Sachin Tendulkar's Retirement...an unmatched furore!

Sachin's Tendulkar's retirement...An unmatched furore!

I am touching a topic probably every person in india has an opinion on...right from a schoolkid to a retired grandpa...When should Sachin Tendulkar retire?To be honest, I find this question itself baffling..We are talking about when a person who has scaled everything there is to achieve as a batsman, both for Team India and personally (people argue on this one a lot,more to come in the subsequent paras), and when he should retire from a profession he has mastered and taken to a level where it is not a game...it is an art...In all fairness, did Sachin Tendulkar ask any of us how to play a straight drive?Or for that matter score a hundred?Or how to shoulder expectation of a billion crazy fans?Then why should our opinions matter when it comes to his retirement!That too when he is as good form as he was some years ago.Is 39 biting people so much that the minute he does not perform up to HIS mark (I say HIS mark because he set benchmarks for others to follow..even his average form is much batter than most others' peak) critics raise their knives and ask him to retire?

By the way critics asking him to retire has its own history...At 34 when he had a tennis elbow, people called for him to retire...he silenced critics by averaging 55 in the subsequent 2 years...Greg Chappell happens...people ask him to retire...he again proved them wrong by beating HIS OWN average for the next 2 years..Hell he has averaged 50 in ODIs in the past 5 years!How many batsmen average that much in ODI's!Talking about playing at his will..guys be fair...when you did not complain when he scored all those tonnes...why complain when he does not score a ton but still plays better than most others in the team?Isnt it about performing for India?Has he been any less there?

Talking of personal milestones...critics have their own say here as well...they say he plays for his own records...guys give it a break...did he ever ask anyone to count his 100 tonnes?We keep these things in mind because they are glorified by the media...hell if you consider the number of 90's he has scored from 2007, he is way past the 100 tonnes anyways(He has 17 90+ scores in ODI's in his career)!Does that 3 figure score matter so much that his 90's are less valuable to the team's cause?Again, if he scores that 100th 100 people say he plays for his own records...if he does not, people call him out of form (by the way a 70 or an 80 for the team is by no means out of form)...Again people fail to appreciate that 100 international tonnes is something no one might possibly ever achieve!Today people who raise their swords to ask for Sachin's head, I have a question...Just because he set a benchmark...does that mean you benchmark him against himself?Is that fair?

Talking of age...how many cricketers of ages lesser than him sprint for the second run on the field?He still has the best work ethic in the team...We did not give respect to Saurav Ganguly or Rahul Dravid...this is the least we owe to the last standing stalwart of the past 2 decades of Indian cricket...let him decide when to retire...If he has a few more years of joy to Share with India...enjoy the legend instead of blaming him...after all...the whole nation will celebrate the day he gets his personal milestone of 100 tonnes (That day it wont matter that he gor a personal milestone...right?)..In the process...look at his performances....As they always say...applaud or criticize the performance...not the performer...Till the next tonne from Sachin to as usual silence his critics... :):)

India's (Nightmarish) tour diary of England...

I LOVE CRICINFO COMMENTARY...HERE ARE SOME HILARIOUS EXCERPTS FROM THE INDIA ENGLAND TEST MATCH....

"Mishra to Strauss, OUT, the wicket has arrived. India look on in disbelief and then relief. Mishra actually appeals, even though the batsman is bowled. That's how unlikely a wicket has looked"

-When Mishra finally got strauss out (off a no ball that wsnt called)

"Sharma to Bell, FOUR, 130.1 kph, someone needs to give the Indian team a screening of the movie 'The Third Man'. It's a good movie, and it is an equally good fielding position"

-When Ian Bell was toying with the Indian Bowling

"Ishant makes a hilarious fielding effort at mid-off, if you can call it that. It almost seemed inevitable that he wouldn't get there. Alan Wilkins says he dived 'in installments'. Full from Mishra, lovely wristy extra-cover drive through wide mid-off. Ishant moves away like a giraffe and falls like one too. The ball beats him easy"

-When Ishant Sharma made a "diving" stop attempt

"Anthony, flag-bearer of the spirit of cricket from England's side: "In the interests of fairness and as we really owe MS Dhoni one, should we declare now?" The answer from the Indian camp in one word would be: "MOST DEFINITELY!""

-During the day

"What a waste of time - getting Bell out, then calling him back, then addressing media in the evening stating reason. Better, drop the catch!"

-When Dravid Dropped Ian bell in slips!

