Sachin Tendulkar: The little master officially becomes India's Ratna

Sachin has retired but the feeling has not sunk in just yet. Yesterday, when he stepped up to receive the richly deserved Bharat Ratna, a billion memories were relived, seeing the master live on screen one more time.

Sachin’s retirement was as much a fanfare as has been his journey.

Now, that the little master has retired, I am sure that there is indeed no constant in life. Once you decide to write about the man, it is an uphill task from there on for 2 reasons. Firstly, so much has been written about the great man that you find it difficult to dish out something new and secondly, it is always tough to do justice to him.

So, there is always a nagging fear of falling short and reiterating the same stuff. Hence, I have decided to do two things in this article – not to use any statistics to describe Sachin (I would leave that job to Ravi Shastri and the likes) and to lay more importance on Sachin – the person than Sachin – the cricketer.

This piece is written for those people who will make wonderful detectives and will solve any case even without evidence. Yes, I am referring to the detractors of the little master who are creative enough to invent reasons to criticize the master blaster. This criticism has a very important lesson – if Sachin can be criticized then criticism is meant for everybody and nobody can escape from its claws, howsoever good you are.

Every cloud has a silver lining and I dare say that Sachin’s retirement is no exception. The moment the biggest retirement was announced, experts from all cricketing quarters came out and wrote anecdotes, one-liners and their experiences about the great man which helped all of us better understand the phenomenon called Sachin Tendulkar and made us sit up and take notice of the sheer greatness of the master. It is as if all these wonderful recounts were waiting in their slumber for the great man to hang his boots!

Now, there has been a lot of talk about Sachin retiring and the accompanied hype. There was only one talking point in the series against West Indies – Sachin! I have come across many people who feel that Sachin does not deserve all these accolades or maybe there were other cricketing greats who deserved similar farewell and it pains my heart no ends to see this. I would like to pick 2-3 things and delve into them.

One most popular perception is that Dravid has better work ethic than Sachin. I would use an analogy here. There is a joke that goes around in marriage circles that if a girl is not beautiful, she will have a good nature more often than not. We all would agree including Dravid that he is not naturally as talented as Sachin and hence we immediately come to the conclusion that Dravid must have a better work ethic.

I did some research and came out with some facts that dispel this notion. Sachin would come to the nets first and leave last. We attributed his stellar show on the field to the ridiculously enormous talent he had, but forgot that the man performed and performed rather well because he was a perfectionist who would not leave the nets until all the boxes were ticked.

So, just because Sachin had enormous talent does not mean that he had a weaker work ethic by any stretch of imagination. Also, he was the superman of Indian Cricket and hence could dictate terms to any captain or coach or selector but didn’t. So, the legend’s work ethic is unquestionable. The pocket dynamo was supremely talented but he didn’t compromise one bit on his work ethic.

Sachin was a special player because he carried the weight of expectations of a cricket-frenzy nation like no one else could possibly have. Every time he walked out to bat, there was hope; no target seemed out of sight till he was standing tall. We expected a century from him every single time.

Wasn’t it unfair but then Sachin was never one to complain? He would go about his business in as professional a manner as possible. He used to score 30 and people used to say he missed his hundred by 70 runs.

An average Tendulkar was a failed Tendulkar for us but the same yardstick did not apply to other players. We elevated him to God level stature, and when, on rare occasions, he failed, by his standards, we indulged in blasphemies and gave him a real bashing and media came down like a house on fire.

People suffer from cognitive fallacies when it comes to judging Sachin Tendulkar, the most rampant being – Sachin does not win enough matches, he is not a match winning player. One look at the statistics and these baseless remarks can be silently put to rest once and for all but they continue to persist not only among an average cricket fan but sadly, even among the intelligentsia.

There was a different unusual air about the way he conducted himself- The way he kissed the pitch, his flawless speech straight from the heart with only substance and no fillers. People say Virat Kohli will beat Sachin’s records but then they also said that Kallis and Ponting will do the same.

Both Kallis and Punter have retired and the records belong to the man from Mumbai. People might have talent but to match astounding longevity with utmost consistency requires some doing wherein Sachin goes several notches above other players and enters that zone where he finds no company.

Humility defines him like no other superlative. In this world, people go gaga by achieving so little and insignificant but then, this is Tendulkar, we are talking about. This man has all the reasons in the world to boast but he chose humility and hence, we gave him the God status.

Sachin read the game like no one else did. When India had to chase 360 in world cup final, he said that the target is achievable if one boundary could be scored every over which is not that tough a task. Then target would be reduced to 160 runs from 41.2 overs. It all started well with a boundary in the first over off McGrath but could not continue for long but the idea was so simple yet so profound that it cheered up the mood of everybody in the dressing room.

Cricket has been served by Sachin in a flawless fashion and he drove home the point that humility can’t be substituted by talent. Most people would be happy to have half of his talent or humility but when people get talent, humility generally goes amiss which is where Sachin exuded awe.

It is only fitting that the man from Mumbai is the youngest ever and the first to receive Bharat Ratna. It becomes only ludicrous when people like Uma Bharti attribute success of Sachin to IPL. Statements like these do nothing but reveal your IQ to the entire world and more importantly, bring Namo campaign down – Don’t do that Uma. With no disrespect to the legendary Dhyan Chand, the champion deserves it like no one else.

For Sachin, it was always Cricket first. In a Pepsi commercial, they gave him a fly swatter and he was shown dispatching cricket balls with it. Sachin respected the game and said it would be disrespectful to the game and asked for it to be shot again with a cricket bat.

In another classic example, Tendulkar turned down a record liquor endorsement offer to live up to the promise he made to his father many years ago. His father had proscribed him from endorsing alcohol related or tobacco products after he had made the Indian test team. That is Sachin for you.

A message for all Rahul Dravid fans

I absolutely respect Rahul Dravid for his service to Indian Cricket. The comparison drawn does not intend to demean any of his sporting achievements in any possible way. The comparison includes Rahul Dravid because nobody comes closer to Sachin than Dravid in terms of monumental success achieved and the humility with which both of them have served the game.

Dear Sachin,

Your conduct is what sets you apart.

You chose to be a servant of the game when you could be the prince.

Hope to see you keep in touch with the sport you so loved.

Cricket needs you in any form you choose – Be the coach, own an IPL team, company Harsha Bhogle in the box and give Ravi Shastri a much needed break. Just get out there the way you want and give us more joy.

We have spent our childhood watching you, spending the rest of our lives doing the same won’t be a bad deal.

A proud fan.