An unsung hero...

Millions of pages have been written about the world's greatest batsman - Sachin Tendulkar. People have run out of praises about him. He is the god of cricket. However, as the tour of Australia is next on the Indian cricketing calendar, and it might well be the last tour down under for Sachin Tendulkar and a couple of his other illustrious colleagues, namely - V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid.

Both Laxman and Dravid have been in the background as compared to the other duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly, when all four of them played. Of all four V.V.S is obviously the one who has been least sung about. His epic 281 Vs Australia at Kolkata is obviously his greatest achievement, and his shoes will be way to huge for anyone to fill. India will somehow find someone to at least bumble around wearing his shoes.

Rahul Dravid's shoes will be the ones noone can even hope or even want to fill. The kind of pressure that he has soaked up all these years, doing everything for the team  - noone will ever want to be in his place. Even when the entire Indian team collapses around him, he'd be the rock in the middle, playing his characteristic innings of holding up one end.

What has he not done for the team? Bats at number 3, kept wickets, even played some pinch hitter knocks, holds up one end steady, has even bowled, taken tough catches, has run with quicker batsmen like Yuvraj and Kaif, and has even been the captain, but has been praised a lot less than either Sachin Tendulkar or Saurav Ganguly. Indian cricket should be thankful for the presence of this gentleman cricketer who has given his all for the game and the team.

Dravid was dropped from the ODI side at one point of time, because he couldn't make fast runs, but his absence has always been felt whenever India started collapsing. The guts that this man has to steady a ship and even take the team close to winning matches or at least face saving draws - no words. Respect.

I was just thinking about the Indian test side today, especially with respect to replacements for Dravid, Laxman and yes, of course, You-Know-Who too. Nope. None of them can be replaced. In fact, truth be told, India are yet to find a proper replacement for the worst of the fab four - Saurav Ganguly (Yes. He can be regarded as the worst of the fab four and Yes, I am a die hard Ganguly fan, who says this). Scary thoughts, just to imagine an Indian team travelling to England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa without The Wall. On a green top like in New Zealand - no Dravid, no score.

India have gone on tours previously with at least one of the fab four to rely on, and at most times, it has been Rahul Dravid on whom India have depended on to take control of the batting in the middle. India will have to search for appropriate replacements and groom them properly, if they want to see someone make at least half the number of runs that Dravid has made in his test career till now.

World Cup 2011.

The day has dawned in one part of the world. The part of the world where it matters the most. The countries to which the sport matters the most. The world cup begins today.

The world cup will for sure draw curtains on some glorious careers and some not so glorious ones as well. For sure, this will be the last world cup for some of cricket's biggest names which includes Sachin Tendulkar as well. India take on Bangladesh today, kicking off their world cup campaign. Co-hosts of this world cup and both of them will be considered favourites by their own countrymen.

This world cup will be a glorious one. The demons of 2007 are sure to be exorcised, given the fact that this world cup is being staged in the hotbed of cricket- the subcontinent. What better place for the resurrection of the 50 over game? The euphoria that fans bring to the game in the subcontinent can never be matched anywhere else in the world.

This world cup is one of the most open tournaments in the history of the game. Almost all of the top teams are strong sides, with flourishing talent. Oh, well, that would bring us to the question of who's the favourite? Playing in the subcontinent would obviously make India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan as favourites, combined with Bangladesh being dark horses. It's tough.

For me- It's 5 letters, we wear blue and we have god in our side.

When he retires....

I really can't imagine what the state of affairs of a billion peoples lives will be when GOD retires. You know whom I am talking about. Yes. It's HIM.

He has beaten opponents all over the world and thrashed bowlers all over many a stadia on the planet. He looks very small, but his achievements- the sky is not the limit. Often compared with Sir Don Bradman, he has always shown, why he is better than Sir Don. No offence meant.

He has won so many matches for India. He has been a bowlers' nightmare. When he is in form, no one can even think of getting him out. It has often been said that opposing captains have even stood and admired his game rather than thinking of ways to get him out. He is such a great cricketer.

