CLT20 2013: Sachin Tendulkar strikes back!

Quite an amazing innings from Sachin – this seems unreal. Against all the apprehensions of the fans, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has struck again – showing the substantial volume of cricket left in him!

Today, he appeared to be in good mood. In the first over itself, he came down the wicket to strike the ball. He got a life early on, when a catch dropped short. The next ball was duly dispatched for four. Two brilliant hits for six followed in the next over. It looked as if he had turned back the years. Then he had a narrow escape, nearly getting cleaned up. He was in excellent touch, cutting the ball for some good boundaries. Although he was dismissed for 35, I think he has played well.

He also completed 50,000 cumulative runs in all forms of cricket. This is a really massive achievement. The commentators said that Sachin was next to perfection.

It has always been a delight to see the master bat. Everyone gets immense pleasure in seeing Sachin executing his impeccable straight drives. His perfect copy book style has been imprinted on the memory of billions of fans over a period of time.

Honestly, many of the writers – hurt after the repeated failure of Sachin, had been so demoralized that most of them have given up. His name has lost its magical charm drastically, especially during the last two years. Sachin has failed to deliver as per the expectations of the fans across the globe and he is no longer the most sought after cricketer.

A few blamed it directly on the impact of ageing. Others put the onus on the ever increased stress Sachin Tendulkar was going through. It was the pressure to fulfill the desire of millions of fans who wanted him to create a new record every time he emerged on the crease.

In fact, the emotional bonding and the level of attachment is so intense that no reasoning or logic works as far as our expectations from Sachin are concerned. As a friend of mine usually says, “In this cricket mad country, the fans follow Sachin in almost a religious manner, and you cannot deteriorate a devotee’s blind faith, come what may”. I have not heard any more rational plea!

In cricket, it is pretty old notion that sometimes it is just one’s day when the timing becomes favorable. Against all the odds, even miscalculated shots prove fruitful or the deadly balls thrashing into the stumps are called no balls. The batsman gets many lives, and it is perhaps called the favorable time.

Sachin Tendulkar is known to be a very wise man. He loves the game, he lives for the game. So a cricketer with so much of passion and obsession should be given a legitimately owned privilege to decide when the right time to quit is. And as a tribute to the champ, there should not be any inflated expectations. Whatsoever he delivers, we should accept that gladly, be it just 10 runs or 100. Our gratitude to the master for his unparalleled contribution and joyous innings!