It was his last game. He had announced his retirement. His 200th Test match. India won. He was running around happily after the victory to congratulate his team mates when it occurred to him he will never be doing it again on a cricket field. As the team gave him a moving guard of honour, he left the field. He cried. A billion people cried. That was the impact one man had on cricket in India. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Continue reading
“When Sachin plays, big-city roads are easy and trains and buses ply empty at rush hour and the markets take a beating… When Sachin plays, grandmothers who know next to nothing about the game forget knitting and resting and medicines and pray to their gods as they sit frozen, staring nervously at their television screen… When Sachin plays , busy, ambitious executives ignore their calls and cancel their appointments and avoid their clients and miss their deadlines and put their careers on hold… When Sachin plays, college common rooms are dense and tense and hushed as an entire generation sits on pins and needles… When Sachin plays, school-yards are silent and playgrounds are deserted because those who normally make such a racket imitating their hero are all too busy watching him make batting look so ridiculously easy… When Sachin plays, fathers who want the news and daughters and mothers who always want soft stuff and brothers who fight for action, for once all agree on what to watch… When Sachin plays, bowlers and fielders and opposing captains feel their impotence and inadequacy like at no other time and curse themselves and wonder what they can do, if anything, to end the shame, the nightmare, the humiliation… When Sachin plays, commentators and experts run out of adjectives and expressions of wonder and comparisons… When Sachin plays, lay spectators have no need for words at all and just jump and scream and whistle and clap and hug each other and cry and wave their flags and banners and thank their lucky stars for being there… When Sachin plays, India forgets its differences and divisions and teeters between tensions and exhilaration and breaths and laughs and cries as one, as its heart fills with pride and joy and patriotism… WHEN SACHIN PLAYS, ALL ELSE IS IRRELEVANT”
Such was the impact of this one man army as quoted by Adidas in one of their commercials about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The greatest ever to have grazed the cricket field.
I started watching cricket at the age of 10. I really did not know much about the team then. In India, you can be a fan of any cricketer, but there is a fact that you can never really hate one man. This man redefined cricket in India. I had the privilege to watch him up close during one of the best test innings he had ever played. 136 against Pakistan on a grueling hot day at Chennai. Although India went on to lose that match after Sachin’s effort, it will stay etched in the memories of many for the sheer audacity and fight the man showed. And who can ever forget the twin centuries at Sharjah. You have to be a fool if that doesn’t get a mention on your blog post. And then my recent favorite best of Sachin would be the 175 vs Aus in the 2010 series where India were on the brink of a remarkable victory and lost by just 3 runs chasing 351. That one innings made me watch with awe at what this man had been doing for the past 20 years. It was a spellbinding innings with masterclass written all over it. If i begin to write what i like about this man, this one page can never be enough.
The man who shouldered a billion dreams every time he walked into bat and gave everyone a reason to watch cricket today called it a day to a glorious 23 year old ODI career. Things will never be the same again. The game of ODI cricket loses its greatest servant. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Legend, Sir. Respect for all your achievements & thank you for all those wonderful moments you had given us all along. Thy shall be missed!
Pictures Courtesy © Getty Images
India Vs Australia, 5th ODI, Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hydrabad. Australia had posted 350 in their assigned 50 overs with all players contributing with a ton from Shaun Marsh & 93 from Shane Watson. At that time i thought to myself that it would be a SEHWAG day as he was long overdue, but what followed was the best 3 hours in my life. A godly innings from a godly man. SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR. It all started slow an then the batsmen raised the tempo a bit and just when it all looked a bit easier aussies dismissed Sehwag. Oh! i thought it would be tough and it was looking that way when we were 140 odd for 4 , but Sachin was still batting though. And what followed later was HISTORY. I mean i have never seen someone play with that much grit & determination. Sachin is a class apart. Sublime strokes,aggressive batting,motivating the others,classic batting. He was playing as he was 25. As Raina chipped in, Indians were close,very very close. With Raina out it all looked a bit out of control and then Bhajji’s wicket added to the pressure. I was biting away my nails as if it were chips. Will they or will not? And then the big blow…Sachin dismissed.Period. everyone thought. But Praveen Kumar pulled things back with a 6 but it was all too late. India lost eventually by 3 runs & more than half the team total was scored by SACHIN. That tells a story. A story of a Legend. I feel privileged to have witnessed one such innings in my life. It was more Sachin Vs Australia than India Vs Australia. Such was the way he played. A day when even cricket would be proud that Sachin played it!!! A day that will go in the history books as a win by Australia but Sachin was the real winner, a winner of more than a billion hearts all over the world!!!
The match can be summed up as TEN-DO-LITTLES + WON-DULKAR = INDIA. Just simple math that even a child would know. I felt for the first time why 10 others were even playing cricket. It was a Shame we didnt win after all what Sachin did and all came back to say Sachin didn’t finish it off. All of u who say so Get a Life!!!On a signing note i would like to add that even if someone els had chipped in with a little cameo like Raina did Team India could have GIFTED this game to the Little Master. After all Cricket is a TEAM game!!!
