The Legendary of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

The last time I wrote about Sachin Tendulkar was before the World Cup 2011, asking questions why the Indian team, consisting of cricket gods like Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, was not able to win the World Cup Championship.  This time, with Tendulkar announcing his retirement, an article was published in the 'The Hindu' newspaper, last Sunday, under the Canvas section of Magazine supplementary, had made me write another post on the same topic. 

Titled 'The Man Who Became God' by L. Suresh, the article highlighted that only if Tendulkar had fans instead of worshipers  things would have ended differently.  The author goes on to say Tendulkar faced problems beyond his age and his failures on the field because he was elevated to a position above mortals.  Projecting him as god has ended up making him the target of critics.  The same critics were quite when Lara didn't pull his team when they caved in or when Ponting lost two Ashes series but did not spare Tendulkar as he was put both on a pedestal as well as a microscope.  Being elevated as god, it didn't matter when he took the team into the finals of World Cup 2003 but did matter when he didn't score a 100 in the finals.  It didn't matter when he, as the only player, notched up 50s and 100s but did matter when he didn't get his team to win.  The author ends the article by saying his retirement deserves better response since the question "Why?" cried out by half the population was drowned by a resounding "Why not?" from the other half.

As I read the article, I was wondering when was the first time Tendulkar was christened as the god of cricket.  I believe it was during the Coca-Cola Cup of 1998, a tri-nation series between India, Australia and New Zealand, when he scored back-to-back centuries, popularly know as the Desert Storm, helping India to win the cup.  It was the same time when Shane Warne claimed that he had "nightmares" at the thought of bowling to Tendulkar.  Tendulkar was credited for winning the tournament highhandedly.  Tendulkar's first century in that tournament helped India to get to the finals based on a better run rate and his second century helped to win the finals.

The next question pondered in my mind was why did we make him a god.  I believe it is not only because of his batting skills and his behavior.  I think it has been the culture of India.  Immortalization of a person has been the summit of exaltation for us.  Be it the field of music, cinema or cricket, we always had gods.  True to our worship, we had gone to the extend of creating clashes among us when one's god was compared better to another's god.  Even though it is humane that everyone has their own likes and dislikes, immortalization of their favorite heroes has always stirred commotions at a greater level.  I am starting to believe that whenever a immortalization of a mortal happens, there are grave consequences as an equal and opposite reaction.  Is it because the true Immortal does not have want any mortal to be portrayed as mortal that the consequences are violent, I do not know.

I agree with the author that if only Sachin's fans stayed as a fan instead of becoming a worshiper or let him remain a legend instead of making him god, I think maybe, he would have gone to bat without bearing the heavy expectation of the entire population to score a century every time  on his shoulders.  Maybe, houses of cricketers would not been destroyed after performing badly in a World Cup match.  Maybe, there wouldn't be a protest against anyone who has made remarks against man-immortalized-god.  Maybe, falling at the feet would happen only to the true Immortal and our parents and not any equally mortal man.  If only we had enjoyed any event as it is rather than making someone god, lives could have been better.

Image credits: msn.com, blogspot.com, mid-day.com

What does this mean to us?

Usually my day starts with me walking just a few minutes after the sunrise to get 1.5 liters of milk for my family. I would have to go past a Corporation Play Ground to reach the Aavin booth.  The play-ground inhabits a basket-ball court, a volley-ball court and a gym.  Few North-Indians popularly known as Marwadis in Chennai would be playing volley-ball to reduce the sweet-paan-ghee induced cholesterol in their bodies.  The gym would be seldom open but when opened, it would busy with young men sweating their butt off to put that extra muscle in their bodies.  Older men would be running around the inside of the ground to reduce their pot bellies and some exercising on the jungle-gym found in the play-ground.  Even though there is a basket-ball court, I have never seen anyone play basket-ball there.  The court is only used for playing cricket and one can always find few youngsters hitting the ball.  Off late, I even found a person training kids on karate.  During school days, the ground will not be that crowded but weekends and school vacation always made the teens and the youngsters populate the playground even before the sunrise for playing cricket.   

That's the usual scene that I had witnessed for the past eleven years.  However, on the morning of April 3rd of 2011,  I felt that cricket will not be played here anymore with the same passion it was played until today.  No more tennis balls would be hit with the same aggression in that basket-ball court.  No more Pepsi balls would be bowled with the same heart inside that ground.  It would be bigger than ever one would have imagined.  I felt that the kid who was facing the ball that morning would be recollecting how his heroes the previous night were inching towards victory with each ball being bowled in the final.  I felt that every time a teenager hits the ball from that time would feel how Dhoni would have felt when he hit the winning knock and relishing that moment as if he was the one who hit that six.  Every time an aspiring bowler bowled that morning would imagine himself as Zak bowling the maiden overs the previous night.  The passion is ignited ever than before.  It is all because India won the Cricket World Cup 2011 just few hours before the start of this day.

