Tuesday, February 21, 2012

You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - Born 24th April 1973 turns 39 this April.Since his debut on 11th December 1988 at the age of 15 he has been a genius in the making. A century in the debut first class match was just the beginning of a long illustrious career he was going to make for himself. At the age of 16 when SRT was picked up for the crucial test series against Pakistan in Pakistan nobody had ever imagined this was a face that was going to dominate world cricket for the next 23 years.It started with the dominance of the fearsome pace trio of Pakistan and then as history as it he never looked back.Like any mortal he had his downfalls but what made him an immortal in the game of cricket was the passion with which he fought back and rose to be what he is -  'The GOD of Cricket'.

When he played we all could leave out everything behind to watch him play. As Wisden rightly quoted after his maiden test century at Old Trafford

"He looked the embodiment of India's famous opener, Gavaskar, and indeed was wearing a pair of his pads. While he displayed a full repertoire of strokes in compiling his maiden Test hundred, most remarkable were his off-side shots from the back foot. Though only 5ft 5in tall, he was still able to control without difficulty short deliveries from the English pacemen."

Thus was born the God of cricket. No matter there are still critics who talk about his match winning abilities, every single Indian cricket lover of this century knows of a time when we switched off our radios and TV's as the commentators screamed That's a OUT. and Sachin Tendulkar departs. Its going to be a tough game for India from here on. That has been the power of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar in India. He brings about the kind of calmness in the mind of every Indian fan that today we are afraid to let him go.

Sachin today is more than just a matter of national pride.He is a national treasure. He is synonymous with every middle class Indian kid who wants to dream big. A son every mother wants, a father every child would luv to have, a friend someone could kill for and lot more.What makes this happen is the factor that Sachin grew before our very eyes. We have seen him as a boy wonder, as a teenager who had his head on the shoulders in spite of the fame, a husband, a father, a captain, a team player and one of the most non-controversial superstars of our age. A feat that he has withheld for 23 years and has done it with the greatest dignity possible.

More admirable is the fact that he is loved by every cricket fan a feat that mostly the best of best in their field find hard to achieve. Such was his meteoric rise to fame that people loved to quote him everywhere. From the beginning of his career he has dominated the bowlers, the field and headlines whenever he played. Till lately it was his centuries that made news and off late its his inability to reach the magic 3 figure mark that is making news.Like a friend said I think he is the only batsmen who creates news by not scoring a century.


Now that I have stated the most obvious facts let me come to the difficult part.

It is time Mr.Tendulkar for you to retire or rather retire with absolute pride and honor. We all love you for the all the wonderful innings you have played for us. Not once have you ever let us down. You have always given us your best.So much so that you have a few bones in your body that are beyond repair.We consider ourselves lucky to be born in a generation where we have been able to see your every move on the field.We have seen you score 99 centuries and that is no small feat by any standards, I don't see any one even close to that.You have achieved everything that an athlete can in his lifetime of the game and many a times you have outlived your span on field.A total of 79654 runs from 1474 international and first class matches is a tremendous achievement.An achievement I see no else can even think of.You have climbed every mountain high enough.You are every cricket fans delight. Every bowlers night mare and every cricket players dictionary.

Like every great athlete you know best when your body will not give any more.I personally feel now is time Mr. Tendulkar for us to see you to retire and enjoy a cup of coffee on your porch every morning.As an ardent fan of yours I would like that and may more like me would. Yes we would miss that look to the sky before you walk to bat. We would miss seeing a jersey with the number 10 and Tendulkar name on it.We would miss that boyish charm and grin you have still maintained. we will miss that voice that says its the team that performed after every man of the match. We will miss your 'Aila'. We will miss you raising your helmeet and head to the almighty after every century. We will miss you dedicaing that us every single time.We will miss those glorious straight drives. We will miss those shots trough the cover. We will miss every bit of cricket you play. In fact a lot of us may even give up watching the game without you and yet it is time.

Every time some one writes an article to say you goodbye you have made a comeback. But here there is nothing for you to prove. You are in the prime of your game. The flow of your bat is excellent you are playing better than you ever did, and yet I say it is time sir. It is Time.

Because You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain and that is exactly what everyone is making out of you.

P.S: As an ardent Sachin fan I would want you to be like those immortals of mythology who stays young and plays forever. But as a True fan of yours I would like to see you hang your boots with honor and pride.You will remain our 'God of Cricket'. Years from now watching some match of yours I would tell my grandchildren yes some one like Sachin really did play cricket, this is not a work of fiction and there is no CGI's in the footage.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think he should retire unless he feels like. In all this years he chose what is best and what is not. So let us allow him to decide as he is the best to decide and not us.

Anonymous said...

It's appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it's time to be happy.
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