The most feared countdown has begun! Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has quit the format of the game, which he owned, the format that benefited from his innovations, the format, which he redefined. The clock’s ticking now and Tendulkar’s international matches can be counted on fingers. Sachin Tendulkar celebrates 43rd birthday
Here’s my letter to the man, more referred to as God, who over the years has mesmerised a nation and a sport. When I say ‘me’, most of the time I mean the ‘most of we’! ALSO READ: Sachin Tendulkar recalls ‘Desert Storm’ on its 18th anniversary
Dear Sachin,
I am often at loss of words, whenever I am told to write about you. I am not good at defining something close to perfection and what do I write on someone on whom everything has been written. Even when I had the honours of meeting you face-to-face, I didn’t know what to say you and every time I just managed smiles. To cure this feeling, I went through a piece I wrote about you as a preteen, soon after your Sharjah miracles in 1998. ALSO READ: Sachin Tendulkar: Acting was more challenging than playing cricket
‘Six’+ ‘Four’ = ‘Ten’ dulkar
Tendulkar the Little Master,
And the unique Master Blaster.
It’s his sheer Golden touch,
Which helps India snatch the match.
When he bats, the opponents cry,
And bid the ball, “Good Bye.”
He is also a useful bowler,
Team India’s key wickettaker.
He fields well in every match,
And catches one or more catch.
He makes our nation proud,
Never disappoints the crowd.
A real hero,
With error-zero.
He is a true Legend,
Whose Legacy will never end!
A ‘real hero’! That is what you were in the era when heroes for most of us kids varied from He-Man to Shaktimaan. You were the need of this nation with a vast population of millennial and with your emergence, the baby boomers and Gen X believed that there is life beyond the Gavaskars and the Kapils.
From ‘hero’ to the ‘master’ you soon became ‘God’ to the most. Today, many refer to you as ‘God’, but every time I hear that, I feel your achievements are undervalued. God is the one who abides in the heaven and wields his wand to get things done while the world hopes that he answers to their prayers. So it is much easy for him to perform miracles. But you are one amongst us, and it’ is not just talent but your dedication towards something you love and worship that has enabled you to be this special. You have answered our and the team’s prayers more often than not, and have earned the love of all. Your journey to greatness is a moral for us all.
Reliving the journey, it was a few months before my fourth birthday when my dad introduced me to you. He said, ‘Look, a little boy like you is playing for India just because of his hard work and dedication.’ A father taught a lesson to his little son, which has stayed with him and has always made him look up to you. I was just one amongst the many such sons and daughters.
Going back to my first memories of you, on a grainy screen and a match in whites, I watched you smack Mushtaq Ahmed and Abdul Qadir all around the park in a friendly game in Pakistan. Recalling those days are fun, India didn’t win many games and unlike today, we didn’t expect them to do so. The excitement lied in watching you play. Thanks to you that in the next few years to come, I could flip channels as soon I saw on screen the torturous orange, weird disc, rotating for a few minutes eventually forming the Doordarshan logo and even worse was the droning music. Dad wanted us to watch you play, so cable TV made its way.
From the days of SRK’s Circus to Jungle Books to Chandrakantas to Shaktimaans to K-soaps to YouTube, you have been a part of the transition. Talking of the ODI format’s evolution – whites to regular coloured and floodlit games, the 15 overs rule to Powerplays, the ridiculous 1-ball 23 rule to the strange Duckworth Lewis method, pinch-hitters to pinch-hitting format, supersubs to super overs, third umpire giving run outs to the referral system, you have not just adapted to the changes but mastered them and often set rules, rather parameters.
The 120-odd defence against West Indies in Australia in 1991 to the last over of the semi-final of the Hero Cup in 1993, to getting Saqlain Mushtaq out leg-before in Sharjah in 1996, to spinning the Aussies out in the first edition of the Champions Trophy, we knew that you weren’t just born to bat. When we played our gully cricket, whatever the situation was, we had many in the team who went to our captains and told, ‘so what that two is needed off the last over, give me the ball I will do it.” The attitudes changed. You wanted to open the batting, as you desired to face the wrath at the top and give it back. You pleaded for it, go it, and once you did that, you changed the game! You changed the advertising rules too and the brands cashed in on you. I preferred Boost, and threw all sorts of tantrums to buy an Action shoe with lights. Everyone aspired for an Opel Astra, since you won it in Sharjah, 1998. Till date, you have a lot of say on the consumer behaviour. Many of those who consumed Pepsi because of you now have switched to Coke for the same reason. The 1996 World Cup had a huge impact in our lives and it was you through whom we dreamt of the World Cup. Even after the Eden disaster, we prayed for Mark Waugh’s quick dismissal in the final so that your tally of 523 was safe. Post that cup, with the emergence of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, we knew that the years to come will be filled with fun and that’s what happened.
