Time to retire? Maybe for the TRP hungry detractors

Time to retire? Maybe for the TRP hungry detractors.

To start off this piece, I would like to tell everyone that I’m a really big fan of Sachin Tendulkar which makes me symphonic to a bucket of water coming out of an ocean. But, there is another thing I would like to state here that this article is by no means a paper endorsing a fan’s views on his favorite cricketer. I genuinely believe it’s a piece meant to invoke rationality amongst the people who have been creating news bites in a manner to pull the legend down through mediocre polls and misconstrued statements in the name of expert opinions.

Having been a cricket follower for almost twenty years now, the most humble statement I can just give here is that I have been blessed to be born in an era when I have seen the in and out of the little genius’s exploits. It will be fair to say that being his ardent follower has helped me get through most of the discussions (some of which have turned into arguments) as a winner. But yes, there have been times when the victory hasn’t come like a strawberry smoothie or a mixed fruit jelly. It has always been like dry fruits which have given long term benefits on the cost of sacrificing the comforts of easy gulping.

My intention isn’t to deviate readers from the topic, but what I would love to mention here is that this is not for the first time that questions have been asked to the master regarding his aging self and his mode of dismissals. What has been even more noticeable here is that he has always come back after these with a patch that has showed nothing but his peak. Specifically, the patch from 2008-2011 was like his greatest 4 year period which was a follow-up to a disastrous 2007. What impresses here even more is the fact that his best years came 20 years since his debut and being called the best batsman in the world for more than a decade before that just speaks volumes of the greatness of the man.

If we focus ourselves on the current scenario, there has been a hue and cry in the media about his vulnerability against the deliveries pitched up and the inference drawn through the weakening reflexes leading to his inferred retirement questions. Dravid’s and Laxman’s recent boot hanging has stimulated the story of the script in an even better manner for the media to display, who by the way have turned into unofficial entertainment story narrators of late. They have added the gossip element to every field that exists and it is not a trademark of the glamorous entertainment industry anymore. Or rather, I would like to add that the entertainment industry has broadened its scope.

When Gavaskar was making a technical observation about Tendulkar’s dismissals relating to the common phenomena of ageing which was endorsed by Manjrekar through the example of Javed Miandad, any sane individual would have understood that it’s just a discussion based on the concept of father time. It was easy to understand that it’s about the adjustment a batsman has to make with time and type of preferential changes that need to be incorporated in his game. It was like a “life is a package” kind of a discussion. If ageing makes you vulnerable to eyeliners, it makes you more adept in handling the shorter perfume stuff and enhances shot selection to the core.

What was even more amazing here is the fact that news channels edited the whole discussion in a manner that appeared like “Gavaskar slams Tendulkar” or more specifically in our native language “ Gavaskar ne Sachin ko jaane ke liye kaha” which was symphonic to the news items we hear about another conforming superstar from a different industry “Salman Khan” relating to his life (professional and personal)”. What I am trying to state here is that news making has turned into the same flavor for sports as it is for entertainment, which by the way are absolutely two sides of the spectrum. What is even more interesting is the fact that there are news channels showing combined features for entertainment and sports. It’s like mixing two different cuisines and justifying the act as a practice.

Although this time around, Sachin is 39 and is at an age which is definitely the twilight of a sportsman’s career, there is some rationality that can be imposed within the commenting personalities that here’s a man who has silenced them throughout with his bat, and this time also he will be gearing up to repeat the same.

What is even more imperative here is the fact that we as his fans, should realize that our favorite cricketer has to retire at some point in time and we should not distract ourselves with the petty surroundings and take full pleasure of the remainder of this legendary cricketer’s career.