A Human Being or God!
When I ask myself “Is God really
present”, my answer would be “yes”. But people would consider me foolish as I
say so. I would justify myself in seeing God in a man named Sachin Ramesh
Tendulkar. The cricketing fraternity truly considers that. But, I think he is
above all that. No one would have ever dreamt of a 16-year old guy hitting 4
sixes to Abdul Qadir in an exhibition match at Karachi in 1989 to be the
ultimate “Badshaah” of international cricket. He himself wouldn’t have dreamt also.
That’s a reality today. He made an illegible mark in world cricket when he
scored his 50,000th run in a T20 match recently. This seems to be
quite impossible for any other individual to achieve. Isn’t it?
Words fall short when I narrate
about this person. Starting his journey under the stewardship of Srikanth till
the end of the journey with Dhoni, he had the most illustrious career any
sportsperson could ever have. Cherishing the “Boost” advertisement with Kapil
Dev on national television till “Toshiba”’s last advertisement, he has been
indeed a remarkable brand ambassador for various companies. He has been serving
Indian cricket for the last 24 years and has kept the spectators enthralled
through his contribution, demeanor and dignity. The batting prowess exhibited
by this maestro in 1998 at Sharjah in the midst of sandstorm against the mighty
Aussies speaks of his exceptional capabilities. I feel myself extremely lucky
enough to witness a glimpse of such an innings in one of our neighbour’s house
when there was no cable connection in our home. I could still claim his score
of 136 against Pakistan in Chennai test-match in 1999 as one of the greatest
knocks ever noticed. The lethal attack of Pakistan bowlers along with the
scorching sun adding to the humidity levels brought the best from this man in
spite of having acute back pain. Regarding this particular innings, I used to
debate with my friends during my engineering days. Many such instances are
there and it is not so easy for anybody to pick the top 5 or top 10 innings of
his life. People can keep debating on that. During 1999 world-cup, he lost his
father. He came back to India to perform the last rituals and again fled to
England to serve his country and smashed an unbeaten 140 against Kenya. This
specifies the real meaning of commitment. Sachin was among the players who
appeared as witnesses in the famous “Monkey-gate” scandal, and stated that
Harbhajan merely used a Hindi abuse which sounded like ‘monkey’. Even though
Australian media was miffed with Sachin on that incident, yet he was conferred
with the Member of the Order of Australia award, a very special honour. Many
would have forgotten match referee Mike Denness who banned Sachin for a
test-match on charges of ball tampering. It was the most unbelievable incident
that could happen to this man. Being the first overseas player to play for
Yorkshire County Club in 1992 till the first cricketing person to score 100
centuries in 2012, he has received huge accolades in every nook and corner of
the world. In a recent interview to Headlines Today, Virat Kohli, the most
flamboyant team member of current Indian cricket team, said that “It is the
work-ethics of Sachin that keeps him apart from all and maintaining that for 24
long years is an astounding feat itself.” You can ask this to Ramakant
Achrekar, Sachin’s first coach or to any other Indian. The answer would be loud
that Virat is correct.
Since he had decided to hang his
boots after the 200th test, I am happy as well as sad today. I am
happy that I could see this person in real-time and sad that I won’t see him on
cricket field anymore. I have grown up seeing this person. I am sure that my
interest for cricket won’t be the same as earlier. Thank you “SIR” for
everything.
