Sachin’s Valorous 175 and Humongous 200*

The Rising Son of cricket:
It was during 90’s when both consumer electronics as well as paper industry saw an upward surge in India with the arrival of a Child Prodigy, a Genius and a Master – Sachin Tendulkar. During then the people crazily went for buying spree of TVs sets to discover him, people crazily started writing on him to read about him. They felt there was something special about Sachin even though he was in his early days. Durng then, the internet had just started making waves however the only way common Indian could get the news and info on their beloved player was through newspapers. So, there definitely was a toll on the paper industry, but then nature was all smiles for the special son, Sachin.

Sachin's Humongous 200

20 years later, though the trees are still being cut in huge numbers when compared to 90s, but with a slight twist. As these days Sachin can also be held for global warming as per strict UN laws (because these days everyone are writing some or the other thing on Sachin Tendulkar)but then, that’s not the same case with the nature as she is still partial and in favor of Sachin and retains the same smile for him, because she knows her son managed to spread the shadow for his country & his countrymen which almost covers the geographical area of 3 lakhs odd sq kms and more than a billion of people population through his humanly not possible deeds. May be for this reason she still retains that smile.
Why is that India always has a special place for Sachin in spite of 20 long years? And to add more, it was during the same period where India saw many celebrities, stars and great politicians emerging to stardom. And the Answer is, yes they certainly did hold the headlines but only for a certain period of time and certainly not the way what Sachin is consistently holding it for 20 strong and long years. There is something special about him and it’s not just by mere craziness and adulation which India generally showers on any high profile person. Period.
These days Indian cricket is certainly flying very high and why not when the Aviator of the Indian team is in such a terrific form where in his every outing he is flying more than 100 flying hours.

The way Sachin is batting this year 2010, is just out of the world, It’s been close to 4 months since the commencement of year 2010, but the world has already witnessed 4 consecutive 100s in tests and a Humongous 200* in Odi (and this is just the beginning, he will breach it two more times for sure).This is purely because of the genius of Sachin which he delivers at his will and against the time. Because of these special knocks, his existing fan database got upgraded with new fans in terms of trillions across the globe. Even Atheists started calling him Almighty. Sachin has played 3 big knocks in Odi in less than a year (Read: 163* Vs New Zealand in March 2009, 175 Vs Australia in November 2009 and 200* Vs South Africa February 2010).
On the first two occasions he trained himself to breach this 200 mark but missed out on both the times. His innings of 163* against New Zealand in New Zealand came to an end mainly because of the cramps and injury which he suffered while playing and where as in the second attempt against Australia, may be the total runs put by Australia on the board fell short in achieving one and during the search for his quest he eventually lost his wicket. But finally he made up the 2 lost opportunities on the third occasion when he blasted 200* against South Africa this year. His last 2 innings were resulted as Anti-Climax and Climax in Indian win.
The Genius of Sachin delivers Valorous 175 and Humongous 200*:
It took me more than 6 months (ever since he played that knock of 175 against Australia in Hyderabad) and exactly 2 months (for his knock of 200* against South Africa in Gwalior) to finalize the two apt adjectives for these 2 thunderbolts (valorous 175 and humongous 200*). Though any dictionary, word power or the thesaurus for that matter literally fails to describe the magnitude of Sachin’s batting. But I still somehow managed to find the adjectives which at least remotely justify his knocks(If we have witnessed valorous act by Sachin at Hyderabad we were also equally privileged to witness Humongous 200* at Gwalior).It took almost a month to get the outline to pen down and then of course a tree was cut for writing this scripture.
Australia has scored more than 340 runs on many occasions against India. On three occasions where Sachin tried to lead the chase and missed out were. First, when he got out for a score of 4 runs in world cup final, 2003 when Australia set a target of 360 to chase. That was the heart breaking dismissal for India and Sachin, who single handedly took India to the finals (after solely promising in front of the press when India lost the match against the same team in the league phase, then Sachin said “I will play till last ball”).Second, in the same year when India played a tri series (Ind-Nz-Aus) in India when Australia once again set a target of 348 to chase. Sachin scored 89 during the process, but India couldn’t win the match. Third, of course the recent his knock of 175 of 141 balls which comprised of 19 boundaries and 4 sixes. When he scored his 7 first runs he crossed yet another milestone of accumulating 17,000 runs in Odi. This knock was as heart breaking as what we saw in world cup final 2003. In this match he almost took India home, He just fell when he tried playing a Scoop shot which bounced a bit and eventually was caught by Hauritz of McKay bowling.
This scoop shot is more of a suicidal than a survival. This particular shot shattered the dreams of Pakistan in T-20 world cup, 2007 when Mishbah-ul-haq attempted to fetch the winning run by playing the scoop which eventually landed in the hands of Sreeshanth of Joginder Sharma bowling. But here in this case India still had a chance of winning the match as they still had 3 overs, 3 wickets and 18 runs to score after Sachin’s departure but in the end it was typical Indian fallout.
The tail enders played a spoil sport and changed the near most perfect Climax to an Anti Climax for the Indian victory and of course for Sachin.
What a heart breaking sight for the Emperor to see his empire coming down, the moment he left the battlefield.The empire which he had built from start to (almost) finish wasn’t blessed to see the victory flag hoisted. The soldiers from his dynasty failed to cross the enemy line by their winning march.

