And I could not help but reply, “Every Indian is!”
Sachin Tendulkar – the man who brought millions of hearts together; the man who reignited the pride of being an Indian in us Indians!
People ditch local heroes to stand united and cheer for this man. Not for many will a full house Chepauk go “Sachiiin, Sachin!” when the Mumbai Indians takes on the Chennai Super Kings. It’s once in a thousand light years that the entire nation would want the team to win the World Cup for one man. There are panic attacks among his fans when he’s in the nervous nineties, television sets switched off when he takes that long stride back to the pavilion.
Not for everyone does the junta make a beeline for electronic stores that have a live screening of matches. It isn’t everyday that the Aussies will stop sledging. It doesn’t always happen that they show respect. All this happens only for one man, a certain Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who’s shot to fame, not just because of his cricketing records, but also because of the way he conducts himself beyond the boundary as well.
The smile, the voice, the records; they are all ours. He’s a synonym for the word Indian, and being a Tendulkar fan is equivalent to being proud of being an Indian. No, we don’t want another Tendulkar, for one is enough for us Indians to be in a reverie. He’s one man whose feats we’ve celebrated in togetherness, who failures we’ve taken responsibility for. We blindly purchase products endorsed by him, build temples in his honour. Yes, we cried when he lifted the World Cup, for the son of the soil had put an end to a 28-year long wait.
Incredible achievements. Unimaginable humility. Unmatchable records. He is the flag bearer of the sport, not just in our country, but at the international level as well. It’s an absolute honour to be living in the same era as Sachin Tendulkar.
The maestro has set standards that look unlikely to be surpassed. His charm has floored everyone – not just those of this era. His name is the essence of the sport.
Any cricketer who aspires to even come anywhere close to equaling this legend’s records, must be exceptionally talented, to say the least. In his late 30s, Sachin has proved once again that some players get better with age. It seems that even time and age has been brought to a halt by the greatest ambassador of the game. Untouched by fatigue and undeterred by criticism, he has taken everything in his stride.
Indeed, he is the God of cricket!
(Parvathy Gopalakrishnan is a journalist, who loves writing on cricket. A wordplay addict and a die-hard Rahul Dravid loyalist, she blogs about cricket on powerplaytheblog.blogspot.com/, whenever she can)
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