Sachin Tendulkar

Little Master turns 50 on April 24^th. He was the man who the game of cricket loved back and one who has transcended the borders like no other.  Sachin Tendulkar first burst on the scene at the young age of 14 in 1987 and started playing first class cricket. This was a classic as if envisioned by the one above, 1987 was the year when India’s batting legend Sunil Gavaskar decided to hang his boots and literally, it was the case of baton being passed from one little master to the another. I am going to write this as a tribute and not a biography.

Little did we know since 1971 and up to 2013, there would be an Indian batter who could stake claims for being among the absolute best at their position. Indians are always known for their batting and have produced gems over the decades. However, these two Sunny and Sachin have been very special as they conquered the best bowling attacks of their era. Fortunately, for Mumbai school of batting, they were both their home-grown boys who plied their trade in various Mumbai tourneys before displaying their batsmanship across the globe.

This tribute is not about Mumbai school of batting. That is for another day and boy, it deserves one. This is about the boy who was thrown into the men’s arena maybe too soon. Normal 14-year-olds don’t even turn ball boys at that age.  Sachin Tendulkar arrived in the most boisterous manner and his fame preceded him wherever he went. No other player in the history of the game ever kicked off their first-class career with a hundred on debut in each of India’s three first class tournaments – Ranji trophy, Duleep trophy and even Irani trophy. This feat is still unmatched after 36 years. Mere mortals even the ones who went to become legends were famous because of their plaudits in U-19, U-23, for prodigies maybe U-15/U-17 but no one earlier than that. Sachin became famous too early and stayed there for 26 years. Another first. No one has been famous for this long in their sporting career. In case of Sachin, it was not if, but when he would take the world by storm.

Sachin hasn’t just been famous as just some cricketer or even an athlete. He has been heartbeat of a billion plus people and the pulse of the cricket crazy nation. I read it somewhere that when Sachin batted well, Indians slept well. No one has reached the demigod status in India where cricket is the religion and Sachin their biggest God. No one united India more during the 25 years that Sachin donned the jersey. Sachin has been iconic for all these years. People have entered the stadiums when he came onto bat and have left when he got out. No other cricketer before or after him have had this type of euphoria and no one has had to deal with the expectations that Sachin has. People who would ask scores of a game would always ask a follow-up question wanting to know Sachin’s score.

My first recollection of Sachin facing the international bowlers and that too of the highest order was at the Abid Ali double wicket tournament at Wankhede stadium in 1990 whilst he was still in honeymoon phase of his international career. Sachin partnered another legend Kapil Dev to win the tournament and en route won respect and notice from some of the greatest names of the game. This tournament included legends of the game and towered above them all. This tournament featured likes of Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, some of the most powerful names in the game. This tournament gave the glimpse of what was to follow for the next 25 years.

Before his actual debut in the neighboring Pakistan in 1989, Sachin’s name was considered for India’s tour to the Caribbean to play the mighty West Indies led by Viv Richards in 1988-89 and having the fearsome bowling quartet of Marshall, Walsh, Ambrose and Bishop. But common sense prevailed and despite a dejected Sachin, the selectors decided to not baptize him. However, not for long as the next series to the India’s archrivals Pakistan and the young boy of 16 was handed his debut, thrown in front of no less an attack featuring Imran Khan, Abdul Qadir and the two greenhorns in Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis who were to torment batters across the world for a decade and a half.

I am making an argument here why I rate Sachin as the best batsman all time. I would put the disclaimer that I do not believe in comparing legends or anyone across eras. However, if I have to pick one, I rate him higher than the legendary Sir Don Bradman who despite his superhuman average of 99.94 did not have a body of work that would match Sachin’s nor did he have an impact on the game and influencing a generation as Sachin did knowingly or unknowingly. When you compare players across generations, there is always some statistic which may point in a different direction. I always look at someone who left the game richer than what they got, and here is where the impact of Sachin was manyfold.

Sachin to me had the biggest thing that went in his favor – longevity. One might say, there are players who played even a larger period than his 24 years. However, the number of games played during that period was a fraction of what Sachin played or number of grounds that Sachin played at which also meant number of countries. Putting things in perspective, Sir Don played about 75% of his cricket in England and Australia. He barely played any cricket against other countries – barring couple of series more. Some of the countries had not even started playing cricket when Sir Don retired. Other aspect was Sachin did experience wear and tear on his tiny frame and how he reinvented himself formed Sachin 2.0

Fast track to his peers – primarily, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting. There were other greats like Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Waugh twins, and so many more but what Sachin apart was the expectation that he had to endure when he played. Another very important area which set him apart was that Sachin always faced the best bowling attacks that the world cricket had to offer and there were some legendary bowlers who were around during his peak years, and he was able to win more battles with them than lose. Both Lara and Ponting never played some of those best bowlers as they played on the same teams – Lara missed playing Bishop, Walsh, Ambrose and Ponting escaped facing McGrath, Lee, Warne.

