Saturday, 02 April 2011....Wankhade Stadium, Mumbai. The finals of the costliest cricket world cup ever.....Australia Vs. India...2 of the best teams in the competition....a packed stadium...and India need to chase a chunky Aussie score and that too under lights. The stadium erupts into a roar to welcome the Aussies back on to the ground....Ricky Ponting is setting the field and suddenly the roar gets deafening....the Indian Openers walk in. For one of them in the team...this is probably the last time he will ever walk into such a moment. After 21 years, this was his only cricket dream that he had dreamt several times but yet to realize. He started playing cricket when India won the cup in 1983...its only fitting for him to retire with India winning it again. There was 1983 and then 2011...and in between Sachin happened :-)
We came close to it once...and humiliated in the last pursuit in the west indies...the dream to be part of a WORLD CUP winning team, and what better place than his own home ground to do it, before he bids adieu to the sport. By 2011, I'd say...21 years...over 400 matches....over 12,000 One Day runs with help from over 50 centuries and over a 100 half centuries....he walks one last time in a world cup....for one last chance....one last shot at that dream. Can Mahi's boys do it....26 years after it happened the last time....or will the 'Sachin-Dravid-Gangauly'...the 'Big 3 era' of Indian Cricket be denied of such an honour. If this happens....and god willing, I will do my best for one ticket of the 50,000 available at the Wankhede.
This Article will probably be best appreciated by fans of Cricket...and more if an Indian. We have consistently linked being a cricketer to being patriotic..."Playing for the country!". Probably the most 'PATRIOT'ized sport in India...especially after the tragic state of hockey. Am not sure if The HPL...Hockey Premier League, that started years before IPL, is even happening anymore. Well, back to the topic.....CRICKET....my tryst with Cricket started when I was about 4 years old I think. My father played for his college and at that time all of us wanted to play like Kapil and Kris Srikkant....and I sucked at it. Later I went on to play for my school and eventually proved to be a good bowler, an average batsman and a pathetic fielder :-)
When someone played a super shot we'd say....like Srikkanth for power shot or Azhar for a wristy shot...as a bowler if you uprooted the middle stump you said "come on Kapil!!" That's the extent to which cricketers mean to Indian kids...Give way superman and Mr Spidey...these are India's super heroes.....the Gladiators of the 21st Century...and Sachin, is Maximus.
Recently I was watching a few kids playing and one of them said I will open and be Sachin! Well, well...wonder what Sachin's son says...if he plays cricket that is...man I cant imagine the pressure he would be under if ever he dons the cricket gear. Do we even remember Rohan Gavaskar...we are a merciless society, wherein all want to be nothing but the best...and hence our society gives those who are the best a Godly Status. Even in my job, people are so offended when they are given a MET EXPECTATION rating during appraisals...ideally Id be happy I met expectations and manage to retain my job! All of them want exceeds expectation, nothin less. Well back to the Little Master...even in a recent movie '99' Cyrus Broacha wanted to lead a certain act in a scene and be the hero...so he shuns his accomplice Kunal Khemu by saying...no no today I will lead "Main Sachin...Tu Dravid!"
So much has been the impact of the master, even the present Indian captain confessed he switched off the TV as a lad when Sachin got out....the scene maybe different today...we may be winning more games even after Sachin got out....but, this man showed us impossible is nothing...not just through his ad for Adidas where is writes "Impossible is nothing" in reverse running hand writing standing behind a glass surface, so that it seems normal and readable to the viewer...I assume its not a camera trick :-) Today he is called the genius, a legend, the GOD of cricket, and has a wax statue at Tussuad's....even a certain political party slandered him for cheap publicity. I remember my mother, who hates cricket, commenting when it was reported that he flunked an exam in his younger age..."That evaluator should have given him 5 more marks...poor fellow", that's when I though...Sachin has arrived! He left his partner...one Mr Kambli far behind...who now is part of a reality show!
An eventful career...which simply got better as he played. He excited us like a wizard with using his bat as a wand...but what I loved the most was the last over he bowled against South Africa in a Hero Cup Final. SA needed a mere 6 runs in 6 balls and a Sachin alare walked up to bowl to some good SA batsmen, who only managed to score 3 runs and India WON!! I almost tore apart the sofa at home in excitement that evening....or the sand-storm innings that he played in Sharjah against the Aussies, which I am sure they wont forgte in a hurry....the 'BOMB'-Bay innings he played in NZ...the emotional ton he dedicated to his father against Kenya...he has been an exemplary representative of the game and the spirit it holds for this nation.
From meeting Don Bradman, or selling products on TV...driving his gifted Ferrari, or interviewing with his sweet childish voice.....Sachin has underlined his presence on earth. An Aussie fan even named his child after Sachin...Sachin Austin.....and god knows how many Indian Fans have named their child 'Sachin', after the Little master....well atleast for all those kids....they don't have to argue...they can proudly say..."Main Sachin...tu Dravid"
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