The Joy Called SACHIN

Outside grounds, people wait until he goes in before paying to enter. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer. We sink into despair if he fails and a maddening surge of patriotism frenzy breaks out when he does succeed. He is virtually GOD to most who follow the game and a single ray of hope to the expectations of a billion people. For over 20 years now and since the time he was 16 this is how Sachin Tendulkar knows cricket.

Its a treat to the eye to see how the great man scores his runs waiting for the delivery like a boxer ready to deliver the KO punch. He moves quickly into position flashing his bat to guide the ball where he wills. Its a rare combination of textbook classicism and raw aggression. He always seems to have the measure of every ball as he smacks it cleanly through the panicking fielders. His statistics are too numerous to show his greatness but a few words from the bowlers who stare him down 22 yards shall put all doubts to rest. In many ways he is like Maradona, at 5 feet 4 the stature is the same but what he shares with the Argentinian star is something called “Peripheral Awareness”. Its awareness of a man who even without looking already has a map of the field logged in his brain. Even before the ball leaves the bowlers hand he knows whether to go front or back while lesser men still decide, and once the blade meets the ball right underneath his chin the result is another helpless gasp from the bowler and leather hunt for the poor fielders. The opposition cant help but praise as he exists in a place where only a few can.

I personally liked the Sachin back in the 1996's and 98's, pulling McGrath for a six, hitting Warne out of the ground, destroying Henry Olonga. Captain ship put a unwanted burden on him which hampered his batting and then in 2001 it was found bowling a negative line hampers the great man which was cruelly put to use by England and Australia. A few failures and may claimed it was “ENDDULKAR” for the great man but then suddenly out came the paddle sweep and the slash over slip shots. Sachin was back. He wasnt as ruthless as he used to be but nevertheless batted with the same tenacity and aggression. He plays more freely now thanks to a loosening burden of expectations due to the increasing number match winners in the team. The 200 was a testimony to the fact how well he understood the game. He cut pulled drove his way to 150 and as he neared the landmark choose more to hit the ball into the gaps and run. The already hapless fielders had given up way back even to try and effect a run out.

But how in hell does this man do it? How, after all these years, does he not only maintain the phenomenally high standard he set at the start, but constantly raise the bar even further? And how in hell does he convey the impression that his enjoyment has only increased with time? He himself perhaps is the motivator as he battles not against the opposition but against himself. He is his own bar and strives to overcome himself.

In a country where cricket is a religion Sachin serves to be be its baptism, for us ordinary humans, it is enough to say that we were privileged to have lived in the same era as this awesome batsman.