Excuse me people for the cheesy line but Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar's achievements are such that the English language is struggling to find new superlatives. The first double ton in ODIs, a barrier that had not been breached in 39 years of limited over internationals, was broken by the man most deserving to get there. And no it wasn't against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe but one of the world's top team - South Africa.
They say that it is impossible to turn the clock backwards but Tendulkar carries this almost nonchalant ability of picking out at will, defining episodes of his past years, and producing the sort of innings, a blemish-free display of pure cricketing strokes, that only geniuses are capable of. He unites the nation of a billion people, makes them cheer in one voice and sends them in raptures with just the turn of his bat. That is undoubtedly his biggest achievement, by transcending our differences and creating possibilities and an emotional high of tremendous magnitude that only sports can achieve.
Mamta Banerjee's rail budget was consigned to lesser headlines yesterday as Sachin collared the opposition. In it, he could be compared to Don Bradman who had got so much on English nerves, that the words "He's out!" - were blazoned across the London evening newspaper placards (1930 Ashes where Bradman scored 974 runs in 7 innings). when the great depression was grabbing all headlines. And interestingly this has once again resumed the debate over who is the best batsman to have played the game. The Don v/s Sachin Tendulkar.
Today's generation hasn't seen and never will see Bradman play, so one doesn't even have a yardstick to start with. A lot has been made of statistics but they hardly tell the story. Yes, there is absolutely no argument that an average of 99.94 is phenomenal. But the pressures of modern day cricket are different, there are a lot more teams, different conditions to counter etc. A game played under the shadow of the Great Depression, the maintenance of colonial supremacy on English minds, cannot be equated with game set amidst commercial brouhaha whose upshot is a highly professional milieu that is much more competitive and organized.
So then what remains constant is to influence people irrespective of its environment, to embody that spirit of accomplishment, to bring the world to a standstill and take notice of the phenomenon unfolding in front of their eyes. Bradman did it and so has Sachin. It would be futile to compare these two masters. All we can do is revel in their success, our success. In the mould of the modern day sports legends like the Federer, Jordan, Woods and Schumacher, Tendlya is up there with the very best gracing the cricketing summit for the past 20 years.
I have watched cricket for 18 of those years. It has had its share of ups and downs, the inevitable heartbreaks, the breeziness of important victories but it is days like these that make, being a cricket fanatic and an Indian worth it. The day this great man decides to hang up his boots, the game will be poorer for it.
They say that it is impossible to turn the clock backwards but Tendulkar carries this almost nonchalant ability of picking out at will, defining episodes of his past years, and producing the sort of innings, a blemish-free display of pure cricketing strokes, that only geniuses are capable of. He unites the nation of a billion people, makes them cheer in one voice and sends them in raptures with just the turn of his bat. That is undoubtedly his biggest achievement, by transcending our differences and creating possibilities and an emotional high of tremendous magnitude that only sports can achieve.
Mamta Banerjee's rail budget was consigned to lesser headlines yesterday as Sachin collared the opposition. In it, he could be compared to Don Bradman who had got so much on English nerves, that the words "He's out!" - were blazoned across the London evening newspaper placards (1930 Ashes where Bradman scored 974 runs in 7 innings). when the great depression was grabbing all headlines. And interestingly this has once again resumed the debate over who is the best batsman to have played the game. The Don v/s Sachin Tendulkar.
Today's generation hasn't seen and never will see Bradman play, so one doesn't even have a yardstick to start with. A lot has been made of statistics but they hardly tell the story. Yes, there is absolutely no argument that an average of 99.94 is phenomenal. But the pressures of modern day cricket are different, there are a lot more teams, different conditions to counter etc. A game played under the shadow of the Great Depression, the maintenance of colonial supremacy on English minds, cannot be equated with game set amidst commercial brouhaha whose upshot is a highly professional milieu that is much more competitive and organized.
So then what remains constant is to influence people irrespective of its environment, to embody that spirit of accomplishment, to bring the world to a standstill and take notice of the phenomenon unfolding in front of their eyes. Bradman did it and so has Sachin. It would be futile to compare these two masters. All we can do is revel in their success, our success. In the mould of the modern day sports legends like the Federer, Jordan, Woods and Schumacher, Tendlya is up there with the very best gracing the cricketing summit for the past 20 years.
I have watched cricket for 18 of those years. It has had its share of ups and downs, the inevitable heartbreaks, the breeziness of important victories but it is days like these that make, being a cricket fanatic and an Indian worth it. The day this great man decides to hang up his boots, the game will be poorer for it.
