Pitch fever soaring. Palpitation rules every Indian heart for obvious reasons. I am not all that a sport analyst; but I bleed blue though. Light blue, with the shades intact. Beyond all the sensation and pressure on Dhoni's boys, there stands one enormous soul- do I need to tell the name? I will, cos I love doing that- Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. One reason why I need to accept the fact that cricket is a gentleman's game. Indeed Sachin it is! Quantifying his sporting career is a mammoth task for a statistician. Assessing and analyzing it- no words. I do not want to argue over hypotheses like 'Sachin- God of cricket' and so on. It’s a personal opinion. I do not patronize the game unlike many of my fellows here. I am not against patronizing it either. Yet, to someone like me, Sachin is one living legend. He is a phenomenon. He has lived a saga between the stumps. This is not just for the numbers that his career equates to, but for the morality that he has always stood by, despite glory masking him all through. His polite refusal to endorse a liquor brand- how principled is he! My words are nothing new. There is more to him than to awe in inspiration at his numbers; or to wonder over the fact if anyone can ever beat his numbers. The dignity that he brought to the team. The spirit with which he puts every run into the score. The way he handles such an enormity of fame, success and glory. The way he untiringly bats for the tricolor. Test. ODI. T20. Still the common man's delight. From the streets to the gallery.
As a tendency, in my opinion, we as a nation love to crib. For a change, he never let us do that in his case. And let’s stop fussing when he takes a break in a match or two. Don’t the rest of his feats over shadow this? For someone who has been through 6 World Cups-- win or lose-- the mental grit to face balls of all kinds-- man it definitely takes a bloody hell lot to be Sachin!!! Let your glory shine through, let the pitches that saw you at your best continue to lie wide in your fame, let those bowlers behind your runs cherish their share of moments, let those butter fingers that missed your wicket grin sheepishly, and let the generation that grew up watching the very you, always continue to look up to you as ever, and finally let the tricolor glow with pride at the very mention of you!! As Wankhede waits with fingers crossed, as the nation breathes heavily, man, only 2 words for you-- Jai Ho!!
