Zilleilaahi Sachin

"Sachin cannot win matches" : Many a cricketing journos and ex-players yelled from their tin roof tops. What follows: Unbeaten 117 at Sydney and 91 at the Gabba.

A resounding, thumping 2-0 defeat of the Australian Marsupials in a series known for more off the ground antics was mostly scripted by this Man and his willow.

Manjrekar, Imran and the rest of your kind - SHUT THE F$%K UP!

Its SACHIN again!

Just when everyone had written him off, he starts the new year by scoring an unbeaten 154 against the best test playing team on their home ground.
Indeed its a "Happy" New Year! More to you Sachin.
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ausvind/content/current/story/329023.html

18 years ago

Exactly 18 years ago today a gawky sixteen year old from Dadar with funny hair walked on the cricket pitch. Little did the world know that it was witnessing the debut of a cricketing legend and the greatest batsman ever (personal opinion which I think is supported by millions more). His name - SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR.

Here's the scorecard from that debut match:

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/india/engine/match/63513.html

(Note the players - seems another era!)

Today after 18 years, Sachin is still playing and winning matches for India (although not as many as we would like). Today he played in the typical "Sachin" fashion to steer India to a series victory over Pakistan at Gwalior. (Another little trivia: This is India's series victory over Pakistan after 24 years on Indian soil - it was 1983 and Kapil Dev was the captain).

Here's the scorecard from today's match:

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/indvpak/engine/current/match/297804.html
(Note the players - 21 of the ones from 1989 are not playing now)

Lets do the numbers on the Little Master:
Test Statistics
Matches: 140
Centuries :37
Average: 53
Total Runs: 11150
Highest Score: 248 (not out)

One Day Statistics
Matches: 406
Centuries : 41
Strike Rate: 86
Total Runs: 15932
Highest Score: 186 (not out)

His fans and critics have put him up on a pedestal and worshipped him like a demi-god numerous time. These same fans and critics have maligned him, pulled him down and written him off numerous times. But Sachin has always let his actions with the bat or the ball speak for him. He has taken accolades and criticism with equal humility and modesty. I don't think he ever believed that he is anything more than a human being with a special talent. He is still the little boy from Sharadashram who one fine day held a bat in his hand and carved his and Indian cricket's destiny - one stroke and one ball at a time.

More on Sachin:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/2006/heroes/ae_tendulkar.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachin_Tendulkar

http://tendulkar.co.in/

That forgotten feeling!

Ohh, how does it feel to win! Today, I was haunted by the ghost of Javed Miandad hitting Chetan Sharma for a sixer on the last ball at Sharjah in 1985. Today Joginder Sharma and the rest of the Dhoni gang helped drive that ghost away. Team India deserved this victory, they have proven that the dismal performance in the World Cup early this year was just a passing bad phase. They beat South Africa (threw them out of the tournament), Australia (what effect this has on the Ozzie egos remains to be seen) and then Pakistan!! And they beat all of them in STYLE...no Duckworth-Lewis crap!! It does not get better than this.

This victory will do a great deal for the team and the nation as a whole. We had all forgotten the feeling of a thumping "Victory". Soak up this feeling India, bask in its Glory.

There was no one hero in the final - Gambhir and Sharma did it with the bat, Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma did it with the ball. CONGRATULATIONS to all of these young winners. What makes the joy of winning a million times better is defeating Pakistan in the finals. I remember the 1996 Hero Cup match when India defeated Pakistan in an absolute "stop-your-heart" match in Bangalore under the lights at Chinnaswamy (Jadeja hitting a Waqar Younis yorker for a cracking Six is still fresh in my memory). After that delicious victory, the whole of Nagpur had spontaneously gathered on West Hight Court Road for an impromptu celebration.
I missed being in "Hindustan" today....what I did not miss was how it feels to WIN.
Thank you Team India for the feeling....Thanks for an early Diwali....Here's to more such victories.

David and Goliath

Today's victory over Australia should be a huge boost to the Indian cricket team's psyche. This team played with a "Nothing to loose" attitude, a trait rarely seen in the recent times from any Indian sporting side. Yuvi, Dhoni, Sreesanth, Utthappa and company are all young bloods who do not have the weight of expectations that the Sachins, Souravs and Dravids drag with them. Resting these thespians for the 20/20 series turned out to be a good thing eventually.

The real stress test of the temperament is in the India-Pakistan final of Monday. Good luck to Dhoni and his boys.

The fall of the "Wall"

No its not the Berlin Wall, I am talking about. Its Rahul Dravid. Dravid's resignation as the captain of the Indian cricket team was as quiet an affair as his captainship itself. From the day he took over from Sourav, he has been criticized for his "no grit" attitude. Captaining the Indian team in today's "Cricket is a religion" India is as stressful a job as being the Prime Minister of India (probably more so). He was a captain who was burdened by the idiomatic phrase - 'lead by example'. You could see the strain it was causing on him on his face.

I guess he realized the toll this was taking on his life and his cricket. Its time to pass the baton and enjoy the pleasure of being on that pitch and building a wall - one ball and one run at a time. Good luck Rahul, and thanks for your sincere services. You did not let us down, 'we' let you down. You still make me feel assured of a good innings when you walk from that dressing room to the pitch.