Why is Sachin Tendulkar the greatest ever?

Desert storm in Sharjah

There was nothing that could have been done unless anyone else in the team had performed. In January 1999, India was playing against Pakistan at Chennai where Sachin had scored 136 in a chase of 271. He got out leaving India at 17 runs short of victory with three wickets in hand. The team collapsed in just 5 runs and lost the test match back then. What could Sachin have done for that?

In those innings, only three batsmen from the Indian team reached a double figure score while the rest fumbled in single digits. If you consider the chase of 350 against Australia in 4th ODI in 2009/2010, Sachin scored 175 runs and he made sure the run rate never reached 8 or lesser and when he had departed from that game, India had to score only 19 runs from 17 balls in a power play, but again the team fumbled. In the entire Indian innings there was only a single half century during the chase of 350.

Sachin gave his best for the team and if the team doesn’t win even when he scored one of his best then in my view, he shouldbe respected for what he has done. If you don’t like to respect him, that’s your call, at least don’t criticize Sachin for scoring while others didn’t even manage to give a performance. If I keep explaining it will never end.

In the time Sachin played for India, India has produced a lot of other excellent players like Dravid, Kumble, Laxman and Ganguly but for me Sachin was special because Sachin has played with players from three different generations. The last player to retire from Sachin’s debut test team was in 1999 which is just three years after Dravid and Ganguly’s debut matches. Sachin and Dravid were born in the same year but by the time Dravid made his debut Sachin had already been into international cricket for seven years which is more than most of the present day cricketers.

What I mean to convey here is that playing at an International level since an age of 16 was a lot different from playing International cricket at 23 when most of the other Indian cricket stars started their careers. The most important point I like about Sachin is he changed his batting according to the conditions and situations. When he was young he was attacking and when he became a seniormember in the team he reduced his aggression for the team which helped youngsters build their innings around him.

If you remember his ODI debut as a opener or the Innings played in Sharjah you can clearly see what a destructive player he was but he then changed his batting according to the team’s requirements. Although, whenever needed, we could see the Sachin we saw in Sharjah! The best example can be his innings against Australia in the chase of 350 or the 200 Sachin had scored.

The most important reason for Sachin’s success throughout all these years was his preparation for a match, which was amazing. His preparation was no different when he was playing for a Ranji Trophy or an International match. He always knew which bowlers were going to bowl at him and he was ready for it at all times.

In 1997/98 when Australia was touring India, Sachin knew it would be a challenge to face Shane Warne on Indian tracks, so for the preparation of playing against Warne especially when Warne was bowling around the wicket on to the footmarks he asked LaxmanSivarama Krishnan to bowl to him from around the wicket and practiced in that manner. He had also asked left-hand bowlers to bowl on the rough side to prepare himself to face Warne. His preparation sometimes failed too, the perfect example was the first innings dismissal in Chennai test match where Shane Warne was bowling and Sachin was caught at slip by Taylor, but Sachin’s determination to perform well seldom reduced.

In that match, Laxman said that he had seen Sachin crying because he had given his wicket away cheaply to Warne. But in the same game, in the second innings he went and scored 150+ runs on a spinning Chennai track on day 3 and 4, which was remarkable.Sachin has influenced a lot of youngsters to play cricket.

I remember when I was a kid, being an Indian and a terrible fan, I used to switch off my television when Sachin got out. But today, the Indian team is a position of chasing any target thrown at them .If you ask them – ‘Who inspired you the most from the team?’ – the answer would be the same from all of them! Sachin! In which Dhoni, the eldest of all in the present Indian team would’ve been too. People say Sachin is just all about statistics, but in this article, I have not at all mentioned Sachin’s ODI or Test runs or his Centuries or any other stats.

Sachin is an inspiration for all the youngsters who wish to grow up and develop as a cricketer. He was an example for what a person could achieve with passion and Hard work. Playing for 24 years is no joke if a person plays as long as 24 years he is supposed to create lot of records and Sachin did it but Sachin is a common man with love and passion towards cricket and had an extreme hard working nature which let him achieve his dream of playing for his nation – could not have been done better by anyone else!