“Whenever he hits a ton, India loses the game.” Hmmm…
“He only plays for his records.” Well…
“He is now old enough to retire” Is it???
After a century of Tons and still counting and over 30,000 international runs, if a person is still hurled these “compliments”, then it becomes imperative that the emotions attached with this game in the country are absolute crazy. & in a heterogeneous population of over a billion plus, where every soul is a leader; each seems justified to air an opinion of his own. In the land where Cricket is a religion & Lifeline of masses, some refer to him as God, few think he is selfish, but surely everyone has an opinion about him. You can Love him, you can hate him, but if you are an Indian; you cannot ignore the legend of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!!
My first memories about watching this genius are when he was himself a teenager. Even when he was good, frankly at least I had not expected these feats from him back then. There were many greats who used to praise him highly and hoped he would make it big in cricketing world. But there was hardly anyone who could predict he would assume the heights which he has attained today. Even if we go by his yesterday’s admission that “Dreams do come true”, probably he may not have himself been sure of reaching the milestones where he stands today. However we were destined to see a miracle which was to only grow with time.
For youth, he is an inspiration and a role model. There are a lot of important take away’s from the master blaster’s kitty for one and all. The kind of dedication, perseverance & hard work he used to put in when he was a teenager, you would invariably find the same kind of efforts from him even till date, be it on field or preparation prior to it. Maintaining the same commitment over such a long duration is something which looks only theoretical but he has presented a live practical demonstration for us what successful leaders are made of. Another important aspect of his long innings has been “Focus”. Be it public on the road, or people from the fraternity, right from Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, the Chapell’s or most recently even Dhoni (suggesting slowness of seniors); everyone has something or the other to observe and suggest about his game every now and then. But rather than defending, clarifying or retorting aggressively, Sachin has only focused on field and let his game do all the talking and giving all the replies to what the world has to say. Seems he does not believe in getting into spats off the field, he only wants his bat to fight it out with the ball on ground!
He has been ethical, humble & epitome of integrity. There have been hardly instances where anyone has been able to point a finger at him questioning his integrity or humility. That is one of the biggest reasons apart from his success which has made him one of the greatest role models in the country. However his calmness and composure does not take away his hunger to score and win. He may not have the in your face aggression of a Ganguly or Yuvraj, but his conviction and passion to win is second to none. Yes the new blood deserves a chance to be groomed; new heroes will come up eventually. But the fact remains despite the age, Sachin is still amongst the better performers in the team even today when he has been seeing the rough patch every cricketer goes through. This highlights the ability and quality of this master, even his average looks at par with others good forms!
The man has seen many highs and lows in Indian cricket in this journey of 22 years. Even individually he has been used to criticism and scathing attacks. Be it his changed approach of building the innings now as against the initial Sehwag like onslaught we witnessed in initial days, or the long one year wait for conquering the final frontier of 100th ton which made critics write him off and ask for his retirement, he has seen it all. But the key for him has been his ability to adapt to changing circumstances, changing needs, surely the character this person is build of is not common. His conviction to keep trying and never say No attitude has helped his and teams cause. Physically he has been recovering from injuries in this long journey but it has been his mental strength which has kept him going even after the pressure of expectations from fans and blatant attack from critics. One also must not forget the solid support system in terms of his family, which has helped him run this marathon.
Sachin would have been fortunate to get an opportunity to serve his nation. But then even the nation has been fortunate to have this sportsman serving it for 22 long years. As for the masses, we have been genuinely blessed to have witnessed one of the rare gifts of God to mankind undertake this journey for his love for the nation, the love for the game!
It’s not over yet, we are sure we will get to see more from the run machine before he decides to call it a day. But then the contribution he has made to the sports, he has written the rarest of the rare chapters in the history of the game and nation, the chapter we would never forget: “The legend of Sachin R.Tendulkar”!