On the other hand, Indian bowling attack especially for the 1990s wasn’t the dominant one and number of these players made merry scoring plenty of runs against Indian bowlers, an opportunity lost for Sachin. Despite all this, Sachin ended up scoring 100 international hundreds, an unparalleled feat and even more monumental when you add 28 nervous nineties to that pile, both world records. Looking at the nervous nineties, one might argue about his temperament, but I look at the other aspect and say he played for the team and did not curb his natural game to pad up stats. Even if he had managed to convert 50% of those nervous nineties, he could have had 114 international hundreds. Within a year or so, he had gotten out on the score of 99 thrice or in 2007, he had 6 nervous nineties. If there was a stat being collected about a batsman on the receiving end of controversial umpiring decisions, Sachin would make that eleven. Maybe it was God’s way of saying I would need to do some not so good decision making to cut short his genius.

Indian bowling attack started improving in 2000s and later and so did the Indian batting start adding more potent power. In 1990s, Sachin had to play a lone hand at number of occasions and number of times, his wicket spelt doomsday for the team. There have been times when the rest of the players have not been able to take the team over the hump when Sachin lost his wicket few runs short. This meant the pressure was tremendous. Things obviously stabilized and changed from 1996 onwards but the 1989-1995 was an era of Sachin though he peaked when the team started taking shape. Despite all this, the quality of bowling Sachin faced in his career right from Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan to South African legends, 2 W’s, Warne, McGrath, Murali, Vaas, and the list goes on. All these bowlers when asked their toughest opponent, most of them have named Sachin, which is a testament to his ability coming from his biggest rivals on the field.

Cut to the modern-day greats from 2008-onwards and there have been many more greats who are becoming legends such as the Big 4 (Virat, Smith, Root and Williamson) who each have been absolute greats and they are not done yet but none of them could brag of facing the opponents that Sachin faced and prevailed over. Sachin not just faced the best bowlers he also stood tall above them. Sachin provided a perfect blend of his two childhood idols – Sunil Gavaskar (textbook) and Viv Richards (attacking batsman).

What also set him apart was his ability to listen to his body and make the adjustments as only he could. Analogy I would give here is of Michael Jordan, who improvised his game and yet was dominant enough while adding more breadth and sacrificing some depth. Sachin did somewhat similar, when some of his injuries such as tennis elbow etc. made it tougher for him to play a certain way, he recalibrated his skills. He also reinvented himself, Sydney test of 2004 Jan. being the case in point. He curbed his urge to play the cover drive which had been his downfall and asked Aussies to beat him again. That was an act of self-control shown by someone after achieving almost everything in the game. That was the sign of a true champion who decided not to let flamboyance get the best of him. Another huge lesson for the younger generation if they were watching.

Sachin’s cricketing acumen has been enviable and his memory of his own 700+ innings has been in news lately that he remembers his dismissals vividly after so many years. With this kind of ability to read the game and predict the next move, it was somewhat a mystery why he could not be remembered in the pantheons of cricket as a formidable leader of men and left what could have been in the minds. Number of current generation viewers who didn’t watch Sachin say that maybe he wouldn’t have made it as big in the T-20 arena and to remind, he still won an orange cap awarded to the highest run scorer in an IPL season.

Another major aspect of someone’s legend is that people have their own stories to tell and their favorite innings to brag about. Most of us have maybe more than one or two absolute favorites and many more. When you become part of the folklore, that means you are truly a cut above the rest. Sachin’s desert storm innings, his centurion knock against Pakistan, his 200 not out, his Chennai test innings and many more.  Sachin also could roll his arm over and was always a partnership breaker with his repertoire of bowling tricks. He could bowl off spin, leg spin, googly and at times even seam up.

Sportsmen get vindication, certification, attestation, endorsement, you name the word, when media and fans start looking for next “you”. When people look for next Michael Jordan, Diego Maradona, Pele etc. that is the true achievement that the one in question has inscribed his/her name in the pantheon and the heir apparent is being searched for. Fans and media have a rather unexplained obsession for always looking for the next one rather than enjoying the one in front of you. They need to enjoy the extraordinary genius that is regaling the spectators world over rather than rushing to anoint the next one. Classic case of One in hand is better than Two in the bush.

Cricketing pundits all over have been searching for the next Sachin, who will break his mountain of records, especially math oriented Indian fans even love to throw and compare statistics of players as if they were their own. Sachin the role model, Sachin the one who influenced the generation (s) should be the one people need to look at. Sachin the person and how he has continued to balance a strong head on those broad shoulders is a lesson to many. His conduct on and off the field, his last trip to the 22-yard strip which he worshipped before signing off is something that was exemplary, while people get too caught up in pulling out a statistic and comparing the “next” one. Agreed, Sachin was blessed with a familial support system that helped the grounding process but at the end of the day, it is his upbringing and middle-class values that made it possible. He could have been easily lured into the glittering world and no one could have faulted him.

In conclusion, as I said, to me, Sachin has been the best batsman to have ever played and I say that based on the sheer longevity, expectations that he had to deal with, playing the lone hand and extended success over that long road, his range of cricketing shots, his not displaying obvious major flaws against any trick that was thrown his way but when I say that, I am not taking away the achievements of others before/after him but if I have to pick one based on the arsenal displayed on the field and behavior and impact off the field he becomes my obvious choice to be anointed the best. This is my opinion and have reasons to argue about it. To each their own and others may have a completely different opinion and I respect that.