Thank you Sachin Tendulkar!

The Oxford dictionary defines ‘genius’ as ‘exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability’, ‘perfect’ as ‘having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be’ and ‘marvel’ as ‘a wonderful or astonishing person or thing’. With all these clubbed together, I present to you – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Words cannot describe his impact on Indian Cricket and most importantly, on all our lives. But I will try and highlight a few moments in his career which made me his devotee and which made me realize as to how privileged I was to be born in an era which was illuminated by Sachin’s eminence.

5 May 1996: Sachin Tendulkar of India in action during the Tour Match against Duchess of Norfolk XI played in Arundel, Sussex, England.

Like any other six year-old Indian kid of my time, I used to love watching Sachin bat. Such was his mesmerising effect that whenever I watched him play, later I used to take my bat, go lock myself in my room, climb up on my bed and pretend I was Sachin. I would then spend the next hour or so playing the shots I had just seen him play on TV and then admire myself that I had impersonated him as well as I could. I am twenty one years old now, and to this day I don’t know why I did what I did back then. But what I do know is that my fantasy shadow-practice filled me up with a feeling that I could be Sachin one day, which was all I wanted to be back then. The imitations became hard to perform after the famous 1998 Tri-series in Sharjah against New Zealand and Australia, whereby after watching him bat against Australia in the finals, I conceded that maybe I am not in his league after all.

The 1998-99 Pakistan tour of India was a crunch-series which held great importance to us fans because of the political tensions back then and the onus was once again on the Little Master to carry India all the way to a series victory. The first Test match was held at Chennai and India required 271 to win the match in the fourth innings. Pakistan had made early in-roads into our batting line-up but my hero Sachin had stood still at the other end and guided India to the doorstep of victory before falling prey to Saqlain Mustaq with just 17 runs required. I was furious, having jumped and danced around the house every time he hit a boundary. I could not believe he had thrown his wicket away like that and India eventually lost the match. I slept that night wondering whether he deserved to be my hero or not. The following morning I asked my Dad if he thought the same about Sachin and he replied, ‘Son you don’t know a thing about what that man had to go through yesterday and win or lose, I am proud of his innings and maybe one day, you would be too’. Proud? Is he mad? We lost the match because of him, how can my Dad (who has been my other hero over the years) say this? Instead of saying all this, I just nodded and went to school disillusioned with my beliefs about my hero.

Only after a few years when I gained a little cricketing sense and when a certain rational part of my brain was sufficiently developed did I truly understood the value of that knock. Sachin had braved the scorching Chennai heat, a fever, cramps, a back-problem which was making it difficult to even stand and had tagged India along all the way only to fall at the last hurdle. Moin Khan stated that after the match, he went to congratulate Sachin on his knock and found him crying because he had let the entire nation down. Such were his expectations and such were the standards he had set that runs and centuries did not matter, but victory and happiness to us millions did. I could not fathom what I had learnt and was hit by a sudden feeling of guilt to have questioned his commitment and love for India. My hero wasn’t at fault – my perception of him was. That night, I slept telling myself, ‘If cricket is my religion, then yes Sachin is definitely my God.’

NAGPUR, INDIA – MARCH 12: Sachin Tendulkar of India raises his bat on scoring his century during the Group B ICC World Cup Cricket match between India and South Africa at Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground on March 12, 2011 in Nagpur, India.

Years rolled by and my ‘cricketing-sense’ and knowledge of the game also grew. But what grew exponentially was my respect, admiration and awe at Sachin, for he left you with no choice than to just stand up and applaud every performance of his. There were questions which needed answering – How did he play that shot? What do you call a person who has had a purple patch for the past two decades? Does he have any weakness at all? Where would India be had it not been for Sachin? Questions were aplenty and the answers were nowhere to be found. The only possible explanation I could conjure up was that this man was a phenomenon who was destined to enthral us all with his skills and I still like to keep it at that.

They say that, ‘No one man is bigger than the game’ and I agree with that. But will the excitement be the same without him? I don’t know what to say to that. We humans adjust as per the circumstances but deep down inside, I know that a pang of sadness will always hit me when I see our team-line up without Sachin being there. But I think the privilege of seeing him bat live will be something I’ll always cherish and something I’m actually proud of. It’s also something I will probably boast about for the rest of my life.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 06: Sachin Tendulkar of India acknowledges the crowd after being dismissed during day four of the Second Test Match between Australia and India at Sydney Cricket Ground on January 6, 2012 in Sydney, Australia.

My mother called me up yesterday saying she found an old cricket bat of mine and did not know what to do with it. I told her to keep it as safely as she can for it was something I wanted to keep with me as a token to the special bond I shared with him through my growing years. It was almost five in the morning today and I was still scuffling with my sleep because I had found this video of Sachin on YouTube that I could not postpone watching. I think this might become my new hobby.

John Keats famously said, ‘A thing of joy lasts forever’. But Sachin made me realise its true meaning over all these years.

Thank you Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, thank you for everything.