Much has been said of him playing. I'm sure, he himself has not yet thought of retiring as yet. However, it is inevitable that even he will retire one day. On that day, I'm sure at least a million people will give up cricket for good. On that day, the Indian stock markets will crash a bit. On that day, there will be a lot of tears shed all over the world, for Cricket will lose it's greatest player ever. On that day, everyone would seriously wish that this day never came. It will come, that day will come, even Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar himself would be very sad.

He was within inches of a crowning glory of winning a world cup for India, but India sadly stumbled at the very last hurdle. It will only be justice to him, to win the next world cup and when he does go, it will be his final hurrah. The man who broke the 200 run barrier in ODIs, the man with the most number of career centuries and the man who has been cricket's god, he will be missed by cricket fans all over the world. His shoes are very huge for anyone to fill, but with god's grace, India might find a replacement, who might be at best, half as good as Tendulkar himself.

If cricket's my religion...

That title says it all. If cricket's my religion, the man in the pic is my god. That s the motto of every Indian, every cricket fanatic all over the world. 

There are so many many sayings about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The most famous of them include quotes by other stars such as Matthew Hayden- “I've seen God. He bats at No.4 for India.”

Shane Warne- “I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player.”

Brian Lara “Sachin Tendulkar is a genius. I'm a mere mortal.”

Don Bradman once said to his wife "Come and take a look at this guy. He bats almost the way I did."

There are endless odes and tributes paid to the greatest batsman of all times. There used to be a point of time in Indian Cricket, when Sachin's wicket meant that India could be defeated. 

Imagine that man, performing at the highest level of cricket for such a long time. A journey that began way back in 1987, in Pakistan, facing Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram, on debut. That journey has continued ever since. Sachin's career has spanned 20 years, 17000 ODI runs, over 12000 test runs and over 42 test hundreds and 45 ODI hundreds. Imagine. Those are mind boggling figures. There is no way that he'll retire without 50 hundreds in each format of the game, except for T20 of course.

What hasn't Sachin done for India. He's not been a 'keeper. That's it. He s won matches single handedly for the team. He s done that with the bat and the ball. He's even captained the side, but not with much success though. There haven't been too many cricketers who have endured heartbreaks as much as him. There have been so many situations when he had played so many wonderful knocks and India did not make it over the line. The most memorable and the freshest memory would be that of his stunning 175 against Australia. However, India fell short by 4 runs.

A few knocks that anyone would remember would be his back to back centuries against Australia at Sharjah. His brilliant 98 off 75 balls against Pakistan at Centurion, South Africa. That  blinding 155 vs Australia at Chennai in 1997. And that 136 against Pakistan at Chennai in 1999, though that was in a losing cause. That man has contributed a lot more to cricket than anyone else.

Injuries and lack of form have always been a part and parcel of any cricketer's career. And Sachin too has had his share of injuries- tennis elbow, ankle injuries, back problems, finger injuries. The game has taken its toll even on his body. But despite all that, he shrugs them all off and continues to play, continues to dazzle, continues to amaze.

He has had so many batting partners. One can even remember him batting with even a number eleven batsman, trying to save a test match. But at the mention of his batting partners, his best opening partner was Sourav Ganguly, with whom he had scripted a huge number of stunning partnerships. 

Every man has his own weakness, and apparently captaincy was not Sachin's forte. India did not do well under his captaincy, but his batting was as dazzling as always. India has not seen any cricketer perform time and again like Sachin Tendulkar. 

He has terrorised bowlers all over the world with his batting skills. There is no batsman in the world who has made bowling to him to seem as the most terrifying job on earth. Bowlers fear bowling to an in-form Sachin. A cricketer has to be born again to replace Sachin. 

If cricket's my religion, Sachin's my god.

 
P.S: Down below are some thoughts that my friends have shared about the Master Blaster. 


Sankari says- "I like Cricket only because of Sachin. The day he stops playing will be the day I stop watching cricket. "

Rohit says- " My fav sachinism moments : 1. The India Pakistan match at Chepauk.. I am blessed to have seen it live at the MAC stadium. Consider it to be the highpoint of my dumb -life.


