V V K Chandra.com

I have never written anything about cricket here and let alone about Sachin who is considered as God of cricket by his fans.

I was going through one of the articles written by a famous cricket columnist from India, and I was not sure whether he was praising Sachin or he was actually making fun of Sachin. He could have written in a common-man’s language so that people like me could understand what he wanted to say instead of confusing us by his literary skills. In fact, he forgot the fact that not all cricket fans are literary geniuses to understand what he writes.

There is a never ending argument about Sachin that he plays more for his milestones than for the team. Recently, during the Australia’s tour(2009) of India, the milestone of making 17,000 runs in the one-day internationals had become a hot debate in the media. If media hadn’t told me that Sachin is nearing this milestone, an average cricket fan like me wouldn’t know about this. Before every match, every news-channel and newspaper talked about this milestone. Few channels airing special programs about this and running SMS polling about whether he would reach the milestone in that match or not. The hype was created in the first place by media and not by the average cricket fan. There are few cricket fans who know every statistic about cricket. They are few exceptions.

Before the series began, Sachin was 137 runs away from 17,000 runs mark. The audiences in the stadium anticipated that he would reach that landmark in first two or three matches and they came well prepared to cheer for the little master. But the crowds were disappointed in the first four matches. In the fourth match it was more because of an umpiring mistake rather than anything else. Sachin was seven runs away and he was declared out with a very controversial decision. Of course the same media guys had huge debate over this decision showing all the previous mistakes which costed India Sachin’s wicket at crucial times.

With seven runs away from the milestone, he came to Hyderabad and in all cases everyone expected to witness the history being created. Sachin took 16 balls to score seven runs and he became the first player to cross the milestone of scoring 17,00o runs in ODIs. Yes, it was easy to sense that Sachin was a little nervous till he reached that mark. For me, it was more out of responsibility than anything else from Sachin’s part. What if he got out without reaching the milestone? What a disappointment it would have been for the thousands of spectators who came to the stadium to witness history being created? They were not disappointed and in fact enthralled to see Sachin playing as if he was back to his twenties.

Unfortunately, after hitting 175 runs from 141 balls, a knock which was praised by none other than Sourav Ganguly as the best ever from Sachin, India lost the match or rather thrown away the match after Sachin got out seeing India almost home in a crucial encounter.

For me, this was one of the best innings by any Indian cricketer. Chasing 350 runs against Australia in a high pressure match is not any easy. But Sachin made it look so easy that India almost won the match. And the other big names like Dhoni, Gambhir, and Yuvraj back in pavilion without reaching double digit scores, Sachin terrorized Australians with his superb stroke play.

Now, coming to the never ending debate that Sachin plays for himself rather than for India, I think this is a silly argument created by few idle brains.

When you criticize Sachin, think of what right you have to do that in the first place. You have a little  eligibility to comment if you have played at least one international cricket match for India.

This little man had dedicated his life to Indian cricket for two decades and still going as strong as he was when he started. He had seen other players come after him and retire before him. There was a time when if Sachin’s wicket was taken, the opposition thought that the battle was almost half won.

The funniest thing is, few people with a microphone in their hands and a journalism degree behind them, talk about cricketers, as if those very journalists have played cricket forever. I wonder how many of those journalists/analysts have seen a cricket ball/bat from close quarters except on TV. Come on guys, you have got to create more meaningful news than criticizing somebody who is playing for his country. Go get some other news and don’t waste precious time analyzing what if Sachin had played a square-cut instead of a scoop-shot and what if Dhoni hadn’t made that bowling change.

Sehwag made it very clear many times that Sachin is his favorite player and of course his inspiration. Sachin, without any doubt had inspired a whole array of younger generation to chase the dream of playing cricket for India.

Modern cricket is yet to see anything near to the phenomenon that we call as  Sachin, no matter whether it is on the field or off the field. Real gentleman of of the game. Do  you remember anytime seeing Sachin losing his temper and shouting at other players? I don’t think I have seen.

I am not a statistics crazy guy, but I learned that Sachin had won 57 man of the match awards till now in one-days and 15 man-of-the-series awards. That is a real statistic if you want to look at them. This should be some food for thought for those who criticize the little master.

Now that India officially lost the series, there will be enough news for the tv-channels to talk about for a couple of days.

India cannot win in every match we play.When a billion people expect the players to win every match, the pressure is sometimes overbearing. Nobody expected India to win the first T20 world-cup and nobody thought India would perform so badly in the second T20 world-cup. It’s all part of the game.

We have to enjoy the game more than enjoying the victory.

Having said that, I still remember the day I almost cried when India lost the match in 1996 world-cup semifinal against Sri Lanka. I was a crazy cricket fan then when I was a school-kid. When I was absent for the school, one of my teachers used to ask me what cricket match was there on that day.

If cricket is considered as a religion, India is a monotheistic country. Cricket is enjoyed by kids of five years old and is also enjoyed by people who are in nineties.

Stop criticizing Sachin. He knows when to retire, he knows what shot to play, he knows everything about cricket for that matter.

For all those critics of Sachin, we know that history will forget you, but Sachin will remain forever in the history of cricket.

PS: I am a Sachin’s fan and not a maniac fan though. I do feel sad when he gets out no matter what score he is on.