From now on, no fathers would discourage their cricket-aspiring sons to stop playing cricket because India never won the World Cup.  From now on, gully cricket would be played like an international tournament.  From now on, local play grounds would be played on as if it is the Lord's stadium.  Yes, cricket means a lot to us, Indians.  It is sacred than religion, powerful than politics, seducing than sex and larger than life to us.  What a moment had it been.  Lifting the World Cup in the home soil before your own fellow-indians and for the second time, no Indian cricketing fan could ask for anything more.  For the first time, a team player hitting a century in a Cricket World Cup final ends on the losing side.  I don't know how many other records were broken that night.  However, this moment would be relished in the billions of hearts in India.  My mother who knew nothing about cricket sat throughout the Indian batting.  My sister-in-law who knew only few players and that too only in the Indian side was calling Malinga, the yellow-haired-fellow, cussing him for taking the wickets of Sehwag and Sachin.  And after a long time, my brother burst a 10000 wallah in our street when India lifted the cup.  Yes, in India, cricket rejuvenates the kids in us.

Usually the losing team would have the woulds and coulds and the ifs and the buts.  "We (losing team) could have scored some 20 more runs but....."."If we would have played with that player, we would have not lost but...."."If he had taken that catch, it would have been the turning point of the match, but...."  But I felt now that the winning team would also have the woulds but in the opposite way.  Now politicians would say India won because their party was in reign, ruling the country.  Selectors would say India won because we selected the right players.  Sponsors would say India won because our brand names were on their jerseys.  Astrologists and Numerologists would now claim that they had predicted India will win.  It is rightly said that Success has many fathers while failure is an orphan.  Let whoever claim whatever they said it would happen.  History was re-written last night and more than claiming, cricketing fans in India would want to relish this moment for their entire lives.

I was always skeptical about the performance of the Indian team in any tournament but that night this event has made my mouth shut and many others like me and with a remorse for such an attitude, I felt proud for being an Indian that night.  India first sent Australia to their homes, second Pakistan to their homes and finally Sri Lanka to their homes.  And what did India bring to our homes?  The Cricket World Cup 2011.

The legendary of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

A recent spat with my friend has provoked me to write about this genius. Everybody who knows cricket would know who this person is. A new era in cricket was born when he set his foot into this sport. In fact, this sport has more fame because of this little master than anything else. Yes, it is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who has achieved more than any cricketer could ever do.

Sachin has been incredible throughout his career. He has been the leader in terms of runs scored and centuries at a better strike rate. He's one of the few Indian players who was able to maintain the same level of consistency both at home and away. Also his average being better in matches where India won would tell us his match winning performances. He has also scored consistently against the World Champions and indeed, his batting average against Australia is slightly higher than his overall career average. Sachin has left no stones unturned and have set many records in the history of cricket.

If at all there's one thing that is missing in Sachin's achievement would be the World Cup. He has made 5 appearances in the World tournament so far but yet the team has not won a single time. Is that we do not have better players since cricket is not a single man's game that we lose every time? We had "On the off-side, first there is God, then there is Ganguly." We had "If cricket is religion, then Sachin is God". We had "The Wall" Rahul Dravid. We did have the greatest cricketer of all times but then why did we still fail?

Australia never had an off side God, a Wall or a cricketing God but they have managed to win it more than once and once under the very nose of India. What one cricketing GOD could not achieve was achieved by 11 cricketing mortals.

I am not into pondering the answers for these questions. My question is simple: What is the use of having so much money, if one could get what he wants? What is the use of having the best bedroom in the whole world, if one could not have a peaceful sleep? What is the use of having so much great cricketers in our country, if we could not win one World Cup after 1983?

Statistics Courtesy: CricBuzz

IPL II 2009: Rajasthan Royals

In its first season, not even the owners of Rajasthan Royals would have had hoped that their team would secure a berth in the semi-finals as they were regarded as the minnows. However, under the captaincy of the legendary leg spinner, the young team won the inaugural title of IPL. And they deserved it. What Chennai Super Kings could not achieve with their legends like Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Suresh Raina, L Balaji and MS Dhoni, was achieved by the Rajasthan Royals with the likes of Yusuf Pathan, Sohail Tanvil and Shane Watson. CSK had players who had already found the cricketer in them and because of that they were brought to IPL but RR had players who had only then discovered a cricketer in themselves and that too which can win titles. It was a revelation to most of the youngsters.

Let's put the past to the past. In the season II, RR could not win big apart from one or two last ball thrillers. It always lacked one more batsman or a bowler. Shane Warne and his men lost the winning rhythm when one of its strike player fails. May be it was nothing to lose for Shane as he said in a post match session but for the youngsters like Swapnit Adonkar and Naman Ohja it was an opportunity. They could not make better out of it. Yet, Ravindra Jadeja made it to the Indian T20 team but would be given a chance in the much settled and comfortable Indian team is a big question.

Why Rajasthan Royals still remains my favourite team in spite of it not making to the semi this season is the captaincy of Shane Warne. He brings the best of his players who discover a different person inside them. The way he puts his faith on the youngsters and guides them is really tremendous. He has got that gift. Keeping his head cool, talking to the players every time they've been hit to boundaries or in the death overs really brings out the best. He does drive the passion of the game in the youngsters. May be that's the stuff the legends are made up of.

I pray that they regain in the next season what they lost this season.