A glimmer of hope!!

                                        I'm sorry, this post is not about some noble piece of work that I recently did or witness :) This is more about my passion, passion for cricket and passion for the greatest batsman ever, Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar. I don't remember exactly when I started watching cricket. It was probably during the 1996 cricket world cup, held jointly in India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka. I still have faint memories of some matches back then. My love affair with Indian cricket team started from the beginning, largely due to my dad also being an Indian team fan. I still remember my late grandfather talking to me about cricket during those early days and I clearly remember him mentioning during the Australia-West Indies semi-final, that the West Indies great Brian Lara was a top batsman of that era. But as years passed, I realised that it was not Brian Lara, but a young Indian by the name of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who took that world cup by storm, until his failure led to the team's failure in the semi-final against eventual champions Sri Lanka, that was going to be my future hero :)

                                            I have always been an Indian cricket and Sachin Tendulkar fan since childhood. So much so, that sometimes it became difficult for me to chose one between the two. There have been instances when I have wished India losing all wickets and lose, after Tendulkar doesn't  bat well and is out cheaply. As I look back into all those memories now, I can only conclude that it was my love for the great man :) Known to be a media-shy, he  is so humble, polite and inspiring in the few interviews that he has ever given. His quote - 'Chase your dreams. Dreams do come true' that he said, after finally winning the 2011 world cup last year, hangs in my room on his poster :) Though at times biased, I have always rated him above other great contemporaries like Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting or Jacques Kallis. I've heard the line 'Cricket is a gentleman's game' many times, during cricket commentaries and for me, no other batsman better exemplifies this than Sachin Tendulkar (Rahul Dravid, a close second :)) As far as my memory is correct, I don't remember Tendulkar getting involved in any on-field controversies, other than the 'ball-tampering' incident in South Africa, in the early 2000s. That is excusable, for a man that has played cricket for 23 long years, I guess :) The fact that he has to perform under the weight of expectations, of probably more than a billion fans like me, has always intrigued me. Though he is not successful all the time, but because of the times he is, he always gives jitters in our stomachs, when he is batting :) 

                                      Sachin Tendulkar is not having good times lately. He is the highest run-scorer in international cricket (Both test and ODI formats), has 100 centuries, has played the most number of matches and the world cup win last year, was the icing on the cake, in his long glittering career. He is 39 years old and is well past his prime. His 'glory days' are behind him. But he is still playing, 'I'll only think about retirement, when the love for the game, dies in me', he said recently. As a die-hard fan, I want him to play forever and I'm happy with his longevity. At the same time, being a realist, I'm hurt by the immense  criticism that he's facing, from some old *successful* cricketers due to his batting failures, in the past 1 year. He has not performed well in England, Australia and the home series  against West indies, New Zealand and England currently. His failures led me to believe that perhaps 'the end' is near. The retirement of Aussie batting great Ricky Ponting this week, the only other cricketer near to Tendulkar's records in the past decade, added to the effect. The pressure was increasing on me, let alone Tendulkar :) But today, in the first innings of the third test against England, played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, he made a fighting 76 runs. He had already failed thrice in this series and more failures would have probably raised the pressure-bar to the maximum. I myself believed that he should retire at the end of this series. Today's innings has probably eased some of that pressure. Everyone saw how he fought for himself and the team today. There were some vintage off-drives, leg-flicks and the shot unique to him, the pedal sweep. He was out on a good ball that would have troubled many a good batsmen in their prime. So, it's been a day of happiness, for Sachin fans like me. By this knock, the 'master blaster' has given us fans, a glimmer of hope and made a statement that perhaps 'he is NOT finished yet' :) Ending another of my sports-related posts with a relevant quote, 'When the going gets tough, the tough get going.'