"ENOUGH ! Please stop this insipid play. Give the Indians their IPL jerseys now, let SRK give inspiring speech, let Mallya pour in some beer and let Ambani announce a trillion $ for each player if they get English out in the next Half hour !"

-When the spectators actually lost it on the Indian teams indifferent show

"What do you call 11 people watching fireworks? A. The Indian Cricket Team"

-As the play approached teatime

August 11th 2011

Of Cricket.....Sport and Beyond!

Words cannot express the emotions each Indian burst out with on April 2nd, 2011 as Dhoni hit his trademark swash to send the ball sailing across the long on boundary...!Whether you are a cricket lover or not...simply did not matter today...Young and old...men and women...boys and girls...all had only and only one priceless emotion to show for what had just happened... EXHILARATION!!Dhoni's boys rewrote history books and went on to achieve something that had eluded India for 28 long years after what Kapil's men achieved!

There will be innumerable comparisons that will be drawn between these 2 sides in days to come...To be fair...the 2 teams went into their respective world cup campaigns with totally different mindsets...totally different expectations....Yes there were similarities like India exiting the 1979 and the 2007 editions in the first rounds...But there was one difference no one could deny...Kapil's Devils started the 1983 campaign as underdogs and went on to achieve the unimaginable...Dhoni's Team started the 2011 with an expectation and fulfilled it...The team of 1983 left the cricketing world agape after pitting the mighty West Indians...The team of 2011 was more like "We came..we saw..and we conquered.."!

So what exactly is it that separated these 2 champion sides....!That both the captains ended up lifting the World cup for India definitely didn't...What was different was the expectation of the common Indian!The 1983 team went on to win the world stage in England when the sun of Indian dreams was just starting to rise on the far end of the grand Himalayas...The 2011 team re-iterated that feat when India had well and truly arrived on the global stage!And no, I am not talking of the expectations of people from the bunch of cricketers!I am not even talking of the moolah that BCCI has that makes India a global cricketing power!I am talking of the dreams that a common Indian man quietly seems to unload on the 11 guys playing on field!His own dreams!The aspirations of an Indian fan from his own life are what we eventually end up calling "expectations from the team!"No wonder we call cricket a religion in India...For it redefines boundaries of what people can think...it redefines how a common Indian dreams...It imagines the unimaginable!

To say the least, culmination of 2011 Cricket World Cup has been a fairytale for every Indian Cricket fan.The whack of Dhoni's bat was a telling blow to pretty much sum up the sea change the attitude the common Indian has gone...Back in the 80's, a win was celebrated for the simple reason that people simply did not know when will it come again!They simply could not dream everyday night and that mindset pretty much rubbed of on the team!Today...people expect a win every game...and it is pretty much evident from the attitude the team showcases..including the captain who proved his worth by leading from the front WHEN IT MATTERED THE MOST...!

From Kapil Dev to Azhar was an era of slow but steady rise....From Azhar to Ganguly was an era of robust growth...From Ganguly to Dhoni is an era that ushers pride...!Come to think of it...that has been pretty much the growth story of India as a nation, hasn't it?Is it a mere coincidence that the rise of common Indian's dreams coincide with the rise of India as a cricketing power on the global stage?Or is there much more to it than that?Has the upbringing of the past generation caused a change in the attitude of the 11 men a whole nation rests their hopes on?Or is it just the way Indian cricket has risen and the mindset of all and sundry has got nothing to do with it?

The debate of whether Sachin can be considered as GOD after all that has transpired in Indian cricket over the past 2 decades is another rousing topic each one of us has an opinion on...an opinion we all guard...No I am not going into that debate again....but there is one reason why the man has a special place in the Indian heart...It is not the sheer weight of his records or not even the whole world going ga ga over his class...He taught the Indian people to dream...he was the human manifestation of the Indian dream that was stifled for a very long time...Sunil Gavaskar was the glimmer of Indian hope...Sachin was their living dream!No wonder Virat Kohli (who probably was in his diapers when Sachin started playing international cricket) quoted "Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years. It is time we carried him on our shoulders" The burden was not of scoring runs....it was not of winning games for India...it was the burden of keeping the common Indian's dream alive!When Sachin scored...India slept peacefully...Critics might raise their eyebrows and say no one is bigger than the game...even I believe so(refer to the next post)...But here is a man who carried the great Indian dream impeccably in the past 2 decades...Not a spot on his ever rising career that could taint him...No wonder people worship and idolize him....Because to them he was no longer a cricketer..he was a living example of what they wanted to BE!

