(30 Sep 2013)
I, like many my age, grew up
in an era when a child prodigy stormed into the sporting arena with fire in the
eyes and magic in the willow. This curly-haired wonder boy was one day going to
not only make history as perhaps the greatest man to have played the game of
cricket in our times, but also be elevated to the level of God. Sachin
Tendulkar he is! No other cricketer – not even a Bradman or a Richards or a
Warne – has ever been idolized with so intense frenzy by fans.
Is there any denying however
that despite all of this, Sachin Tendulkar the phenomenon is a mere mortal, and
that he will one day have to go? He’s already retired from the ODI format of
the game. Some would argue he could have retired on a real high after India’s
2011 World Cup win at home. In the recent many months, Sachin has fallen prey
to the mammoth shadow of his illustrious past, when he’s been repeatedly seen
trying hard for shots that he would once play with silken ease. He’s been
conquered by extremely bad deliveries and by average bowlers, times without
count. It is a painful sight to behold for a cricket lover when their demi god
struggles to make petty thirties and fifties. This simply isn’t something we’re
used to seeing.
Rumors and theories have been
abuzz on when Sachin should hang up his Test boots. Of course every individual
athlete is the best judge to decide when they should play their last match.
Sachin has maintained he still had the hunger for more cricket and that he was
loving his game. None of us will ever be able to even imagine how proud, how
humbling, how great it feels to be a Sachin and walk in to the middle with
thousands of fans cheering from all over the ground. We’ll also never know how
extremely difficult it is to time well the moment of graceful exit, leaving
your fans to forever mourn that you could have played more and that you left at
your prime. This truly is a Godly decision. There are too few sporting legends
who could muster the courage to call it quits when they knew they could still
hang on for some more time, out in the middle, amidst all the glare, all the
fanfare, all the madness.
The nature of the beast is
such that it ruthlessly bites everyone especially towards the twilight of their
career. The fans who once were ready to die for you won’t mind booing you when
you falter. Sachin fans will find it painful to remember their hero as someone
who kept on trying and failing, rather than someone who was once the best in
the business.
Sachin has already missed the
opportunity to bow out at the peak. For many, he’s already fallen off the Godly
grace. It’s disturbing for any lover of the game to imagine that this champion
will keep trying and will one day be asked by a BCCI office bearer – a virtual
nobody – to quit.
Nobody is bigger than the
game they play. For cricket, the country comes first and I’m certain Sachin
realizes that he’s been for some time fighting against too many natural odds.
By trying harder and longer he isn’t going to achieve anything he hasn’t
already. Our memories of Sachin’s heydays are too magical to ever be erased
even by his own failures late in the day. The game of cricket will always be
grateful to this man who not only played it, but glorified it in myriads of
ways. Sachin’s biggest fan forever will be cricket itself!
