Friday, March 11, 2005
12:51 PM CST
As any cricket lover would know, India and Pakistan are currently engaged in an enthralling test match at Mohali. Days 2 and 3 showed us the supreme batting form of the Indian team and relatively weak bowling of the Pakistani side. Man they must be missing Shoib Akhtar right about now.
Anyways, the point of this article is not to diss the pedestrian Pakistani bowling attack but to talk about the pain I felt when I saw Sachin Tendulkar get out for 94, just 6 runs short of the world record. The world record of 34 test centuries was set by Sunil Gavaskar in 1983 and since then stood the test of time. Now, Sachin is on the verge of crossing it. I sat up all night waiting for him to reach that record. At around 5 in the morning, he was on 94, I was extremely sleepy but still holding on for dear life to witness a historic event in test cricket. Alas, it was not to be. I will not go into details about how Sachin’s dismissal came about. I have tried hard to free myself of that memory.
To me, Sachin is GOD, I have worshipped him for as long as I can remember. Let me jog your memory to last year, when India was touring Pakistan. In the first test, India were cruising along thanks to an unbelievable 300 plus knock by Sehwag. However, Dravid declared the Indian innings when Sachin was on 194 not out. I was so depressed that day. In fact, I wrote an article about it at the time. I am posting that up here. This should give you a good idea about why this incident pained me so much. Enjoy.
“There is no doubt in my mind that when Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar plays his last Test Match, I will be in the stands, cheering and clapping while feeling a void grow inside me. To know that I will never see this great Batsman ever take the field again, to know that I will never witness such masterful stroke play ever in my lifetime will surely humble me. And when Sachin finally leaves the field for the last time, I will cry and yet will feel fortunate… to have had the honor of living through an era in which one man dominated the most feared bowling attacks of the world and forever made his place in everyone’s heart.
This is how much Sachin does and will always mean to me. He has defined a period of Indian Cricket which has otherwise been rampant with inconsistent cricket at best, marred with match fixing allegations and players who often put their needs before the teams. Through all this, we always had Sachin to rely on. He was often on our minds and always in our hearts. He has dedicated his entire life to Indian Cricket. Always putting in his best, trying even harder when everyone else around him gave up hope. He was for a long time the lone star of Indian Cricket. His selflessness on and off the field have made him the great human being he is today.
So when he is on the verge of scoring his first double century against arch rivals Pakistan in Pakistan, it only makes sense to show him the respect he deserves. To realize that he may never have this opportunity again and to know how much this means to him. Don’t get me wrong. I completely support the notion of the team’s interest before an individual’s. However, there are certain times when a captain must think with his heart and not his mind. If only Dravid had done that, he would have known what the right thing to do was. This was India’s way of saying thank you to a man who has given them his everything. It was a way of acknowledging what Tendulkar means to India, not only as a cricketer but a person.
However, this was not to be. The end result was that Sachin was left stranded on 194 not out with India comfortably winning the match in just over 4 days. In retrospect, would giving Sachin 10 more minutes to bat have affected the final outcome of the game? Was it too much to ask from an Indian captain to show respect to one of the best to ever play the game? Didn’t think so…”
Cheers!