The late preteens were spent in the awe of Sharjah and the late Tony Greig’s voice still rings the ear, ‘Sasshin Tendewlkaar… Whaaaada Playaaa!’ You were just 25, and with so much achieved, anybody could have lost the way, but you didn’t and that’s remarkable. We all vie to achieve quick success and then enjoy the fruits but you were beyond. Then one day, the entire nation mourned when Mr. Ramesh Tendulkar left for a heavenly abode. When you came back from your father’s funeral and played that knock against Kenya in the 1999 World Cup, we knew it you were much beyond a remarkable sportsman. From a ‘master’, your journey to divinity began.
After the Hansie-gate in 2000, a new team was built, and came in some players who played cricket with an attitude, which was not very familiar to Indian cricket. Why? It was a generation of guys who idolised you and their style closely epitomised your attitude towards the sport. The generation was guided by a wonderful leader in Dada (Sourav Ganguly) and had exemplary benchmark setters in Rahul, Kumble and VVS Laxman; but it was a generation whom you had inspired to play cricket and play it with a ‘yes’ attitude. They embodied your intensity.
A time came when uncles and aunties with a wicked wink asked, ‘Did you qualify for science?’ and post Open Houses meant press conferences to our parents, but thanks to you, we bothered little and continued our discussion, ‘Did you see that Sachin six off McGrath? Apt answer to the rowdy bowler! Nairobi is ours.’
A shirtless Dada and Yuvi-Kaif stand is embedded in us when we recall the NatWest, but true fans also recall the two sublime hundreds you scored at No. 4 in the league games. Soon after the disastrous New Zealand tour, elders had their way, ‘Boards are around the corner and this team can’t post 200, so don’t waste time on the World Cup’, and the verdict was ‘STUDY!’ Sad days indeed, but thanks to you, the 2003 World Cup will be the most special! Watching Andrew Caddick sail out of the ground, and Shoaib Akhtar being cut over the point are some memories that you have given the game. Calculus and Shakespeare, take a break. I proudly told all, ‘I m watching it. Board will back next year, but not this quest for Cup in Africa.’ It still hurts to think of Johannesburg but whatever it was, that team made us proud!
We all know you love tennis, but add an elbow to the sport, we could never imagine the horrors! Because of you, the unknown ‘tennis elbow’ was famous and the nation prayed for your recovery. The 2007 World Cup hurt a lot and the wounds were too deep for college parties and excursions to heal. You must have been devastated, and I did not expect to see you come back so strong. England tour in 2007, you batted better than ever. From cutting the ball square from the middle stump or playing a leg glance from outside off-stump, you did it with ease.
In the next few years, amidst work and post graduations, you presented a re-invented version of yourself. You played with guys, some of them younger than your international career and yet you enthralled them with sheer brilliance. Christchurch was where we thought we would see the double hundred, the 175 at Hyderabad came closer but the wait wasn’t longer and the 200 came in Gwalior. The re-invention was much-needed for our cricket, and that built up the impetus for the World Cup 2011.
One of my World Cup memories is the straight drive you played off Morne Morkel in Nagpur and it’s up there in my YouTube list. The atmosphere on April 2, 2011, at Wankhede marked the perfect setting for you. A sea of crowd next to the Arabian Sea chanted your name and sang the national song. We sealed it with a six from our skipper, and of all you, deserved it the most!
I strongly believe that moment in Wankhede was the grandest stage and after that win; you should have retired from this format. I wasn’t happy when you picked and chose ten games after that. Though the 100th ton gave us a much-awaited joy, it also reminded all of us that you are a human and ups and downs are a part of life. You didn’t deserve the unnecessary media pressure, but that’s the standard you had set and unfortunately you were being compared to your prime. But now when you decide to give up the blue, all of a sudden I felt like parting away with a chunk of my life. With no more hopes of watching you bat in the blue jersey again, I realise that from a little four-year-old, I too have come a long way. I am a married young man.
You have been a parallel part of all the memories that I have in my life. I have never called you ‘God’, but I thank him for sending you down and gracing the game that I love, and thank him for sending me down in an era where I have had the privilege to watch you play. Your conduct on and off the field serves an example to all. Your attitude and dedication is learning and with these strengths, you have kept on growing strong and have gone onto becoming the nation’s favourite son and a role model to many around the world.
Dictionary adjectives are less, so all I say to you is ‘Thank You Sachin’!
Warm Regards,
Suvajit
(The article was first published in Karyd Magazine in January 2013.)
(Suvajit Mustafi consumes cricket for lunch, fiction for dinner and munches numerous other snacks throughout the day. Yes, a jack of several trades, all Suvajit dreamt of was being India’s World Cup winning skipper but ended up being a sports writer, author, screenwriter, director, copywriter, graphic designer, sports marketer , strategist, entrepreneur, philosopher and traveller. Donning so many hats, it’s cricket which gives him the ultimate high and where he finds solace. He can be followed at @RibsGully and rivu7)
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