This is not the first time where India lost from a winning position, but this was something Sachin was yearning to finish it off by himself. In his career spanning of 20 years few times he came close to taste the victory but results have always been on the flip side. The moment he left, India lost and his critics wore a wicked smile on their face. Yes, Emperor was disheartened but remained determined for his next conquest.
Everytime he tries to educate his team that India is no more in the reforming 90s but already taken a big mileage in the globalization but his team always remains as adamant as any other and they still want to have their repast of 90s. Period.
Incidentally it was Mahatma Gandhi who first started his social-justice movement ever in South Africa when he was thrown out of the train and rest is history. Co incidentally Sachin too started his revolutionary march against the same country to breach the 200 mark ever and the history of breaching 200 and setting a new benchmark will be rewritten two more times before he retires from Odi.
If the former made his nation to follow him and create the history by getting freedom then the latter made the nation to stand still and witness the history by reaching the Double hundred. Both resulted humongous. It took almost 40 years to shrug the Atlas. It took 40 years to score a double hundred ever in Odi which was eventually scored by the only deserving player cricket has ever seen.

I made few wishes way back in 1999 that 1) Sachin should score 50 100’s in both the forms of cricket 2) He should be the first to score double hundred in Odi and Lastly a world cup under his belt. Wish No#1 is on its way, wish No#2 accomplished and the last, all more important wish to win a world cup takes all my focus now.
During his knock of 200, Right from the beginning Sachin looked in a sublime touch. Every shot he played were impeccable, every stroke he hit were flawless. Sachin stamped his authority throughout his innings. This knock of 200 in 147 balls had 25 boundaries and 3 huge sixes which fetched the greatest victory ever on South Africa. India won the match by 153 runs. This was a perfect climax for the Indian victory and also for his quest of reaching 200 mark.
One common phenomenon which we got to see in both the innings was he scoring almost 50% of total runs of the team. Whether while he was chasing against Australia or when he was front ending to set the benchmark for South Africa.
The Genius of Sachin in both the innings was palpably clear. This Genius dialed G,“G – Grudge and Gracious” while playing both the knocks. If he was holding grudge while playing his valorous 175 against Australia, then he was equally gracious when he was playing his Humongous 200*against South Africa.

Sachin’s Valorous 175

Some Noble words for his critics:
On a curious note, how often an opener has been a finisher or which is that opener who has been consistent finisher for that matter? If Cricket is a team game, then the team should demonstrate the same. Why blame someone who tried winning it for his team and why Critics are so much eager to see the results on the flip side. But these innings shut those critical big mouths, which once were ready to hand over the retirement to Sachin without his consent.
During 2005-06 Sachin had the worst phase of his career and it was during the same time his critics had the golden opportunity to criticize him and they didn’t miss even a single such chance even during his injuries. These not so good cricketers but turned critical specialists for Sachin has always tried to sneak peek into this batting omnibus and remained critical. Sachin has been the reason and also the difference to everyone and everything. Even to the critics for that matter. During then critics earned rich meals and not just the bread, by writing against him.
Ever since the year 2007 dawned, since then (in the last 3 years) the sheer genius of Sachin smashed every mirror, trapped every elephant and enlightened every all rounder. There is a famous saying in management subject called “ Total quality management” and the saying goes “change is inevitable” and that glimmer of change is visible among these critics these days, hope so at least let me not be on the flip side for their change. These days the same critics are not that happy as they are earning just a piece of bread for their livelihood because the people who were right behind Sachin during his worst phase has changed the attitude of the people and made them to read good things about Sachin.
In the end…

Dear Sachin,

The whole nation has been behind you in the thick and thin of your personal and professional life over the years. The happiness what you have given to the nation is irreplaceable. Nation has blessed and wished you in all your endeavors. Today, the nation once again gears up to wish you(b'day) and bless you. This decade you have already given us great happiness in the past 2 yearss, may you continue with the same zeal and serve the same happiness for us which you have always done over the years. congrats to you my Dear Sachin, All the best, God Bless.

