Sachin Tendulkar moments: Forever to be cherished

Sachin Tendulkar

Very soon due to his batting exploits, he came to be known as India’s best batsman and not anyone, save Brian Lara, was reckoned as his competitor in the international arena. From thereon, especially in 90s, there was no stopping him. Team India totally relied on him in winning matches. He even won them a match with the ball, bowling the last over against South Africa which took his team to the final of the Hero Cup 1993. Sachin not only used to get his team going by his aggressive batsmanship but also used to drive the Mexican wave out of the spectators in the stadium.

There was one particular banner, held by the spectators, which I still remember seeing during England’s tour of India in 1993. It read, “Our kids Sachin and Kambli vs Your Grandpas Gooch and Emburey.” One thing was very much visible from that post, setting aside the humour element in it. The fans treated him to be a kid bestowing loads of affection on him. It was clear by then that he had become a household name at a very young age of 20.

During those days, people watched cricket only for Sachin and used to switch off the TV screens as soon as he got out. It should not be viewed as fanaticism. When everyone knew what was in stored for them as soon he got out, why they should ever bother to have their TV sets tuned on. Those days the hopes of victory for India used to vaporize along with Sachin whenever he took a long walk back to the pavilion. The 1996 world cup league match against Australia, the semi final match against Srilanka in Eden Gardens, the Chennai Test against Pakistan in 1999 – every instance of those matches indicates the over dependency of India on Tendulkar. He created history and carried the burden of India totally upon his shoulders for close to a decade before Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman made their way into the side. We cherished uncountable moments during his 24-year tenure – too difficult to be encapsulated in a small article.

His accomplishments in Pakistan, England and Australia, elaborated at the beginning of the article were the byproducts of his batting talent. Once he settled as the best batsman in the team, there were only records and records and records. But there were several other moments which would exemplify other adorable qualities of the batting maestro. As he said during his farewell speech yesterday, he was deeply saddened by the demise of his father in 1999. He loved his father the most as he himself admitted. For him though, serving the nation has been as important as serving the parents. Carrying the agony of losing his father he returned to England to score a century against Kenya which helped his team to stay in contention for Super Sixes stage of the World Cup. Who can forget that patriotic moment? We may miss to remember a few of his centuries but can we ever erase this incident from our memory? We may never be able to do it.

Everyone knows he has been subjected to many bad decisions throughout his career. During an epic encounter between India and Pakistan at Eden Gardens, he was out run out due to obvious interference from Shoaib Akthar. It was then the crowd turned volatile and started disturbing the proceedings of the match. So who came for the aid? As it has always been, it was Sachin. He came and calmed the crowd down which let the match to continue. Not for once, he expected to get the opponent’s sympathy to have him recalled. Had he wanted, he could have allowed the commotion to grow which might have put Pakistan under severe pressure to recall him. He took the decision, although it was bad, in right spirit and went back to the dressing room. Can anyone forget this moment?

Above all, the most important Sachin moment came during his farewell speech yesterday. It left millions and millions of watery eyes. Was he one among our family? He was not. But still we cried. Hadn’t we? It was after all a twenty four year bonding that we had been sharing with him. So, the tears gushed out of our eyes even without our knowledge. Should anyone’s departure bring in so much of emotions, it only means he belongs to history. And how did he create history? Very simple, he lived those moments, where we all had vested interests. We enjoyed his stay in the wicket and he obliged to our prayers.