Tendulkar's romance and sense of belonging with Chepauk

When we talk about romance, we think of an ardent emotional association between two things. But in the world of sport, one of the most romantic stories is the one between one of India’s most beautiful grounds and the favourite son of the nation.

One of the protagonists of this love story is a cricket stadium – M.A. Chidambaram Stadium or Chepauk – which is unnervingly close to the malodorous Buckingham Canal. But the cricket fans endure that if they get to see quality cricket. And boy, Chepauk has had some wonderful chapters written in the annals of cricket history, with the tied Test match chapter being the most revered section.

The other protagonist of this love story is a person who has the propensity to rise to the occasion on the big stage. Mission whitewash England in 1993, attacking one of the best leg-spinners in the world and reducing him to a non-entity in 1998, passing a stern test against the neighbouring nation by scoring one of the most emotive hundreds while battling back spasms in 1999, scoring one of the most important hundreds against Steve Waugh’s team which had vowed to conquer ‘The Final Frontier’ in 2001, guiding the team to the target of 387 with an unbeaten hundred when the entire nation was battling with a shock-wave post 26/11 attacks in 2008 – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar’s association with Chepauk has been a special one.

In the last couple of years of his career, he had to battle against the dreaded ‘R’ word. The media thought that the great man had passed his sell-by-date. His average in the last 14 Test matches was not even in the 30s. There were long debates and discussions on social networking sites, where every person had a polarized viewpoint. But hardly anyone spared a thought for a man who was in his 24th year of international cricket. Even he must have been getting affected by such talks in some or the other way.

In life, when we are far away from the home, battling with the problems beyond our control, a sense of belonging is what we yearn for. We want to go home. So when Tendulkar walked into the middle at Chepauk on the second day of the first Test match against Australia three years ago, it was as if he had returned home. An average of 90-plus on the venue, the endless cheers of “Saccchinnn Sachinnnn” surely must have motivated the maestro, even if they were coming after over 35,000 international runs decorated with 100 hundreds.

After taking a leg-stump guard, assessing the field and showcasing a single-minded determination to be rock-solid, there began a mission – to score runs for India. The person at the non-striker’s end was a year and a half old when Tendulkar faced his first delivery from Waqar Younis at National Stadium, Karachi in 1989. The person bowling was not even born that time. But Tendulkar played cricket with so much gusto that in his mind, he was still the little baby-faced kid that he once was. There was also a fierce competitor within him. He still wanted to be the best.

Pattinson came steaming in and bowled a ball at searing pace, and Tendulkar got into position almost instantaneously. The result: a boundary. The second and the fourth balls were also hit for fours. 20 seasons earlier, Tendulkar brought up his first hundred in India by smashing five boundaries, which perplexed the stand-in skipper Alec Stewart. A flurry of boundaries from Tendulkar at the start of his innings now, and things looked ominous for Australia.

All of a sudden, Tendulkar must have felt at home. When he was on song, there were no questions about his age, no sly feelings about him retiring. There was only admiration of his special art. He managed to turn the clock back when he batted with such authority.

On the back of the five hundreds that Tendulkar had got at Chennai, India won four games. The one game that India lost was against Pakistan. Needing 17 runs, Tendulkar played a shot of poor discipline. But he was in a bad physical state and wanted to finish off the game before the pain in his back became excruciating.

Tendulkar-bashers often criticise him for letting the team down on that occasion. But didn’t the team let him down? The rest of the team barring Nayan Mongia (52) scored a mere 86 runs. Tendulkar shed tears in the dressing room after the loss but he had won the hearts of the Indians (I am not counting people who are hell bent on disparaging Tendulkar).

The dumbfounded expression on Shane Warne’s face in 1998 spoke volumes about Tendulkar’s ability. The 126 against Australia in 2001 was an innings of high pedigree since India was on the verge of winning the series, coming from one-Test match down.

The most emotional hundred from Tendulkar came in 2008, when he brought a smile on the faces of all Indians. “We will emerge stronger for the bad times,” Tendulkar told the people of India. “I play for India, now, more than ever.” Such is the aura of the Little Master.

The match against Australia was Tendulkar’s last tryst with Chepauk as a Test cricketer. But there's no denying that the romance between Tendulkar and Chepauk has mesmerized everyone.