How my hatred for Tendulkar turned into love - part 2

You can read the first part here: How my hatred for Tendulkar turned into love – Part 1

India had a dismal outing in 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. The first round exit hurt every India, but what was worse was Sachin’s horrible run with a bat. He scored a single half – century in three matches, and that too against the minnows Namibia.

Due to this reason, many experts demanded for his retirement from ODI cricket, but the ‘Little Master’ had other plans. As stated in wikipedia ” his career had a second wind, his consistency and form returned. “

In the summer of 2007, India played England in England in the 7 match ODI series, after having defeated the hosts 1-0 in the Test series. Sachin belted the English bowling attack to all parts of the ground.

The old veterans(Sachin – Sourav) were back at the top. They gave the Indian innings the much needed crucial starts throughout the series. Ganguly played very well throughout the series, but it was Sachin who was simply awesome in the series. He scored 374 runs in the series at an average of 53.42 including 4 half centuries. I was enjoying his batting more than Ganguly’s batting. Watching Sachin’s bat in that series was truly special.

In 2008, Sachin finally silenced all his critics by performing on the grandest stage of the tournament – ”The Finals”.

He scored a unbeaten, match winning 117 in the Ist final of CB series. He followed it up with a flawless 91, which helped India beat Australia in the 2nd final. India won the CB series with Tendulkar being the most instrumental in India’s series win.

Yes, he was the greatest batsman in the world.

An year later, he scored a scintillating 163 not out against New Zealand at Christchurch before being retired hurt.

It was his 43rd ODI century(84th overall). The ‘Little Master’ was at his profilic best. As a viewer, it was a treat to watch him bat in that mode.

On 5th November 2009, Hyderabad witnessed the best ODI innings I have ever seen. Tendulkar scored a special 175 in a losing cause against Australia. It looked like that the Sachin of 90′s with more mature mind was playing. He single-handedly chased down Australia’s mammoth total of 351 but couldn’t take India through the last barrier. According to me, it was a innings of his lifetime and will remain as his best. He also bought up 17000 runs of his ODI career. He won the man of the match award and after that moment, I understood that why he gets all sorts of praise. He deserved every bit of it.

On 24th February 2010, BBC news stated ” Tendulkar underlined his sensational class with a double century at Gwalior and added to the legacy that already surrounded arguably the best batsman to have played the game “. He slammed an unbeated 200 against South Africa.

By the end of year 2010, Sachin had achieved everything in his cricketing career except the World Cup trophy. On April 2, 2011, this wish came true when India defeated Sri Lanka to lift the 2011 World Cup. The great man had tears in his eyes and so had the Indian fans. The greatest servant of Indian cricket had finally got his reward.

Humans are the most confusing species on the planet. Their needs never end. They always want more and more. After the 2011 World Cup, the world now demanded the hundred of hundreds from Sachin. In his quest of 100th international century, Sachin had to strive hard for 370 days. Finally, on 16th March 2012, the Sher – e – Bangla stadium in Dhaka became immortal in the history of world cricket. Sachin scored 114 against Bangladesh, his 100th international 100 and surprisingly his first ODI hundred against Bangladesh. It wasn’t a blistering innings, not even in a winning cause, but who cared? I didn’t even think of anything else on that day. All that mattered to me was his hundred.

Sachin went through a lean patch against England in the home test series in Nov – Dec 2012. India lost to England 1 – 2.

Tendulkar retired from ODI cricket on 23rd December 2012. The Mayan’s prediction of world ending in 2012 came true as the greatest devotee to the game of cricket had resigned from his services.

I still can’t believe that Sachin would not wear Indian jersey again. If I have loved the game of cricket with true spirit, then there should not be a single moment where I should think of hating him. But all’s well that ends well. Today, I have a huge amount of respect for Sachin Tendulkar, as he was the one who has carried billions people expectations for 23 years. To me, Pakistan is the most blessed cricketing nation as Sachin played his first and last ODI against them.

Many of us have a myth in our mind that whenever Sachin scored a hundred in any match, India lost that match. When I was working on this article, my friend suggested that I include this myth. Now the real fact is that out of the 49 ODI hundreds Sachin scored, India won on 33 occasions and lost only on 16 occasions, thus making the winning percentage of 65%. This includes 6 centuries in the finals of different tournaments with India winning on all the 6 occasions.

I didn’t see Sir Bradman bat; but after having watched Sachin bat, you don’t need to see anyone else bat.

In Bradman’s biography, its stated that Bradman was most taken by Tendulkar’s technique, compactness and shot production and had asked his wife to have a look at Tendulkar, having felt that Tendulkar played like him. Bradman’s wife, Jessie, agreed he did appear similar. Even the great Sir Don Bradman was mesmerised by his batting.

Many worship Sachin as God, but, according to me, he doesn’t needs to be worshipped as God, as he is not the God. He is rather the greatest devotee of the game of cricket. He deserves to be loved, respected and his knocks should be cherished as one of the fond memories of one’s life.

Tendulkar, in his ODI career, played 463 matches, scored 18,426 runs at an staggering average of 44.83. He scored 49 hundreds and 96 fifties. His strike rate was 86.50 which shows how dangerous he was. He was regarded as the second best ODI batsman by Wisden after the great Viv Richards. Sachin career can be summed up in single sentence as ” he came, he played, he conquered “.

Today, many flamboyant cricketers are making their mark on international cricket and many think that Kohli can break Sachin’s record. With all due respect to Virat Kohli and the other boys, I say that no one will be able to break Sachin’s record, atleast not in this century. I don’t doubt their ability, I doubt their temperament, the one Sachin had and that is why he could sustain for 23 long years. Today’s youngsters can charm not impress and that is what puts Sachin Tendulkar above all because “Boys have Style but Men(Sachin) have Class”.