Sachin... Sachin...

24 years and a day after his debut, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar retired from international cricket yesterday. Frankly speaking I am not a die-hard fan of Sachin, as some of my fellow country men and women; but the event of Sachin retiring does kindle sadness in me. This is because the event that happened yesterday has much larger significance than just a cricketer's retirement. 

First and foremost, Sachin has been an inseparable part of cricket, from the time I knew cricket. Playing for 24 yeas, he has been playing along with three generation of Indian team. So it had created a psychological impression that people come and go but the little master will be always there. Only when Rahul Dravid retired, I had similar feeling, but even at that time, Sachin was still there. Also, Sachin is one of the stars who have been in Indian team, since I have started watching cricket; the others being Dravid, Kumble and Gangully. When these players were around, the Indian team seemed to be more familiar. When I watch the match, these players would bring back memories of old matches which I enjoyed, also featuring these stars. But now,when I look at the current team, every one is new. In fact all of the current members in Indian team were infants when Sachin made his debut. All the familiar faces have gone and Sachin’s retirement has an effect of 'the last straw'.

I have not been a continuous follower of cricket, but there was a brief period when I would do nothing else but watch cricket. And coincidentally it was time when the government imposed the Set-top box rule in Chennai (Why govt., only in Chennai??), which made all the sports channel ‘paid’ channels and were excluded from the list of channels provided by the local cable operator. During that time India toured Australia (2003 - 04). I would keep watching the news channel for the whole match duration, just because they used to display live scores at the corner of the screen. (Though I switched over to a more sane way of following cricket  after that series – radio commentary!! ) [For readers who think I could have used mobile phones or Internet, guys it was time when a black and white mobile was Rs. 15000+ and 64kbps dial-up connection were the most common network available!!). This period of my love with cricket, actually started because of India’s performance in the 2003 ICC world cup. India in their second match, were beaten by then world champion Australia, but after that there was no turning back and India had a great run in that tournament and ended up as the finalist (again loosing to Australia in the finals, there by crushing my hopes of an revenge!!). As India kept winning in the World cup matches, I caught the ‘cricket fever’. I watched the matches so intensely that I could remember most of the matches even now.[ I even started my own cricket rating after that world cup and kept analyzing all matches for the next one year!!]. Though it was a complete team effort, the backbone behind such a great run in the world cup was Our Little master Sachin. He scored close to 650 runs in the tournament with a 150+ score and two score in 90s (see,I still remember these matches !!!)  Had it not been the great performance at the world cup, I would have not been into cricket so much. That is way Sachin is so special and his retirement is very hard to digest!        

Now the final day had come and like so many, I too watched the final moments at Wankhede stadium (through telecast, though). I actually liked what Harsha Bhogle spoke the most, just after the presentation ceremony. There were many interesting points that he made. First, he said about Sachin being a true ambassador of Cricket – a gentleman’s game. Sachin has always played the game in good spirits and with principles. As Harsh said, Sachin had never been spotted losing his temper on field. And there were instances when he walked, when he knew he was out, without waiting for Umpire’s decision. Also he had made a promise to his father that he will not endorse any Liquor brands, a principle which he always followed.

Another interesting point that Harsha made was about why Sachin is special, about why Sachin is worshiped as god, while equally good players like Dravid did not have such a unprecedented fan following. As Harsha said, it is more because of the circumstances during which he started playing International cricket. Most of the 1983 World cup team have retired, and Indian team was in rebuilding stage. The other two star players of that time, Azharuddin and Jadeja were caught in nasty match fixing scams. Economically too India was at worst position. Also we had Babri Masjid issue and Mumbai bomb blasts. So India was down in all parameters and was trying to regain a position in world. At that time it was Sachin’s brilliant performances which lifted India, brought a sense of joy and pride and brought the nation together. Again quoting Harsh, he did what Sir Don Bradman did after World War II. It is hard to image for people who have not lived that time,to understand this, probably they never will; but for people who experienced that period, Sachin will always be God!

Thank you Sachin for taking Indian Cricket to great heights and being a true ambassador for this Gentleman’s game.