MY IDOL

Sachin Tendulkar......The man who has entertained us all for so long. For me Cricket is synonymous with Sachin Tendulkar. Some call him God. Undoubtedly he is the most worshipped cricketer of his generation or probably of the entire cricket history. No player has come even closer in matching the respect and awe he generates. 

There have been lot of comparisons between him and the greatest batsman ever i.e. Don Bradman. I don't think they can be justified though. Don Bradman played in an era when the pitches were uncovered. In an era when batsmen faced bowlers ,without helmets, in an era when the number of bouncers in an over were not limited. He faced Harold Larwood in the infamous Bodyline Series. And then he managed mind boggling stats. 6996 runs in 52 tests at an average of 99.94 and 29 centuris. It is highly improbable that any cricketer would even come closer to matching these standards. Sachin is no exception.

Why do I and 100 crore people of India love him so much?? It's because he has entertained us for almost 20 years without stopping. More than half of his life has been dedicated to cricket. And he has done it with perfection. Starting as a kid of 16 years and 205 days he faced some of the most feared bowlers of his generation, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan and of course the legendary Wasim Akram. He faced them with the bravery, audacity and valour quite uncommon to the then Indian Cricket Team. He refused to leave the field when a ball from Waqar Younis hit his nose and his shirt got covered with blood all over. He then came up with a century at Old Trafford against England and saved the test match for India at an age of 17 years and 112 days. His heroics at Perth and Sydney on the tour of Australia proved that we had a Superhero in the making. He became the first foreign player in the 100 years history of Yorkshire Cricket Club. Well, this was just the beginning. He has never looked back since. He was the lone torch bearer of Indian cricket for almost a decade and the whole Indian team revolved around him. This pressure got somewhat lessened when he was joined by Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman and we had probably the best middle order in the world. 

I won't delve into statiscs and the incidents related to Sachin Tendulkar. We all have read them and lived them all our lives. He has enthralled my generation that followed cricket. For the past 20 years he has been compared with the greatest batsmen of his times. Lara, Ponting, Kallis, Inzamam have all been there at different points of time. Only one name remains constant in this list. SACHIN TENDULKAR. 

He has been accused of the fact that he is not the player he once was in the mid 90's. True. But then he has aged over the years and his responsibilities have changed in the team. He has taken blows and injuries all over his body. But he comes out all guns blazing after he recovers.And then we can still compare his record with other batsmen in the past 8-9 years or so. He beats them all. Somebody rightly said that Great People are remembered more for their Failures rather than their Success. Same holds true for Sachin Tendulkar. 

He has been accused of the fact that he has not won enough Test matches for India. True. He accepts it. Have we ever seen him deny this fact? But we can still compare his record with others in the test matches India has won to his record in the tests India has lost. We'll get our answers. Lara and Inzamam have done it better in pressure situations. No doubt about that. But did they do this consistently? Lara was the most graceful batsman of his times. The dancer in the crease, the Prince of Trinidad could not handle the pressure of success after he scored his innings of 375 and 501* forcing him to take a sabbatical. And he had his disputes with all his team members, the team management and the opposition. He was followed by controversies all through his career.

It's not the records that stamp Sachin's greatness. It's his calm demeneaour, his ability to handle the pressures of success, keeping his head on his shoulders when a population of 100 crores would do anything and everything for their hero, and his consistency on the field that proves his mettle. He accepts the controversial decisions of the umpires with the grace unseen and unheard of. He respects every bowler he faces. Have we ever seen him involved in Sledging?????? His politeness, his respect for India, his team, the opposition and the former players is something difficult to find in our times. He has always faced the criticism, challenges and verbal abuses with a smile and has always let his bat do the talking. He was the only player spared by Manoj Prabhakar in the infamous sting operation of the match fixing. Shane Warne has put him at the top in the list of players he has played against. And this is not because of his heroics on the field but because of the pressure he has constantly faced over the past 20 years. No player can be compared to the great Sachin Tendulkar. 

Indian team has had new successes since Dhoni has took over captaincy. He occupies the top rankings in the ODI ratings of best batsmen. Sehwag is said to be the biggest destructor of opposition. Yuvraj is said to be amongst the most talented in the world. But none of these players comes close to Sachin in the grace and beauty he brings to his game. Every shot played by Sachin is a delight for the purists and the youngsters alike.Barring VVS Laxman and Damien Martyn, nobody apart from Sachin has made batting look so easy in an age when we have grown up witnessing the rise in stature of Cricket from just a game in India to a religion.

I personally feel that sometimes he is lauded too much for his centuries and criticised too much for his failures.We have at least one hour review on every news channel of both the century or the duck he scores . Probably Rahul Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly got overshadowed by the glory of Sachin Tendulkar and did not receive the credit they rightly deserved. But that's part and parcel of life. 

He has had his share of controversies. The ball tampering incident in South Africa, the waivering of duty on Ferrari, his disputes with Greg Chappell, declaration of Rahul Dravid when Sachin was on 194, and the latest Monkey Gate incident with Andrew Symonds . But they still seem less in a career spanning two decades. I personally feel he should not have asked for waivering of duty on Ferrari. Apart from that it would be unfair to criticise him of his involvement in these incidents.Much hue and cry was raised when he said he was disappointed when the declaration came when he was only 6 runs short of a double century. But then who would not be???He only spoke against Greg Chappell when his integrity was questioned. And of course, we can't expect the Aussies to be truthful and honest. We all have seen what happened in the last India vs Australia Sydney Test. He has not lost his respect from anybody at any point of time. After the Monkey gate, in the India England test match, when he overtook Brian Lara for maximum runs in Test Cricket, Andrew Symonds sent his congratulations saying, "To Sachin Tendulkar!! The man we all want to be." Do we need any other proof of his greatness?? I guess not. 

Sachin Tendulkar is no God. He is only human, but an ideal one. A perfect role model for everyone. My blog has been just been one of the many articles written about him over the years. I wanted to begin my blog dedicated to man I have respected, admired and loved over the years . I still switch off the tv when he gets out. I still relive his great innings. I still get overjoyed and excited like a kid at each and every milestone he crosses.  He is my inspiration. He is my idol. 

HE IS SACHIN TENDULKAR. THE MAN WE ALL WANT TO BE.