How my hatred for Tendulkar turned into love - Part 1
This article is divided into two parts; the first part is regarding my hatred for the ‘greatest player ever to play cricket – Sachin Tendulkar‘, while the second part is based on how my hatred turned into love. It only features the ODI accomplishments of the Little Master.
I bunked classes, travelled miles to a relative’s place and did almost everything in my childhood days just for one game – cricket. Watching cricket made me feel proud as I, who was a small fraction of India’s population, was represented by the men in blue on the field.
I grew up watching the Little Master’s straight drive, Dravid’s Square cut, Ganguly’s cover drive and Laxman’s wristy flick through mid-wicket.
The more I watched cricket, the more I got addicted to it. I loved each and every part of it except Sachin’s batting; not because he wasn’t a good batsman (surely there wouldn’t be a bigger fool than me If I ever thought so) but for the simple reason that when he batted, everyone – the crowd, people back home, commentators, experts and even the players from opposite team – forgot everything and just enjoyed his game. What impact his batting had on the others can be learned from Hansie Cronje‘s quote:
One day, I was on my way back to home from school and the match was about to start. I prayed that Sachin be dismissed for a duck and Ganguly going on to get a century. By the time I reached home, Sachin had raced to a 50 and Ganguly had got out after scoring just 1 run.
God had ignored my wish; such was the impact of “The Little Master”.
Even after being the greatest cricketer to embrace the game of cricket and, in addition to that, being one of the most humble human being, I disliked him just for a simple reason- one good innings of his, overshadowed many great innings played by his fellow teammates.
I started watching cricket at the age of 7 and I always consider myself so blessed to have witnessed one of the most special knocks in the game of cricket. It was a match between India and Australia with India needing 240 odd to reach the finals and 270 odd to beat Australia. India lost that match but the innings Sachin played was simply outstanding!
To add to this special innings, was his sportsman spirit, where he himself walked out of the ground even after being adjudged not out by the umpire.
But what caught my attention was a left-hander (Sourav Ganguly) who went on to become my idol and the only reason I watched cricket, even when he was dismissed so cheaply in that match. I often cursed people for worshipping Sachin and not the others.
One of my faint memories related to this is of the India-Sri Lanka match in which Ganguly scored a 109, Sachin scored 128 and the Lankan legend Aravinda De Silva scored 105. India won that match and Sachin was adjudged the Man of the Match while Silva bagged the Man of the Series award. I had tears in my eyes as Ganguly didn’t win any award. I surely didn’t know on what criteria the Man of the Match and Man of the Series awards were decided and like an idiot, I cursed Sachin as well as the experts who took those decisions.
In 1999, Sachin and Dravid stitched together a world record partnership of 331 against New Zealand, with Sachin scoring 186 and Dravid scoring 153. By the end of that match, I became frustrated and had just one question in my mind – “Why does only Sachin get all sorts of praise, why not Dravid?”
To add to this frustration, was the fact that Sachin had broken Sourav Ganguly’s record score of 183. As I grew older, I started watching the game as an expert and not as a biased fan. But even after having having convincing answers in my mind regarding the questions related to Sachin, I expressed my dislike more openly to people.
By the time the 2003 World Cup ended, my dislike had grown for him so much that I decided not to watch the match when Sachin was batting. This dislike-turned-hatred was a result of simple question that, if Sachin was the greatest player in the world, why didn’t he perform on the grandest stage of any tournament – the finals of the World Cup?
Watching him getting out to the great Glenn McGrath for just 4 runs in the final of 2003 World Cup final totally broke me from inside just for the simple reason – If he couldn’t (win it for India), then no one else could.
After the 2003 World Cup was over, Sachin’s batting saw a downfall. He played well in patches, failed on most occasions and did nothing special and that gave me a lot of happiness. Between the two World Cups in 2003 and 2007, Sachin played 73 matches and scored only 2684 runs at a below-par average of 36.76. He scored only seven centuries and 14 half centuries during this period. The only memorable knock for me was his sublime 141 against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.
In the 2007 World Cup, where India was shown the exit gate very early, Sachin scored only 64 runs in 3 matches – thus making zero impact in the tournament.
But what followed was quite dramatic, like a Bollywood action film, with the hero starting to rise against the odds. The bat which was quiet for sometime was now starting to speak out loud and what also started was the melting of my hatred. How? I will discuss it in the next part.