Will that Sun Ever Rise Again…..

Every time I keep asking myself one question,”Will that Sun Ever Rise Again?” The question that always puzzles me.

The sun of Nov 15,1989 rose and the legend was in the making. A small child from Mumbai(age 16) had faced a fierce bowling attack of the arch rival Pakistan which included the greats like Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis (who marked his debut in the same match) scoring just 15 in his first innings. No one after that innings might have thought that he’ll rule the game for the next 23 years. It took almost an year for the guy to score his first international century, took 79 ODIs to score his first limited overs century (truly said champions are not born, they are made). The master marked his entry into the world of ODIs after scoring his first international hundred against England, when team India eagerly needed it. The new era had got a terrific start and the hopes had started soaring

Slowly the era started, where millions of people started chanting just one name - Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar(SRT). Starting from the New Zealand tour of 1994-95 where the champion had been asked to open, to the Sharjah’s famous innings against Australia, people started knowing him.

The innings in Perth and Sydney against the giant Aussies, the innings against the Proteas at their home, Chennai’s super innings are few of his gems.

The innings of Gwalior was truly one of his best where Ravi Shastri, in his own style said,

“The First Man on the Planet to reach 200 in ODI and it’s the Super

 Man from India Sachin Tendulkar. Take a bow Master”.

That innings was the one which completely changed the meaning of the limited over format of the game. There were debates saying that it is impossible to get 200 runs in an ODI, but this man had the answer for that as well and proved that those debates were futile.

Talking of statistics and records, no one is anywhere close, be it in ODI or the Test format. Barring the maximum runs scored in an inning by an individual in the tests, there is hardly any record left where the master’s name is not carved. Be it the maximum runs in ODIs and test, maximum number of ODI played and so on. I feel records are made so that they can be broken. But the record “Centuries of Century” is something which cannot be ever touched. Hardly can anyone think about it. Though it took almost an agonizing and painful year for him to score his 100^th 100, the master surpassed even that milestone, may be being a follower of the philosophy,

                       

                                                “Play the game, chase the dreams,

                                    dreams do come true.”

The down to earth man and the F1 lover have many friends and huge fan following across the planet. Michael Schumacher, John McEnroe, Lance Armstrong, World champion Usain Bolt, Shane Warne, Brain Lara to name a few. Conferred with Group Captain honour by the Indian Air Force, the man has many awards and honours under his belt. SRT has been honoured by the Australian Govt., for his achievements and recently has been nominated as the MP considering his contribution to the country through the game. Not only the honours but he has also received awards like Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and number of times as the Cricketer of the Year. Though being considered for Bharat Ratna, he is yet to receive the Republic of India’s highest civilian award.

As Rome was not built in a day, SRT was not an exception either. This Ramakant Achrekar’s student has seen many ups and downs during his ‘not out’ career of 23 years. Starting from the downfall of the Indian team under his captaincy to the Ferrari controversy, the Little Master was criticized by many. In mid 2000’s SRT faced the problem of Tennis Elbow affecting his form. The critics started raising the question about his retirement. But as he always says “if people throw stones on you, grab them, and convert them into Milestone”, he came back with a bang scoring over thousand runs in a calendar year of 2007. After that he dreamt of the winning the World Cup of 2011 and he fulfilled it (I still remember the moment when Yuvraj and SRT hugged each other and had tears in their eyes). May be that’s the reason why one of my favorites Harsha Bhogle says “If Sachin plays well, India sleeps well”.

Now the question arises at the age of 39 when the stamina and reflexes are not up to the mark, should he retire or should he continue?? Should he help the team who lost their anchors in the form of Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman?? I know no one but SRT will take the correct call. But I personally feel that Sachin should continue to play until the team comes back into shape. SRT has shared the dressing room right from Kapil Dev, Chikka, Ganguly to the new bloods like Raina, Kohli. So surely the presence and the experience of such a great player would help in the revival of Indian Cricket Team. But now again what people call it a generation gap arises here, where the new generation of T20 is not ready to accept the traditional approach towards the success. The word ‘attitude’ again plays a major role. The fresh bloods have their own attitude of ‘I am the best’. Will the Master be able to adapt to such attitudes?? The question can be only answered by the passing time.

Obviously the days are not far when the 37000+ runs scorer would bid adieu to the gentlemen’s game (breaking millions of hearts including mine). Will such player ever be born again? Will we ever see the God taking the guard?? Will we ever see the finest straight drives, elegancy at its best?? The answer to all is NO. The player owes lot to the game rather than the game owing to him. The World of Cricket would never forget his contribution. This idol of millions would be surely missed when the sun sets on his glorious career.

-Nikhil Mahajan