Sachin Tendulkar declared his retirement from one-day cricket on Sunday, December 23rd, 2012. This day marked the end of 23 years and a very successful career of the best batsman of one-day international cricket. Sachin's entry into the cricket world and his partial exit (he still intends to play in tests) can be called one of the major events in the modern era of cricket. He redefined excellence in both forms of cricket. His passion, commitment, hard work, and humility are something that everyone can learn from him. He is the one man who inspired the entire nation to dream big and to believe that they can achieve excellence if they are willing to work hard. He also taught us how to remain humble and down to earth even after being so successful. His retirement is not just another event in cricket history, it's the end of a glorious era, which every cricket lover who followed cricket for the last 20 years or so Indian or non-Indian will remember forever.
My cricket following days can be divided into two eras first was Kapil Dev's era till 1989 but unfortunately, I never got a chance to watch much cricket on TV at that time. I only read in the news or heard from people around me. Kapil is regarded as the best all-rounder India has ever produced and he was a real game-changer. The second and much longer era is Sachin's era. When he emerged as a 16-year-old young boy on the international cricket scene, everyone saw a glimpse of a genius cricketer in his batting style and temperament, but very few realized that time that this young man would rule the cricket world for more than two decades in both formats of cricket (one day and tests). No one ever did this for such a long time in the past and may not be able to do it in the future also. He inspired an entire generation of cricketers in India to believe in themselves. Cricket was already a passion in India he turned it into a big craze almost to madness. His popularity rose so much that if cricket is a religion then certainly Sachin is a God of cricket.
I grew up watching his batting and following Indian cricket just because of him. India never dominated international cricket like Australia or West Indies did but Sachin always kept our hopes alive, as long as he was there on the crease every Indian felt that any target was achievable, and India could win. This was the power of this one man. I have seen people switching their television sets after his wicket because they believed that there was no point in watching the match. People thought without Sachin India doesn't stand a chance to win the match. Whenever people inquire about the Indian batting score no matter how many wickets India lost they always ask "Abhi Sachin hai ki nahi" (whether Sachin is still batting or not?). This question sums up the expectation or belief people had in him because if Sachin is still batting then India has a chance, if he is out then it's all over. This situation changed after the entry of some other talented cricketers like Yuvraj, Sehvag, and Dhoni, but for a long time, this was the situation.
His retirement was expected but all his fans including me didn't expect that it would be so sudden. Like others, I also thought that he mistimed the announcement of his retirement because of the current social/political environment in India. There is a huge outcry among the public against the brutal gang rape of a young girl in the Indian capital New Delhi, and many people thought that announcement of Tendulkar's retirement in the middle of all these protests and struggles might dilute this movement and divert the attention of media and people from this very important issue. This is the same reason I also thought that he mistimed his retirement from ODIs but on second thought I realized that this might be the way he wanted to go, quietly, without creating any fuss. A very high-pressure series against India's arch-rivals Pakistan is coming up very soon and maybe he doesn't want to divert the attention of players and media from that series. For him, cricket is the most important thing in his life and maybe he wanted Indian cricket to move on without creating too much fuss about his retirement. Normally people believe that extraordinary people deserve extraordinary farewells and should take grand exit but maybe some greats like to leave the stage very quietly without creating much fuss.
I can go on and on writing about so many memories I have about Sachin's performances in one-day cricket which I enjoyed and all are still very fresh in my mind but rather than doing this I want to end my personal tribute for this greatest batsman one day cricket ever saw, one cricketer who developed a passion of cricket in me, one sportsman who made many movements in my life special just because of his talent and performance by quoting some lines from an article in Times magazine about Sachin,
"It seems while time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man.
Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar.
We have had champions, we have had legends.
But we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will"
Thanks for reading.
Some more articles about Sachin:
Some more articles about Sachin:
References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachin_Tendulkar (statistics speak themselves about talent of this cricketer)
2. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/35320.html
(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachin_Tendulkar (statistics speak themselves about talent of this cricketer)
2. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/35320.html
(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)
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