Why is he the God of cricket? Or, Why not?

Right after he called it quits, there have been a flurry of articles hailing him as the God – smitten by his pageantry, or the more pragmatic lot calling for phlegmatic views, despising and deriding  the flippant lot. Yet, undeterred remain the frenzied lot, reminiscing the lugubrious memories of him wielding the willows in colored clothes. It is plausible for the rational mind to demur. Playing the devil’s advocate, what is God?

I am seldom going to postulate complex physics laws or unearth mysteries that would freak you out. God means different things for different people. The most common discretion being the superstitious one, the one  in space – who watches the happenings down on Earth, weighs ones deeds, tweaks everything that happens, and plays a part in almost everything that unfolds. He is said to control the turn of events for the billions of us down here, plus the numerous habitats. To sum it up, he controls every damn thing in the ecosystem. To many people, God is something that is supernatural, which does things that normal humans do not do or cannot do. God might be the good qualities in a human. God can be a sentimental stone that has been a good omen to you.  To your surprise, the English language defines God to be – ‘supernatural being worshipped by people’. The latter part of this sentence can be testified a billion times. The most worshipped sportsman in the world. Maybe the Indian origin gives him a surplus in the fanfare. So what is debatable is the former part of the sentence, which says ‘Supernatural being’. Supernatural is something that is mysterious or not of this world.  Something that is powerful, immaculate and perfect. For an average Indian cricket fan, Sachin Tendulkar has lived up to all the three words that make up the term supernatural. Who is an average Indian cricket fan?

Not the one who writes cricket, not the one who blogs cricket, not the one who is adept with the stats, not the one who is well versed with the nuances of the sport. The one who wakes up to the newspapers, the one who watches cricket matches, oblivious to the deeper aspects of the game. The one who pins a sense of pride  to every Indian victory, or the one who oozes with patriotism more than any other time while watching the game. How did Sachin Tendulkar appeal to them?

Till the 1990s, Indians were very much the underdogs in cricket. We were devoid of the gems foreign teams possessed. Moving on from Hockey, a sport that made them discontent, the average fan was looking forward to a sense of joy, the joy of winning and the 1983 World Cup gave them just that. To one’s dismay, the joys of the World Cup were ephemeral. It was a fleeting win, a one shot wonder. After the 1983 World Cup, what resulted was a string of dismal performances. There were few victories in between. The Indian cricket team was always at the receiving end of a mauling from foreign batsmen, such as Viv Richards. The Indians till then were devoid of a mauler blended with fighting spirits, who would dismantle the likes of Bishop, Holding, Garner, Akram and Imran. My dad was abound with tales of how batsmen mutilated the Indian attack or how these bowlers knocked off the Indian batsmen. The odd Gavaskar was there, yet, he was an artist, who professed austerity and astuteness and it required a connoisseur of the game to appreciate Gavaskar. My dad, the average cricket fan I was talking about, was always of the opinion that Vishy or Kapil Dev were better cricketers than Gavaskar, and I’m sure my dad has company on that front. Gundappa Vishwanath, or fondly  known as Vishy, had an aggressive instinct, and often ‘gave  it back’  to the opponents.

By far the most important observation, cricket until then was heard and read. In the mid 80′s came the idiot box, the Television. Soon after came this prodigy. For the millions enthralled by the new TVs, they saw the valor in Tendulkar when he persisted, unmindful of his bleeding nose and saved the day for India. He was just 16 then. This struck a chord with the spectators. When the entire team was ducking, this lad stood up to the occasion and battled it out with a bleeding nose. The most sentimental crowd in the horizon were instantly swayed by his gesture. The next day, it was being discussed in every nook and corner of the nation, in every tea shop, in every college, in every school, in every office. A  hero was born. To note, if Gavaskar or any other regular had played on with a broken nose, it wouldn’t been a sensation. A 16 yr old, in his third Test, possessing such perseverance was the X-factor.

From then on, he was being watched. Smashing Abdul Qadir for four sixes left the nation in awe. The hero they had been fantasizing for some time now was finally found. Found in a  16 yr old. He made headlines that day, and for two decades from then on. For the average cricket fan, who woke up to the newspapers everyday, Sachin Tendulkar’s name was a part of the sports column for years. He slowly crawled in to every household, was a part of them. When he went on to make the big tons, there was a sense of pride instilled into every Indian, every household. They had a reason to be proud of. They watched Warne being milked, they saw the Aussies, the masters of cricket, being thumped by this boy. They jumped with joy. There was this boy who gave it back to the Aussies in their own style. He represented a billion feelings. The cricketer they were looking forward to; who would slaughter the opposition as India were once. He was the hero who avenged their losses. He executed their thoughts, or revenge.

When Indian cricket was worst hit by the match fixing scandal – referred to as the darkest phase of Indian cricket, there remained the only source of respite for cricket fans – Sachin Tendulkar. He was hitting a purple patch in the late 90s and the early 2000s. That kept them going. On one hand, shocking news stories about fixing was being reported, and on the other hand, there was Tendulkar, sizzling in his own inimitable manner, destroying every bowler of his era. Indian cricket got an identity in the form of Sachin Tendulkar. The commentators who had scorn for Indian cricket began to heap prizes on this master, and in turn, on Indian cricket.

Imagine this scenario. You start ‘watching a sport’ for the first time, and in a couple of years, there is a 16 yr old who broke the glass ceiling, taking the nation by storm, thudding every record, usurping every other legend of that sport. He makes the most number of headlines in the sports column of every daily, and for the right reasons too. Your nation was an underdog in the sport until then, and right then,  a boy started breaking every record, destroying every bowler, proving to be a nightmare for even the best spinner in the world, and salvaging the pride for your nation. He endorsed the most number of products, and was a regular in the TVs and tabloids. Everyone in your house, from your 70 yr old granny to your 7 yr old brother knows him. He appeals to you like no other sports person does. Isn’t he supernatural? Doesn’t he live up to the definition of supernatural?

Coming down to the political sphere, he has been the most worshipped sportsman. The question of  him deserving it or not is out of the equation. In no other sport does a sportsman command such obeisance. It isn’t as outrageous as it is construed to be calling him God. God is after all the punching bag for us. We thank God as well as get frustrated when he lets us down. So we did with Sachin. None of us have seen God, or sure about his existence. All of us are agnostics. Here is a supernatural being, who has given joy to a billions, made a billion cry. Hence, he can legitimately be called the God of cricket. The definition of God is each one’s, right? If you live up to one’s definition, you’re a God. So does he.