Stay away from negativity as demi-god of Indian cricket bids adieu

Sachin Tendulkar

Sometime in the evening as the news broke out that Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar had officially announced his retirement, there was an innundation of emotions bursting out from each nook and corner of India. Surely, this is an emotional moment for each and every Indian. We have been treated to his brilliant stroke play and sheer class in all forms of the game; in fact, one of the all-time greats and a legend in his own right, Sir Donald Bradman himself had said that he felt he was looking at a ‘mirror-image’ of himself when he watched Tendulkar play. Such is the brilliance of Tendulkar.

Everybody is aware about Sachin’s numerous records; sometimes one loses count of them – not sure about others, but I do! So I want to delve into something else about Sachin – his demi-god status among us Indians.

Today, while I was watching one of the local news channels, I came across a segment where  they asked the viewers to send in their opinions about Sachin’s decision via SMS. The channel shortlisted a few messages and I was shocked to hear a couple of them. One said that BCCI must mark this day as “The Death of Cricket”, another said that “Sachin, who has been one of the most selfish players has finally quit!” Gosh! Though the two opinions defer widely, they still match each other when it comes to the highly skewed opinions we Indians have. This doesn’t just apply to cricketers in general in India, but to all individuals who have excelled in their respective field.

I am in a way both surprised and flummoxed by such opinions. I mean why should we call this day as “The Death of Cricket”? Why should we not, instead, celebrate this day to commemorate Sachin’s  glorious career which has given us immense joy and pride and has upheld India cricket on an international stage so effectively. We must remember that during the early 90s, Sachin was the only mainstay in our batting order. Whenever India travelled to Australia or England, the local spectators wanted Sachin to score a century, but wanted their team to win the match. This shows the immense respect and love cricketing fans all over the world have towards Sachin.

Now, coming to the part where Sachin is described as “selfish”. I mean, what can one say to that? All the while that I have observed Sachin, I have always felt that he has been a selfless man, always giving precedence to the team’s interests first. The most famous example of that is when the most controversial Indian coach, Mr. Greg Chappell asked Sachin to bat at number 4. Although Sachin may not have been happy (he later went on and confirmed the same), he went with the decision of the coach bearing the interest of the team in mind. Nonetheless this decision was a disaster and resulted in India being knocked out of the 2007 World Cup in the group state itself.

So all I want to say to all the fans of Sachin is that, let us cherish this moment, let us celebrate what has been a monumental career. I know that this is an emotional moment; after all we will never get to see Sachin bat again after the Test series against the West Indies (our cricket administrators are still squabbling on whether the venue is going to be Wankhede or Brabourne! But let us leave this topic for another day). Let us leave behind all our exaggerated emotions on whether Sachin’s retirement is the death of cricket or whether Sachin is selfish, and make sure we won’t miss Sachin’s 200th Test, which will be his last.

Savour this historic moment, leave out all the negativity!