da bwin： Sachin Tendulkar..
da betsul： Anand Vasu10-Nov-2008Sachin Tendulkar…
highest run scorer in ODIs
© CricInfo LtdSachin Ramesh Tendulkar. At 27 he is not a sportsman anymore, he is abloody phenomenon. Reams of newsprint have been filled withdescription, analyses and tributes to his genius. Websites havededicated huge amounts of space and attention to every little thing hedoes. Everything that needs to be written about the man has alreadybeen written. Or has it?Young cricketers have injected much needed optimism and vigour byperforming splendidly under pressure. Nothing will do more for thisrevival than a Sachin Tendulkar hundred at Sharjah, even if he did notget one in the ICC KnockOut tournament. Is he under pressure toperform? Does he feel the pressure lifting because some others arealso coming good?Who really knows what happens in the mind of Sachin Tendulkar? Onenotices a collection of details about the man that is not alwaysvisible in other cricketers. He is always the first to practicesessions. Once he puts on his pads to have a session at the nets, hedoes not take his pads off very easily. Even after he is done withbatting, he makes it a point to bowl in the nets till the last mancomes off. He does not say a single unnecessary word to pressmen.Unless he is terribly mobbed, he always stops to sign autographs forchildren. If a photograph is requested, he is polite to a fault. Healways takes a bit of time to ask kids what class they are studyingin, or some similar question that makes them feel that the littlemaster cares. When disappointed with a decision, he does not make anyuntoward gestures. He may look crestfallen, but never steps out ofline.So is he a paragon of virtue? Certainly not. His manner of captaincyhas left room for a lot of criticism. Firstly he found the task ofmarshalling a disparate group difficult. On top of that, his ownbatting form took a beating. Another charge that has been leveledagainst him is that he tends to look after his friends with specialcare. But of course this allegation is rather unsubstantiated.However, at a time when cricket is going through arguably its mosttroubling episode, people are desperate for someone who stands for allthat is good about the game. And Tendulkar is often the man who has tocarry that cross. Does he want to be known as an example of all thingsgood? Probably not. He wants to be Sachin Tendulkar. With all hisweaknesses and faults. Do we the people let him be that? Certainlynot.A majority of us look to him to make us feel better. When he walks outto bat, the weight of the nation’s inadequacies is on his shoulders.What we can’t achieve in our day to day lives, we look for Tendulkarto make up for on the cricket field. If he slams a century and takesus to victory, all of a sudden the world looks a better place.Tendulkar is excessively professional in his approach. He is onecricketer whose integrity has never ever been questioned. One look atthe intensity with which he approaches the game makes it plain that nobookie would have the guts to approach the man. And yet he gottogether with Mark Mascarenhas and WorldTel long before cricket becamethe multi-crore industry it is today. The boy wonder signed a landmarkdeal that guaranteed crores of income from endorsements. To fulfil hiscontractual obligations, he turned up at various functions, endorsed arange of products from watches to car tyres to credit cards totoothpaste. Was he selling out? No one remotely suggested that. Whilea host of television advertisements based on cricketers has been takenoff the air after the match fixing scandal broke, Tendulkar remains aneminently saleable commodity.If an avid cricket lover finds an old lamp, shines it and a genie popsout offering him any one wish, there would be very little dilemma. “Iwish I could spend 24 hours listening to what goes on in SachinTendulkar’s mind” would be his knee jerk reaction. If such a thingcould be done, it would provide priceless insights into modern sport.At the end of the day one has to admit that Tendulkar is a trueproduct of his times.The marketing, the hype, the drive. It is certainly a recentphenomenon. There was always a drive for excellence. But for someoneto be such a public figure and influence the minds of millions is aphenomenon that has come about in the last few decades. He is nostatesman, no politician, no religious leader. And yet he holds swaywith as much power of as any one of the above. Whether he faces it ornot, he is one of the few Indians who binds the whole of this country.Probably, no other person in the country is as uniformly admired ashim. He is in a position of immense power. Did he choose to get tothis position and work towards it? One reckons not. The price he hashad to pay as an individual is incomparable to the rewards. Okay, so amajority of youngsters in this country would kill to be in his shoes.But what about the maestro himself? Fortunately or otherwise hedoesn’t have a choice.It is tragic however that a man who has given so much to the countryand touched us all in some way or the other cannot enjoy a moment ofpeace when he wants it. If he wants to take his wife Anjali and kidsout to dinner there would be such a mob at the restaurant it would beclaustrophobic.And what of his kids? Can they ever have a normal upbringing? Willtheir friends treat them as just any other kids? That is hardlypossible given the fact that Tendulkar is not any other man. He isspecial. Very special. And trapped by that.When his back injury threatened to ruin his career, the speculationwas immense. Major newspapers and magazines carried detailed medicaldiagnosis and plainly asked whether his career was over. There waseven a case of a teenager committing suicide on merely hearing thatTendulkar might not be able to play again. God forbid, but ifsomething like that were to happen, where would that leave SachinTendulkar? Sure, he’s made enough money to live luxuriously for thenext few generations. But would he be able to live with the fact thathe was ordinary once more?The media, the sponsors, the people of India have in the last fewyears made it extremely difficult for Tendulkar to live with himselfif he was ordinary. A classic product of our times, Tendulkar’s lifegoes parallel to the likes of Pete Sampras and more distinctly TigerWoods. When modern society sees an outrageous talent that is coupledwith the drive to be successful, it seizes upon it like never before.Even if Tendulkar were content with his achievements and decided tocall it a day, he would not be allowed to without a hue and cry. Let’sface it. He runs the cricket industry in India. Who can see a headlinethat has the word Tendulkar in it and ignore it?If Sachin Tendulkar has a breakdown of sorts at any time, we all willhave blood on our hands. That’s a fine way to thank someone who hasgiven us so much, isn’t it?