The raging question is....will the torch of carrying this dream shift after this nerve dangling yet all-satisfying win??Or will the nation still look back at it's old hero on the field to recreate the magic that delves in their heart as they sleep peacefully tonight!Time will surely tell...but all said and done...Indian cricket has arrived and is here to stay...not because of a strong batting lineup...not because of any other cricketing reason...It is purely and purely because of the attitude that this team carries!Kudos Team India...Today you lived our dream!!!

World Cup Fever...Food for Thought!

As dust settles on the excitement of heart-stopping match that we just had...A match many called a final before the final...A match that is going to lead India to another match of importance of epic proportions...Many would say Sachin crossed 18000 runs...Many more would again start the argument on whether he is the greatest batsman ever...An impossibly high number of people will totally outnumber a select few saying no cricketer is bigger than the game (including the very man who people call GOD..Remember the Pepsi commercial he asked to change years back because he looked bigger than the game in it?)...Make no mistake about it...I am one of the biggest fans of the most worshiped cricketer in India...I have each and every special inning of his, on video, downloaded and watch it many times over...

But there is a bigger question that we all need to ask ourselves...Is the greatness of one man bigger than the game itself...??When Sachin scores a hundred against South Africa and everyone else throws it away...People (media included) scramble to find words to demean the Indian batting lineup...To speak of how the great man played and how everyone else fettered the advantage and India lost the match...There is a Harsha Bhogle blog floating on what we need to give back to Sachin...The very next match...Yuvraj scores a century and again the indian batting lineup collapses like a pack of cards...Yes media again goes out with its business of criticizing the celebrated Indian batting lineup with clinical precision...But this time there was a difference...Not a single article was written about how well Yuvraj played...Is Yuvraj's hundred any less important Sachins?

The point I am trying to make here is not to contest the fact that Sachin is one of the greatest cricketers to have ever graced the game...It is not even about the statistical brilliance or the brilliance of the man that makes batting look like an art form...Not even about the billion hearts who want him to succeed each times he goes out to bat on those 22 yards...It is about the other 10...Yes there is something special about the man...But does that mean that no one else can be special?Does that mean that a Yuvraj 100 is any less important to India winning a game?If at all anything...The South Africa game is an eye opener to most of us who call Sachin a one man team!Sachin can get us to a point from where we can win because of his individual brilliance...But if the other 10 dont contribute...we cant win...

Yes Sachin played brilliantly against SA and it was an exhibition of batsmanship...but Sehwag and Gambhir played from the other side too...If we appreciate...at the end of todays match, Yuvraj has scored 341 runs in this world cup and has taken 11 wickets (Only the third player in WC history to do so) and has won 4 Man of the match awards out of the 7 matches India has played...Zaheer has single handedly spearheaded the fragile Indian bowling brilliantly...There are other players who have performed brilliantly in the period Sachin has been in top gear...But we choose to overlook them to the brilliance of one man...Then is there an incentive for them to perform???(People would argue about Crores but put yourself in their boots guys...Yes..Crores do matter..but being appreciated equally as your peers for your performance matters too!)I know I am not going to be a very popular guy for writing this article...Many would argue Sachin has risen above everyone...Yes there is something about the man that no one else has...His work ethic...his temperament...his focus...But there are others who have it too...Have we ever spoken about Rahul Dravid??Sachin scored 186* V/s NZL (His best until he hit 200) Rahul Dravid was at the other end scoring 152...Ganguly Scored 183 V/s SL (His best) Rahul Dravid was at the other end with 145...His 180 when Laxman Scored the epic 281...and tonnes of other instances!Has Rahul Dravid been idolized as much as Sachin??Yes sachin is much more flamboyant than Dravid...but hey...isnt it about winning games for India??Has Rahul Dravid won any less games??Is his work ethic or his batsmanship any less??

Another food for thought...Sachin has been around for 21 years on the international circuit...Yet india never became the No.1 Test side or never looked like winning the world cup (Barring 2003-Even then the final proved one man can get you to the final but can win it all on his own)..All these dreams were achieved(or look like being achieved) now because there is something that this team has that no other India team has had...the attitude to carry a win...Yes Sachins performance has been paramount in the years that got India to this stage...But there have been others who have performed amazingly well for India in the same period (Sehwag in test matches has been murderous, Gambhir has been equally effective with his nudge-a-single approach..not to mention the others who played their part as well)

To sum it all up...the point I am trying to make is yes all 5 fingers cannot be same.There are going to be some big some small..What really matters is how these fingers grip together and form the fist that delivers the punch!After all let us not forget...We know Sachin because of Cricket...Not Cricket because of Sachin...!