SACHIN AND A FEW IRRELEVANT WORDS

Students hold a large poster of Sachin Tendulkar after Tendulkar scored his landmark 100th international century: AP-Photo

To a cricket enthusiast, there is nothing more sublime than a straight six scored off a fast bowler. As such, it is but natural that my conception of batsmanship stems from one such masterly stroke by a 25-year-old humble yet determined young man trying to win the day for India on a sluggish Sharjah pitch against a formidable Australian attack. The shot coming off Michael Kasprowicz in the Coca-Cola Cup in 1998 has since made a space for itself in the annals of cricketing history, but the legacy stays on for it saw the beginning of an era which might very well be termed as the era of the little master.

In fact, it would not be justice done if Sachin’s purple patch in the 1996 Wills World Cup was to be taken out of the discussions, which catapulted the Wonder Boy to the global cricketing summit. Contrary to what a famed journalist recently had to write in Hindustan Times vis-à-vis the contributions of Tendulkar in international cricket, it could be easily proved that starting from 1992 till India’s triumphant run in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, Tendulkar has been instrumental in devising more Indian victories than any other Indian cricketer. But the stature of Tendulkar is not and cannot be restricted to cricketing blitzkriegs alone. It is in fact more than that. In a country suffering from perennial inferiority complex, Tendulkar sowed the seeds of hope, the hope that Indians had the ability be the best in any chosen field.

Indeed, Sachin’s story corresponds to the very story of the rise of modern India, an India which stood up to global challenges, an India which was ready to take an eye for an eye and yet with the utmost decency. Tendulkar in fact showed the entire world that aggression could be wrapped up with something as ‘clichéd’ as humanity. Fascinated by the likes of Shaktimaan, Disney Hour and Alif Laila; it is actually a matter of contemplation that a generation actually came to its feet when Sachin took the willow in his hands.

During Australia’s famed tour to India during the spring of 1998, the over-ambitious media billed it as a personal battle between Tendulkar and Shane Warne, the champion leg-break bowler. After getting the better of Tendulkar in the first innings of the first test match, Warne practically had to bite the dust as Tendulkar scripted some of his most memorable innings during the series. Warne famously remarked after the tour that he had Sachin dancing down the track in his dreams.

Just as it is impossible to measure Tagore’s contribution to Indian literature, similarly it is next to impossible to account for Tendulkar’s overall impact on Indian cricket. At a time, when India was aggressively moving towards a market economy marked by fierce competition and increased capital inflows, Tendulkar affected a revolution of sorts by inculcating competitive spirit among Indian cricketers, who till then were more of diplomats then winners.

It remains a matter of debate as to whether Sachin’s tenure marked an ascendance in Indian cricketing fortunes, but what remains beyond any reasonable doubt is his capacity to draw audience to a game which became more of a national obsession than just a game.

A nation spurred by demagogy, a bunch of half-baked morons trying to hijack sanity, a country where people know nothing about growing old with wit; there can be umpteen descriptions to lambast the trend of hero worshiping in our country. Notwithstanding, what remains to be a fact on the face is that no man ever catapulted a country as vast and as diverse as India to virtual mourning as Sachin did by announcing his retirement from the game. Sachin’s retirement probably was only a matter of time but it symbolically represented the demise of an era, the official end to all memories associated with childhood for countless people who were born in the late eighties and the early nineties; people who have watched him develop his skills, witnessed him becoming the best of the best, endured his occasional lean patches and more importantly saw him grow old.

It is impossible to conceive Tendulkar as just a great player who brought laurels to the country; it is equally difficult to imagine him as only a cult icon who moved a generation but if he were to be described as the person who transformed modern India, it might as well be justice done. The impact of Tendulkar on this generation could only be dispassionately analyzed 50 years down the line when very few people from this generation would live to tell the tale.

People come and go, a few leave a mark on the walls of eternity but for people like Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, life comes to a standstill and let time write for itself. You and I would die and wither away, but our tales would live, and those tales would be replete with SRT.