Enjoy Sachin while we can

Even after representing India at the highest level scoring heaps of runs for almost 23 years, we still manage to find flaws with this man. Two batting failures at the start of a new season after a long break and people have started complaining. ‘Sach’ is Life! For the man who started off as the wonder boy of Indian cricket when he burst on to the international scene with a squeaky voice, curly hair and flamboyant stroke-play, this may well feel like a routine exercise. Whenever he goes through a poor run, his head is immediately called for. Question marks over his fitness, his work ethic and even his technique have been raised. But as an Indian cricket fan, I am happy. In the past, people have said worse things about him and history suggests that whenever Sachin Tendulkar has been pushed to a corner by people, he has only come out stronger.

Playing cricket at the highest level for such a long time is physically demanding and injuries have been part and parcel of Sachin’s illustrious career. If we look at the list of injuries that have plagued him in the past, we will notice that the man has seen it all: back injury, toe injury, thigh injury, finger injury, knee injury, groin injury, abdomen injury, hamstring injury, shoulder injury and the famous tennis elbow injury. He has undergone two major surgeries – one on his elbow in 2005 and another on his shoulder in 2006. All of these injuries have been tough, and none was tougher than the tennis elbow injury which made it very difficult for him to even grip the bat. The whole nation and cricket enthusiasts across the world prayed for his recovery and it is possible that the prayers and support may have helped him bounce back. However, the critics did not spare him.

Sachin’s return to international cricket after these injuries was not easy. He struggled to get back into the groove and immediately people started raising questions. There were people suggesting that his utility in the team was limited and that his weaknesses had been exposed. In 2004, Outlook India came up with an article ‘Sachin Endulkar’ in which the author suggested that Sachin Tendulkar, with an injured toe beyond repair, a strained back and a tennis elbow injury, cannot expect to play cricket for long, and that it was time India contemplated a future without Tendulkar. In 2006, Sachin was booed by cricket fans at the Wankhede after a failure in the middle. To be fair to the crowd, Sachin’s stay in the middle was painful and he looked out of sorts. But that is no way of treating somebody who has exceeded our expectations on most occasions. In that same year, the Times of India also came up with an article ‘Endulkar? Dare we imagine the unimaginable’ in which the author opined that Tendulkar’s batting prowess had diminished and his career had slid permanently.

These authors are no cricket experts (much like myself) and hence can be forgiven for their ignorance. But the so-called experts also endorsed these views. Maninder Singh said, and I quote, “His left arm is not as strong as it once was; hence, we must learn to live without that trademark punched drive. With time, the aggressor has turned accumulator, the entertainer tends to go into a shell. We will never see the vintage Sachin of 5-7 years ago.” After the disastrous World Cup in 2007, in spite of the team collectively failing, Ian Chappell personally attacked Sachin, calling for his retirement in his column in Mid-Day, a newspaper in Mumbai. Sachin, being the man that he is, did not respond verbally and instead let his bat do the talking – and how!

He started his post World Cup 2007 season with two back-to-back man of the tournament performances and in the subsequent ODI tournaments, one against England in England and one against Australia at home, he was the highest run scorer from India. A tour to Australia followed and he continued with his exceptional form, becoming the leading run scorer with 493 runs in 4 Tests. After the successful Test series, Sanjay Manjrekar wrote in a newspaper column that Sachin is an “elephant in the room no one wants to talk about.” Days after the column, India shook off Sri Lanka to qualify for the finals of the CB Series and Tendulkar made Manjrekar eat humble pie by scoring 117 not out and 91 in the two finals to beat Australia and earn a landmark win for Team India. In fact, the years 2007 (2nd half), 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 (1st half) have been some of his best years in his career with him scoring a total of 24 international centuries in this period. He had 3 scores of 150-plus in ODIs, including a double hundred, thus silencing all his critics who thought his ODI career was over with him becoming a less aggressive player. He played some very important innings in Tests as well and along with his team-mates helped India reach the pinnacle of Test cricket. In the year 2010 alone, he scored 1562 runs in Tests with 7 centuries to his name. And in the 2011 World Cup, he amassed a total of 482 runs from 9 matches and played a huge part in helping India win the tournament, thus fulfilling a life-long dream of his.

Dream come true

Since then, admittedly, it has been a tough period for him. But to be fair, it’s been tough for the team collectively. The critics have again started to question his place in the team. The media speculates about his retirement every now and then. Many of us scrutinize every move of his and discuss him regularly on the internet. Yes, everything good has to come to an end and Sachin Tendulkar’s glorious career also will. He is 39 now and the day is not far away when he decides to call it a day. That moment will hit us hard when it arrives. It happened recently with the great Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. Many of us were calling for their heads after the tour to Australia but suddenly when the news of their retirement actually arrived, we were shocked and extremely saddened.

In the case of Sachin Tendulkar, that inevitable news will be harder to digest. After all, he has truly been a once-in-a-generation player. Many kids have shown promise in school cricket but have failed to make it big on the international stage. And here is a man who has lived up to the burden of expectations, achieved everything possible in cricket and in the process, earned a permanent place for himself in the history of the game. There have been many occasions in his career, especially with the long list of injuries, where he could have been depressed and easily given up everything. Lesser mortals like you and me would have done that. Instead, he bounced back stronger than ever before. The great Vivian ‘King’ Richards had once said in 2007 that India has been ungrateful to their most wonderful son. Earlier this year in March 2012, he again told us to enjoy Sachin while we can. Can we then simply pay heed to his advice and allow Sachin one final shot at glory?