Journey- Master Blaster to God!

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Sachin Tendulkar

There must have been innumerable blogs written post announcement of HIS retirement from One Day International cricket. But as HE HIMSELF puts it across that each of hundred 100s were equally precious and memorable, HIS decision to hang HIS boots in the shorter versions of the game made me write this blog entry(after almost a year I am writing about sports). This entry does not speak about how a teenager blasted his way to the world of cricket, nor does it talk about how GOD gave his midas touch to the happenings around him. It speaks about a journey which an ardent cricket lover who sobbed when India lost a match and burst-ed crackers in his neighbourhood when India won, not really bothered if curfew was imposed due to communal tension in his hometown. This journey is from the time Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was the ultimate master blaster and later was called GOD.

It was mid 90′s when the Indian cricket team was called a One-Man-Band. Even though it boasted of stalwarts like Azharuddin, Jadeja, Srinath, Kumble, there was one man who could make all the difference in a cricket match. Sachin Tendulkar had to score runs whenever he came out to bat, pick wickets when was given the ball(when all the bowlers were being hunted down) and also take some magical catches and inflict fantasy run-outs when chips were down for the team. Even when Dravid and Ganguly joined the team, Ganguly was more of a stylish ODI material and Dravid a test best-fit. There was no one who could send jitters down the opposite camp just with his sheer presence.
Even when the burden of captaincy fell upon him, he did come out with some blistering knocks like the 169* against Proteas when he batted with the  tail to take India to a respectable position. Once he tossed the captaincy back to Azhar, I believe he was at his best. He was the undisputed champ who could just do anything. In fact there were days when he dismissed Steve Waugh with a low full-toss, manufactured miraculous run-out and also smashed likes of Warne, Fleming, Kasprowicz and Moody to all sides of the park in a single do-or-die match for India. He also played the perfect side-kick role with kind of innings which he played in the finals of Independence Cup in Dhaka against Pakistan when he blasted 41 of just 26 balls to set record chase rolling. Then came a time when match fixing scandal hit the Indian cricket yet our master stood clean. He also came up with innings like the one in Chennai when he almost won the test match with a belligerent 136. Also in the subsequent World Cup when he returned back from his father’s funeral he scored a fluent 140 against Kenyans, which made everyone realize that this man was little more than human. To come out a personal loss and play a WC game is BIG. Scoring a century in BIG BIG BIG!
Once he returned to cricket after a break due to injuries, the team  looked relatively new. Ganguly was captain courageous, Dravid his trusted lieutenant and team boasted of fresh blood which could script victories like the one at Lords in 2001. Here is where I can say Sachin played himself in superbly to elevate his position from a senior player in the team to GOD. He could run between wickets like Yuvraj, field in the deep like Kaif and also score those quickies like Sehwag. And he did it in style. Neither did he come out in press saying how the team lacked a genius like him nor did he ridicule Ganguly/Dhoni when any of their decisions misfired. It was his love for the game of cricket which made him stronger each time some commentator claimed that Sachin played only for records and not for the team. His back-to-back centuries against Australia in the VB series or the majestic 200 against SA, just cemented his place in the hearts of those fans who already had accepted cricket as their religion and Tendulkar as their only GOD.
The child like smile when a wicket of the opposite team fell, the sunken shoulders when he was dismissed, the trademark signature stance when he reached a ton or the gloomy face when India lost a match and moreover the blue coloured jersey which had the name Tendulkar would be sorely missed. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, I am not sure if I would ever be able to enjoy a game of ODI cricket without you!
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Does India deserve Dravid?

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The treatment being meted out to Rahul Dravid by the Indian cricket establishment is nothing new in the overall context of Indian cricket.They did it to him in 1998, 2008 and yet again he replies to every bit of it in his own serene way.Sadly the treatment is a first when it comes to dealing with a player of his significance.

So the question which rings in my head is..Does India deserve Dravid?

In India, the individual’s feats have always been hailed over the team’s even in a team sport like cricket. So, the all-time great icons like Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev were always given more space than the mere mortals who played around them. Gavaskar, to his great credit, never even gave a chance to anyone to question his presence (his last test innings was a classic 96 against Pakistan); Kapil Dev did, but since he was breaking the world record of highest test wickets, it was fair game for the Indian public. Apart from these two, it is only Sachin Tendulkar who has enjoyed that sacred space in Indian cricket. Bizarre, because there were many men who also deserved that privilege; mainly Rahul Dravid!

Rahul Dravid is one of the greatest cricketers India has ever produced. Sometimes greater than Tendulkar, Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, in practically every parameter you judge greatness in a sport by, especially a team sport. Unfortunately, his affable, gentlemanly demeanor has denied him that larger-than-life status that the star-struck Indian public responds to with blind devotion in large numbers. And that obscures the impact he has had on the Indian team and the game of cricket in general.Count his innings of importance; why is he always or perhaps on most occasions play “the saving grace” game for India.He s been doing that from 1996 till date!

Rahul Dravid, like Gavaskar, and unlike Kapil Dev and Tendulkar, is a classic albums person, rather than a great compilations album individual.His innings have won more matches for India than any cricketer in history (we are basically talking test cricket, but there have been plenty of one-day wins too), many of which were played under intense pressure. On the flexibility scale too, he scores the highest, in both test and one-day cricket, as explained above. It would make for an interesting debate whether he makes an all-time-great multi-nation side or not, but with Viv Richards available at no. 3, he may well be expendable here.(Then again, with Bradman available at no. 4, would Tendulkar or Lara make that side?)

So, this is the case then – Rahul Dravid – India’s best no. 3 batsman, India’s most dependable player, most flexible and selfless cricketer, a true gentleman to whom even a player like Ricky Ponting looks upto and says “retirement should really not be on his mind” and moreover a man of dignity who does not use the media to unload angst, an inspiration to every kind of individual. And yet, his true worth and proper place in history continues to be unrecognized.

Here’s hoping it finally changes in near future!