Sunday, December 23, 2012

Goodbye Sachin!!! - A fan's Adieu


I was 11 when I first watched Sachin Tendulkar. I remember a couple of friends and I discussing his selection on the school bus and we were outraged at the time. We had heard of this school boy who broke a world record in school cricket. School cricket is one thing, but here is a guy who was only 4 yrs older than us who were being called up to play for the Indian team.  And trust me, at that time when you are 11, sports, tv and movies are about 90% of what goes on in your brain. So we reacted very strongly to this - we came up with juvenile variations of his name to ridicule him (“thondu-lkar” being my favorite. A variation of the Malayalam word for coconut husk) J. And he getting his nose broken in the first test only reinforced that he is no good.

Then this happened in an ODI match cut short to a friendly match due to crowd trouble and everything changed. Watching it live then, you could feel this kid was special.


Since then I followed every one of his innings and almost felt like I grew with him. The depressing tour of Australia in 1992 was when I truly became his fan. After that cricket began and ended with Tendulkar. Over my teenage years he gave many more memories. His world cup heroics, his blasts when promoted to the opening slot, his last over from the Hero cup, the desert storm innings, the heart break of Chennai. The list goes on and on. This was a time when we all held our breath when he batted. A time when winning and losing depended entirely on how he would perform. When roads were deserted when he was in the middle. When people turned off the TV when he got out. At a time when Indian cricket was mediocre, he held the flag high and made you proud to be an Indian.

Life changed in my 20's. I couldn't keep up with cricket as I used. But wherever I was, I religiously followed how he did in the previous day’s match. He got a better team (one his caliber deserved) and his style changed to that of an accumulator. Though I hated the style, it seemed to suit the team. It gave me great pleasure when he reverted back to his old style in the last 2-3 years. Now in my 30's I rarely watch any cricket. But I still look at score every day and my eyes search for Tendulkar on the scorecard first.

His departure is an inevitability that time demanded. But Cricket will not be the same without him. I can’t even imagine what it might be for him to leave behind the only things he has known to do all his life. It needed to be done. It was hard to see all the armchair pundits peck him day after day. It was like watching a debate on whether to euthanize someone you love. Mercifully he left on his own terms.

To me Tendulkar was quintessentially Indian. He was a true role model who showcased an “Indianess” in everything he did. Even his retirement announcement was by staying out of the limelight. No grand ovations, no lap of the ground and no bat salute. Hopefully, he will get all that when he retires from all forms of cricket.  For someone who made us proud to be Indian, that’s the least we can give him. Today truly is the beginning of the end of an era. Good bye Sachin.

2 comments:

  1. True. Couldn't have said it any better .

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  2. When we were in AbuDhabi,both of us had gone and watched the match between India and Pakistan,specially you want to see the batting of Sachin Tendulkar and the bowling action of Wassim Akram live in the stadium.Unfortunately we lost that match as well as Sachin's performance was not great.

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