2. The Century against England at Chennai which he dedicated to the ppl of Mumbai post 26/11. goes to show , the man still plays for the ppl of India , and not to get the eyeballs of Adidas and Pepsi , unlike a few blokes in the team.

3. The Sharjah sandstorm. I still remember watching it when I was a kid.. I was in my native town Nellore for the holidays , and the roof literally came down , watching it with a dozen equally passionate relatives.

4. The ball tampering scandal.. there waws so much outburst against the umpire who accused Sachin . "You mess with Sachin , you mess with India .

5. The World cup. India was doing poorly and back home cricketers houses were being stoned and effigies being burnt etc. many players appealed for the public to stop this. but went in vain. Sachin comes, holds a small press conference abt it. It all stops. Many ppl demand respect , he commands it."

Jayaram says- "That six off Andy Caddick's ball out of the stadium during the world cup in 2003."

Bhargava- "That dazzling 98 off 75 balls against Pakistan. Amazing. No one can ever forget that."

Venkatraman- "Sharjah- 143. Need I say more?" 

Ashok- 155 not out vs Australia at Chennai. cant forget it. I am very fortunate to see that innings live at chepauk. and more fortunate to have thrown back the ball back to the field after one of his sixes landed into our stand.

Sathyanarayanan- Sharjah, 104 against Zim at Benoni(must win match to go to Final - Ganguly, Azhar and Rahul Dravid went cheaply. We required 240 of 40 overs to qualify for finals. Sachin scored 104. Jadeja and Robin would complete the match). He was totally out of form coming into the match. He played some extra ordinary shots for a player who was out of form. 
155 vs Aus at Chennai(Test Match)
116 vs Pak at Chennai(Test match)
85 vs WI at Mumbai(Test Match)
116 vs Aus at Melbourne(Test match)
169 vs SA at Cape town(India were 67/5)
114 vs Eng at Edgbaston(India 66/5 with Manjrekar not able to bat)

Srinivas- 1.Sharjah "Desert Storm" twin Classics.
2.The 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup game at Centurion (That back foot cover drive off a bemused Akram is etched on my memory).

Krishnan- Sachins won't happen to the game everyday. He is a prisoner of his own (dare I say, Indian) Mind and had his ups and downs but his abilities were exceptional. In that short 22 yards strip, he carved out 100s of 1000s of runs, won millions of hearts (and of course made tons of money). At the same time, despite all his achievements, I won't exclude him from being questioned. But he's unlike anyone we've seen in world cricket and will leave a big stamp on the game- not just for being able to play cricket but also for being disciplined outside of it.

Siva- 1.  241* - Sydney'04 vs Aus - the one in which he stifled his natural instincts to play shots in the cover region because he was getting out in that region! 

2. 49 - Bangalore'08 vs Aus - considering how acrimonious the last series between the two teams had been & how we ended up getting "Bucknor-ed" first & then "Clarke-d" to lose that all important Sydney test match, we had to ensure that we didn't lose this first test, considering how the Aussies would never lose their grip once they wrest the momentum.i think we had to make about 290+ to win on the 5th day.the pitch was absolutely two-paced and going for a win was out of the equation.the great man showed such a remarkable sense of purpose in each and every defensive shot he played for close to two sessions he was at crease and ensured that drew that test.we went on to win that series! 

Venkatraman- His 5/32 at Kochi against Aus and his 3 wickets in the Kolkata test match known for Laxman's heroics are tributes to his crafty bowling and his thinking. People often don't praise him about his bowling. He is very crafty as a leggie and the ball with which he got warne in Kolkata was a stunner! The googly spun in so sharply that it hit Warne's pad before he could get his bat down! Warne must have surely commented in his mind, Oh you beauty!

