for anyone to even come close or thinking about getting there. He has been a great team man and has always given more than hundred percent every time he has represented the nation. But it’s such a pity when sometimes critics/public criticize him for not able to finish matches, remember cricket is a team sport and every player must contribute towards the team’s victory. Individual brilliance rarely wins matches: who can forget the knock of 175 against Australia at Hyderabad where we lost by three runs because the last four batsmen were not able to score just 19 runs chasing 351. This knock is only one example there are many more like this both in ODI’s and test matches where Sachin brought our team so close to victory but the others were not able to finish it off & as a result there were many so near yet so far matches where our heartbeats increased, increased and then came down.

 

Sachin has given some unbelievable fairy tale moments for us, the sandstorm innings in sharjah ironically against Australia where he singlehandedly got the team to the final with some stunning strokes (143) and then he scored another hundred against them in the final and won us the coca cola cup. I still remember the words of Tony Greig during the match when Sachin went berserk after the bowling “Oh they are dancing in the isles what a player”. It was one of the most beautiful moment of my life, its more than a game, it’s about winning from coming back from a totally down & out situation. Sachin has helped me to improve my vocabulary and speak fluently in english by watching him play I learnt a lot of new words thanks to some great commentators like Tony Greig, Ravi Shastri, Ian Chappel,Sunil Gavaskar & Harsha Bhogle and it helped me to improve my english.

 

Sachin is a very humble person, he prefers to spend time with his family when not playing, loves music and cars. Success has never got to him & controversies have been his biggest enemy. Yes it is difficult to remain sane in the mad world with so much expectation, fame, money & recognition he has remained as a fine gentleman and a wonderful ambassador for the country. The expectation on his shoulders every time he goes to bat in the middle are huge, he is also human. He has carried the nation’s expectations & has given his best every time he has represented the nation. India need more Sachin’s in all fields like science & technology, economics, media, cinema, academics, politics, etc. His commitment, passion, integrity, honesty, respect for the sport, dedication is magnificent and top notch that’s the reason he inspires so many people all over the globe. Any individual who has the same qualities in his/her field will become a Sachin Tendulkar.

 

Professor Ramesh Tendulkar, Sachin’s father, died in the middle of the 1999 world cup. He flew back to India to attend the final rituals of his beloved father, missing the match against Zimbabwe, however he returned with a bang by scoring a century in his next match (140 not out of 101 balls) against Kenya at Bristol. He dedicated his century to his father, in the 23 years that he has played for our nation, India as a country has grown by leaps & bounds, many nations have been built and economies have been restructured. The longevity of his career and the subtle adjustments that he has made to his game when he started aging is amazing and a great lesson for all cricketers. Many people in the period between 1995 to 1999 used to switch off their television sets or leave the ground after Sachin gets out. Their belief was that India will lose the moment he got out, such was his impact.

 

India will miss Sachin in one day international cricket, he announced his retirement on 23rd December 2012 and then immediately we lost to the home series against Pakistan 2-1 because we batted poorly against quality seem bowling in the all the matches. Yes Sachin will be missed, his commitment, cheekiness in understanding the opponent & outplaying them, his smile, his rigorous practices before every match, his hunger to win will be missed. We will not see him anymore in India colours, I think he has atleast a year or two in test matches, I wish him all the very best for the upcoming series against Australia and pray to god that he comes good by scoring tons and tons of runs and bring back the cheer in 1.2 billion Indian faces. Thank you for giving many memorable moments, we salute your commitment, passion, dedication & more importantly you gave life & strength to our sport.