the small god - the ten(thousand)dulkar

A normal day in my home on a sunday morning when India was playing-
Mom: Get up fast. India is batting
Me: Oh shit. coming coming...

Whats so special about this conversation?
It happened almost every other weekend in the 90's.
Getting up to watch Sachin bat was one of the most eagerly awaited experiences in my life. The fear, that if I got up too late and if Sachin got out early, there was no value left in the day, was real!

What can I write about this guy. I mean, he has achievements that cannot even be fitted into an article! So I'll do the easy thing. I'll skip the figures.

He started his career when I started my cricket watching career. How lucky can one get, right! Here was a guy , all of 5 foot and 5 inches and he was making bowlers double his size look stupid. Was there any shot he couldn't play?
Pitch the ball up- he had the straight drive,
a bit short- he had the amazing punch off his back foot,
shorter - and it was gone into the stands!
The bowler would be tearing his hair in frustration, mouthing expletives and then the next ball - same result!

The outstanding quality about Sachin's batting was that he made the game look so easy. His footwork, head position and bat speed always seemed to be in sync. A ball which was well left by Sachin was a moral victory for the bowler. An attempted play and miss was a rarity - a cause for jubilation for the bowler. For a period, it was difficult to imagine if batting could be done any better. Add to it his bowling and quick fielding. He could bowl leg spinners that spat at the batsmen, he could bowl off spin, he could bowl swinging medium pace! Was there ever a person more destined for cricket? On days he missed with the bat, he was still a threat for the opposition batsmen with his mixed bowling. And if India were chasing, no opposition would be sure of victory till the small guy was back in the hut.

To a country in which cricket was a religion, Sachin was GOD. There was no wrong he could do. As he took guard, there were a million people seeing it on TV, hearing it on radio, watching it live hoping for the next ball to speed towards the boundary. Imagine living through this pressure whenever you came to work! It was just crazy, and one of the main things that separated Sachin from the other greats. No one in the history of the game, and that includes Bradman, ever had the same amount of pressure. What made it even more admirable was that he was a batsman, meaning that only 1 mistake and he was back in the pavilion. He did not have the luxury that the bowlers have of bowling bad balls once in a while.

Unfortunately for Sachin, while he was at his peak, India had no great bowlers running through the opposition. So he had to settle for draws or losses in many matches which India might have won had they had the bowling attack they have currently. But then life is not always perfect. Over a period of time, his reflexes have waned. His body is showing the wear and tear of 16 years of non stop cricket. He is still the most outstanding team man but then, in a country of a billion, where you have to select just 6 batsmen, time is running out. Soon, it will be time for us to face the reality - life without Sachin. It will never be the same again, but what we will have are a truckload of memories to savour. Who can forget his thrashing of Shane Warne when Warne confessed to having nightmares about it,his hitting of Olonga in the final in Sharjah,his first ODI innings as an opener in NZ, his square cut six off Shoaib in the World cup, his backfoot punch off Wasim Akram in the World cup, his two innings' in Sharjah and the hero cup semi final when he bowled the final over.

There have been other great players, but there has and will be only one Sachin. He was God's gift to Indian cricket and we were the lucky devotees to witness it first hand. Some time in the future I will proudly say to future generations , 'I was there when Sachin did ...' and no one can take that away from me!

Sachin, in all humility, I would like to tell you - Thank you , Sir - for all that you have given us and for providing that extra bit of life in our lives! cheers!