Real life inspirations

When someone asks me whom do you look to for an inspiration- that man's name comes out of my mouth so spontaneously. The greatest test captain India has ever had- Saurav Chandidas Ganguly. Imagine the guts that man had. He went to the brink of his career ending in a manner that would hardly befit his glorious career. He made a comeback from that point, went on to prove his critics wrong. Played a belligerent innings against South Africa on his comeback, when the entire Indian team including Rahul Dravid was reeling under the bowling attack from South Africa. This man stood up and said- I will not go down so easily and he proved his critics wrong- time and again during the last few months that he played for India. That man is an inspiration for anyone, anyone who knows cricket would know him for all his efforts. Especially that of irritating Steve Waugh on his quest to conquer the "final frontier" and his efforts of building the present Indian Cricket team, his efforts as a player in the team were innumerable, his partnerships with the god of Indian cricket- Sachin Tendulkar, all that.Of course- his fighting 144 against Australia in Brisbane will remind everyone what sort of a cricketer he was. Winning was all that mattered for the former captain, losing was not an option. India played to win under his captaincy. The team never looked for anything less than a win in any situation. Saurav Ganguly did not go down without a fight. He fought till the very last ball he faced and the very last ball he bowled and fielded. His acts of sterling leadership and all his majestic innings will never be forgotten by anyone who has watched cricket and loved the sport.

Another man who inspired me in just one single act of heroism was Anil Kumble, another former captain but a legend in his own right. The moment of inspiration was when he came out to bowl against the West Indies, after his jaw was broken. He had his head bandaged and proceeded to bowl and even managed to pick a few wickets. How can anyone who mention Anil Kumble's name, fail to mention his greatest achievement ever- 10 wickets in an innings against arch rivals Pakistan. That's what every INDIAN fan will be proud of when they say Kumble's name.

Sachin Tendulkar has always been an inspiration. But one moment that will remain etched in every Indian's memory was when he had back spasms while playing against Pakistan in Chennai and he went on to take India close to victory, but could not achieve that. That particular innings will stand out, more so, because, even though India lost that match- the Chennai crowd payed due respects to the winning team by giving them a standing ovation. However, that stellar- 98 off 75 balls against Pakistan at Centurion, where Sachin and Sehwag tore Pakistan apart to give India a fantastic win over their arch rivals will take the crown.

When it comes to the Indian cricket team as a whole- the Natwest Trophy final of 2002 against England is the one that will remain on top. Purely due to the reason that it was a complete team effort, with youngsters, putting their hand up to be counted. However, the sweetest memory of a team being inspired is South Africa- inspired by Gibbs and Smith beat Australia, who had earlier posted the world's highest total in a one day match by scoring 434 in 50 overs. Australia celebrated too soon and ended up having to lose to South Africa who ravaged the Australian bowling attack.

One other team that has inspired me- Liverpool F.C. (even though- I'm not a Liverpool fan). Led by Steven Gerrard, Liverpool took on A.C.Milan in the Champions League final in 2005. By half time- Milan had got 3 goals on board. Scoreline- Milan 3 - 0 Liverpool. At 90 minutes, Milan 3-3 Liverpool. Those 3 goals scored by Liverpool was within a space of 5 min, ladies and gentlemen. The game dragged on to penalties, where Liverpool beat Milan to win the Champions League. Being 3-0 down at half time and coming back to win it is no mean feat by all means.

Apart from all these examples, one man- Mr. Narayanamurthy, Infosys chief. His brains- well, honestly- I dont have them, but someday, with experience- I might get some maybe 0.00000001% of his brains. Well, his success story, he started with a vision and not much of capital. Apart from that, Mr. Narayanamurthy didn't have a business background to begin with.

Look where Infosys is now. One thing which he and his core team, which included Mr.Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India, which built the company must have had was- HARDWORK, which doesn't come easily. Now that s something to draw inspiration from.

However, one guy whom I look to as a personal inspiration is one of my best friends (who never reads my blogs). He hardly used to be the academic sort of a person. He was more of the hanging out type, who just made the cut in our 12th standard. He went on to do extremely well at college, way beyond all our expectations. When he joined college, his college's director (or whatever they call him) told "how you make your entry in this college is not important, how you make your exit is important." And my friend went on to prove it to us. Today he is one of the most respectable guys that graduated from his college.

Remember these people, they are really the ones from whom anyone and everyone can draw inspiration from. Each one of us would certainly have our own people to draw inspiration from and will certainly differ from one another.