Good Night & Cheers 🙂
Picture Courtesy © AFP
Special Congratulations to Sachin on his 17000+ ODI runs. It is a huge landmark. It just amazed me the way he played today. Mere words cannot describe that innings he played. It was sublime and we were just lucky enough to witness one in our lifetime. Team India could have atleast gifted him the WIN. He scored 175 of the 350 required, that says it all. As Mr.Shashi Tharoor had tweeted and i quote “He didn’t deserve to lose but Ind didn’t deserve to win”.
This will truly be remembered a day when even Cricket is proud that SACHIN TENDULKAR played it!
I have never seen GOD, but i had seen Sachin bat today and i feel BLESSED. Long live Sachin and the LEGEND he is.
Cheers 🙂
Looks like i have been blogging too much, very evident from the fact that i post too often. However the frequency of posts will eventually come down once i set foot in India purely because i do not possess a personal PC (kinda dumb!!!). But I’ll try my level best to blog occasionally when i get time.
This week’s been a ripper with all sorts of news filling the news channels, sports being the major part of it, Gracias to the Olympics. And the week for me was good enough personally too with me laying hands finally on an N73 and its for me to keep. Yup i have upgraded my 6230i for an N73 ME and it rocks big time!!!
POLITICAL LIMBO
Prez. Musharraf has resigned. Oh!!! it was never a hot news except for the news channels going gaa gaa goo goo all over it. It was inevitable given the fact the PM and Co. had already planned to impeach him. And Musharraf was like a kid complaining to the teacher sitting in front of the TV cameras for a record 70 minutes (i thought records were being broken only in Beijing!!!) and busy telling the world how good he was (oh!!! what lies) and blah, blah!!! blah!!!. Just minutes after he was quoted telling “i have decided to resign for my country” (no…no…it wasn’t a comedy show), celebrations were sparked across the nation which seemed to thoroughly enjoy his ouster. Just goes to show how good a man he was!!!(LOL!!!). Looks like “DEMOCRACY” is the new buzz word in Pakistan…finally!!!
OLYMPICS TIME
The Beijing Olympics has already seen loads of world records being broken. Going for the Gold was the USP of many a player and even the Indians have a gold medal at this years Olympics to boast about. Let’s check out some top performers at this years Olympics. The names that have made a mark at BEIJING 2008.
MICHAEL “WATERBOY” PHELPS
Touted to be the fastest human on water this young lad has carved a niche for himself at this Olympics. Thrashing record after record has become a habit for this lad from the USA that he has earned himself a spot in the Olympic hall of fame. 8 medals to his name in this edition of the Olympics equaling Mark Spitz record and a record for being 15 time gold medalist at the Olympics. Want more, he also holds the WR for 6/7 swims in Beijing 2008 and he is just 23.
USAIN “LIGHTNING” BOLT
If Phelps was the fastest man on water, Usain Bolt(ed) his way to become the fastest human on earth sending the WR for the 100m down for a walk. 9.69 secs – and he didn’t even try. The bigger names felt the heat. Tyson Gay gave away at the heats and didn’t qualify for the 100m final. Asafa Powell could only finish the race a sorry 5th and could just watch his WR record tumble to his fellow Jamaican and competitor Bolt. Now that’s what i call a “Sprinted” victory.
ABHINAV “SHOOTING STAR” BINDRA
If ever a whole nation was relieved by someone winning a medal, it was INDIA and thanks mainly to shooting heroics of Abhinav Bindra. This medal made Abhinav a household name across the nation and he will be remembered in the history books forever.
ELENA “JUMPING JACK” ISINBEYEVA
If ever a human was made to break record after record, it is Isinbeyeva. Man, what a lady. My Favourite athelete. Breaking her own world records have become a cup of tea for this beautiful damsel from Russia. 5.05m, the WR and OR to her name and still going strong, her records will be hard to catch up.
RAFAEL “NO.1” NADAL
Winning gold was his only ambition coming into the Olympics and he did it in style. Along with the gold he ended Fedderer’s reing as No.1 in the world. Tennis has got a new World Champion in Rafael Nadal and he’s here to stay for the world to see. Vamos Rafa!!!
Enough of Olympics let’s move on…
“CRICKET”AINMENT
After a pathetic batting show by the Indians in the test series in SL, losing 2-1 to the home side. The ODI batters promised of a good show. But, as it turned out indian viewers (me..me) were eventually robbed 7 of their precious hours watching the dumb show put up by the Indians in the first ODI. The batsmen proved that they bat really well with their mouths than their bats. Mendis couldn’t have asked for a better team against to showcase his talents. If the Indians repeat the same in the following 4 ODI’s im hoping they don’t..let’s wait for the best…
IT’s SHOWTIME
Last week i had watched “SUBRAMANIAPURAM” and would like to recommend it for all those original movie buffs. An excellent movie with awesome performances and retro settings taking us back to the 1980’s. Akshay Kumar has been officially selected new king of bollywood after his SINGH IS KING broke records all over the world. And after eternity i had a chance to watch THE DARK KNIGHT and would like to watch it at least twice in theaters again.
AH!!! i just remembered that i have to go shopping for my trip back to India…Sign off…
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