Sachin Tendulkar: Old habit dying hard

“Oh boy! What a plaiiyer!”

“Straight down the Ground… Wonderful Shot.. All the way for 6! Whadda playerr.. Lovely, crisp, clean hit.. Straight down the ground!”

“Oh it’s high… Its high… Its all the way.. Its way over the top into the crowds again.. SACHIN TENDULKAR WANTS TO WIN THIS MATCH!”

That is what pretty much everybody grew up listening to. From Tony Greig going brainsick watching the greatest plaiiyer exhibit those shots all over the ground in front of him to Ravi Shastri, who retired from the game while Sachin Tendulkar was at his acme, initiated a career in commentary while Tendulkar was still at it, and then even mastered the art of commentary and the Little Master was still at it. I forgive Navjot Singh Sidhu at once when he speaks about the destiny’s child (as referred by Sidhu) as he starts to sound reasonable then.

Not sure about the current lot of cricket enthusiasts but as kids, for me and a many, ‘cricket’ went synonymous with Sachin Tendulkar. We could think of cricket and Sachin Tendulkar playing that straight drive used to fill our imagination. No statistics, no quotes, no documentaries required to explain the stature of a man who would lift the whole nation all by himself by walking in to the field. Saying just the ‘nation’ is a modesty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiwhJ6ePhWQ). ‘Enter, the little Master!’

Tendulkar – Without doubt a reason for many who gained interest in the game. I for once in a Test match against Australia had to tolerate Murli Vijay’s batting for 2 days and visit the stadium 3 days at a stretch to just once witness that walk out of the pavilion for which thousands crave. Sincerely and honestly, an unexplainable feeling.

Harsha Bhogle could not have expressed his and the fans’ relationship with Sachin in a much better way than he did recently on Twitter by calling him a great habit. How true. They say to uproot an old habit is sometimes a more painful thing, and vastly more difficult, than to wrench out a tooth.

And so it was when Sachin announced retirement from ODIs out of the blue (No pun intended). It was hard to accept, knowing the fact that India were to play Pakistan in the next ODI series, somehow we were able to drink it in. IPL season 6 arrived, everybody expected it to be his last and so did he announce it again in quite a surprisal in the interview right after the game. So that was that. Then again a few days ago when he announced it through his Facebook account that it was time to hit the hay after the two tests late in the year, “All my life I have had a dream of playing cricket for India. I have been living this dream every day for the last 24 years. It’s hard for me to imagine a life without playing cricket because it’s all I have ever done since I was 11 years old. It’s been a huge honour to have represented my country and played all over the world. I look forward to playing my 200th Test Match on home soil, as I call it a day.”

Even for people who were wanting him to retire since a long time, it was something sudden. And for fans it was like someone of your own giving a stab in the back, something like a long loyal relationship coming to an end, ‘Et tu, Sach?’. The point in cueing all these events is that even when you knew it was coming and it had to happen sooner of later, there was this still this disturbance and numbness everywhere around. Such was the impact made by this man.

The in-numerous lists of records he has in the game, and his cricketing genius, are barely a topic of any discourse these days, the reason why I’ve refrained from all that while writing this. Whatever he wanted he’s achieved it. Players who were his team mates and his opponents still fall short of praises when it’s time to describe him. Being an inch-perfect gentleman both on and off the field (yeah for the Nth time) he not only inspired fans with his passion but also with his philosophies on life. It is obvious that every celebrity does that but certain words that he has spoken are way ahead in quality and essence than the other lot.

My personal favourite: “It’s about not accepting every little challenge thrown at you. Sometimes you hold back and when it’s needed you go for it.”

I pity the generation that hasn’t watched him play in his prime but for the informant Tendulkar fans, he’s an old habit dying hard.