SACHIN TENDULKAR & COMPARISONS

                        

           SACHIN TENDULKAR  & COMPARISONS

 INTRODUCTION:

                        One thing that will never fade away in the cricketing history is comparisons. It is nothing new to cricket; it was there between Hammond and Bradman. While Hammond always led the runs tally and high score, Bradman was ahead in the number of centuries and average. People supporting Hammond said that he is an exceptional bowler as well (who took 736 first class wickets) and a great natural athlete (a good soccer player too).

If comparisons haunted someone so badly, then it should be Sachin Tendulkar. In his early days, he was constantly compared with Brian Lara, then later when Lara slowed down, he was compared with Mark Waugh, and then later with Saeed Anwar in ODIs (Saeed Anwar for a brief phase had more ODI centuries than Sachin), he was compared with Steve Waugh, later with Inzamam, and then with Lara again and after Lara’s retirement with Ponting. Recently Mr Ian Chappel went on to compare Duminy with Sachin. It has been three different eras, but only one thing remained unchanged and that is Sachin.

The reason behind this is simple. If there is a universally accepted notion, then there will be a few who will question it and contradict it with another theory. The Universally accepted notion is Sachin is the greatest batsman the cricketing world has ever seen. Few people would always like to say something against this, for conveying their opinion they tend to take other players for comparison. People keep comparing Dravid, Ganguly, Ponting, Lara and lot others with Sachin. “Great men compare their achievements with their goals, while others compare their achievements with those of other people”. The fact is Sachin has set some goals and he is striving hard to achieve them, he is least bothered about what his contemporaries are doing. If he had gone after other people’s records he would have achieved much less.
Sachin when he scored 200* in an ODI many experts came out saying that he is the greatest cricketer ever and even rated him higher than Bradman.
Sachin rubbished all those comparisons and said that he is never in to comparisons and it is not fair to compare. While we can dwell on how he is far better than his contemporary players like Lara, Ponting and others, by bringing out facts and figures. It will be futile, because the people who are hell bent against accepting the truth are not going to accept it, no matter how well we put the facts. People who say that when Sachin scores a century India will lose, will keep saying that though Sachin to his credit has 33 centuries on winning cause and no other batsman in the world ever scored even 30 centuries. People who say that he has not won many matches for India fail to understand that he has the maximum number of man of the matches and man of the series awards. People who say that he is playing only for centuries will never accept the fact that he has the most number 90s than anyone. People who say that he fails in important matches will never accept the fact that he has scored the maximum runs; he has the maximum number of centuries and the highest average among all the players in finals. It is absolutely futile to bring out these facts, because the people who don’t want to accept the facts will come up with the same points again.
So Instead of dwelling on these facts and comparisons, we shall look at the similarity between two of the greatest ever to have played the game; Sir Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar.

Greatness of a sportsperson should never be measured in terms of their sporting achievements alone, but should be based on what difference they made (not only to the sport).
Lance Armstrong created great records but what made is more special is he fought against testicular cancer and came back to create those records. Valentio Rossi by proving that the racer is more important than the machine took biking to the next level. Joe Montana of NFL playing after taking intravenous fluid and coming back and winning the match, he changed the way NFL quarterback played. There are few others who changed the sport and changed the way people looked at it.

When it comes to Cricket, there are two names that come to mind; Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar. They are similar in quite a few ways.

Technique:

While Don himself had said that Sachin’s batting resembled his batting, there are similarities other than their batting too. Many agree to this fact and some experts do believe that Sachin had slightly better technique, as his came down straight unlike Bradman for whom the bat came down from direction of the gully.

Standing Out:

It is humanly impossible for an Australian to break the record of Bradman, likewise it is almost impossible for someone to break the record of Sachin. Even if that happens in the future, that will not take anything away from Don.

