A Human Being or God!

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 50,000^th 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 200^th 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.