Back in the year
1989, a sixteen year old curly-haired boy with a huge domestic impression and standing
at 5.5” is playing his first international test (5 day) game against the arch
rival Pakistan studded with the games’ most devastating bowling attack when he
is injured on the nose by an unexpected bouncer. With the cut on his nose
bleeding badly and asked to sit back, he says, “Main vapas nahi jaa raha, main
khelunga (I won’t leave the field, I will continue playing)”. This was the
moment when the cricketing fraternity realized that someone out of the ordinary
had arrived. Yes, he was Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, revered today as the God of
cricket for the extraordinary service he has given to the game.
It has been more
than two decades since the name Sachin has been synonymous with cricket. He has
flourished Indian cricket to the extent where the game has become a religion in
India. The country where nothing is more important than watching what the
master is executing. As it is rightly said about him, “a raised finger can
break a billion hearts.”
But glory never
comes without sacrifice. As the tiger never experiences luxury and goes through
the most brutal struggle for food and shelter, in the same way, Sachin has had
his share of struggles as well. The most disgraceful moment was when little
master was found guilty by match referee Mike Denness for ball tampering (ball
is altered from the seam to get the extra advantage from bowling prospective)
and was handed a suspended ban of one game. There were also times after the
World Cup in 2011 (which India won) when the master was forced to retire from
the game, there were times when he was badly injured and took ages to recover. Even
the so-called God of cricket had to go through the litmus test, but he stood
fast at every occasion because when the roads get rough, the tough gets going.
Now it’s time when
the master has called it quits and there won’t be any other who could fill his
shoes at least for the moment. But what he has endeavored to achieve in these past
twenty four years is impeccable and mind-boggling. It is finally time for him
to calm down, as it is always good to leave when you’re on top. The world will
remember and cherish his astonishing contribution to the game and Indian sport.
Some countries won’t be losing their productivity watching him bat, there won’t
be any hushed thunderous sounds of broken billion hearts and no more silent but
ruthless thumping to the opponents. To commemorate his departure, the Wisden
has added his name in the Wisden All-Time World Test Eleven in its famous book
the Cricketer’s Almanac.
Even one of the
newspapers made the FrontPage headline as national holiday on 15th
of November as he was to bat on the second day. Looking at the scenario where
the country is unable to absorb the exit of the champion, I believe that the
graph of respect would never hit the height to this extent, as it is difficult
to lose someone for whom we have such sensitivity close to our heart.