People who rate Don as the greatest will often say that he played on uncovered pitches and without helmet and so on, forgeting the fact that until the bodyline series bowlers never bowled bouncers or balls down the leg as a negative tactic. When Bradman faced a barrage of bouncers his average in that series was just half of his career average. There was never a need for helmets until then; bowlers never had the amount of variety or improvisation until then. Bradman never played on great number of tracks or under different conditions. Bradman never played different formats, and never had this much of workload like the current crop of players. The fielding standard was not comparable to current day standards. Despite all these, what made him special is the way he stood away from the rest. All these factors are common for all the players who played in that era, but still Bradman was way above the rest. Likewise Sachin stands far apart from the rest; there is literally no contemporary player who can match his stats. The fact is Sachin is not just leading the way, but is way ahead of all other players so it is literally impossible for someone to even come close leave alone overtaking.

Many say that Bradman’s average was way above comparison, like wise Sachin’s number of international centuries will be.

Intuition:

Another great similarity between these two is to predict where the bowler would bowl. Bradman in his autobiography at several instances had mentioned that he would exactly predict where the bowlers would bowl (Especially in the match where he created the record for the highest score in a first class match). Sachin too is known to be the greatest when it comes to reading the mind of the bowlers. There are several incidents which lay as testimony for this fact. Jadeja said about that, even Amir Khan said about how Sachin predicted every before the bowler actually bowled it during the IPL 1.

Vengeance:

Yeah, you read it right, Vengeance. While Sachin had time and again said that he would never target a bowler, the truth is he has destroyed the careers of many bowlers. Caddick, said he had strategies in place to remove Tendulkar, the next day his ball soared out of the ground and which many revere as the best six of the century. Henry Olanga’s celebration and comments after getting Sachin out, resulted in an onslaught in next match to spoil his career figures altogether. It happened with Shoaib Akthar in world cup 2003, it happened with Shane Warne during the 97-98 series, it happened to Piyush Chawla, who in his first Challenger series got Sachin out with a googly celebrated wildly and in the next series, his first over to Sachin went for 26 runs with all the first 3 balls going for sixes. Sreesanth (during the challenger trophy) bowled a bouncer to which sachin ducked and Sreesanth as usual did his antics and four balls later he was removed from the attack; courtesy Sachin who blasted him for sixes that soared out of the ground and there are many other incidents like this. It is the same with Bradman, in an exhibition match a bowler named Bill Black came on, and the wicket keeper told Bradman that the bowler used to boast about the way he dismissed Don in a previous encounter. That time Australia played 8 ball overs, Black’s first over cost 33 (66424461), then the next over cost 40 (64466464). Black’s second over leaked 29 runs (16611446 – two of the singles came from Bradman’s batting partner). Black was removed from the attack forever. There few other incidents where Bradman targeted a particular bowler and destroyed his figures in first class matches.

Impact:

Don Bradman played and gave happiness to a war torn and economically ravaged Australian people post war. The only happiness for the Australians then was to see Don bat. Matthew Engel, an Englishman, wrote on the day Bradman died: “More than any politician, he gave Australia a unity of purpose and a sense of itself and of its own worth as a country… No sportsman has ever influenced a country’s history to the same extent.”
Likewise, Sachin was the not just a player. I did not live in the same era of Bradman, but to me what Matthew Engel said about Bradman is more applicable to Sachin than any person in the whole world. He was a phenomenon, he sold more televisions in India than any sales genius awould do. He halted time, Bus and train drivers would not mind halting their vehicles to see Sachin bat, and companies don’t mind a productivity loss when he plays. His batting was the single biggest happiness for people of India who too were ravaged by political and economic downturn. There was nothing for the Indians to talk about during the 90s; even a fourth place finish in the Olympics was considered a great achievement. Sachin was the one who proved them that Indians can be world beaters too. They took pride in Sachin’s performances. He became a household name; mothers wanted their kids to be like Sachin. It is really hard to explain how he had an impact over the lives of millions in India, and he is continuing to do so. With a billion plus people speaking 18 different languages and 250 odd dialects, those belong to different races, and those who belong to different religion everyone is united by a common string called Sachin. He is a demigod for people, for this single reason he stands heads and shoulders above the rest and in fact even higher than Bradman.

Though it is unfair to compare these two legends, the temptation to rate Sachin above Bradman is too hard to resist, and I would rate Sachin not only above Bradman but also as the best sportsman ever.
“People of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” This statement holds good only for Sachin in cricket, every move of his will get in to history.
                                                                                                      --  by sachinist p.ramarajan
source:cricages