A champion, always!

Some years ago, I participated in a cricket quiz and came third among a host of participants. While the top two were awarded with costly cricket kits, the third prize was a book on Sachin Tendulkar, written by Lokesh Thani, one of his close aides. I still believe, and I rejoice even today, that I was the luckiest among the lot, for I came third. Had this not been the case, I would have missed some of the intrigue nuances in the life of probably the most successful cricketer ever born on this planet. When today, I come across many articles published in various newspapers on Sachin’s retirement, and that includes the one from someone as eminent as Sunil M Gavaskar, I am reminded of the various lines of the book because that takes me through the pain that the Little Master had undergone to be what he is today. The last few months have been newsy for stories on and off the ground. If V V S Laxman ‘forced retirement’ created ripples for wrong reasons, same could be said for the Mr Dependable. Even traditionally, we have never feted our champions with memorable farewell. I had heard of stories on how Indian cricket legends - Kapil Dev and Gavaskar – were treated during their final days on cricket field. As a simple cricket follower with basic understanding of the game, I do not want the same to happen with Sachin Tendulkar for everyone’s ‘emotional connect’ with ‘The Don’ of Indian cricket. If at 10, he was the best in Sharda Ashram School, at 40, his records take him to the topmost ladder in international cricket. The crests and troughs are integral part in the career of any sportsman and it is also true that Sachin had seemed patchy against England and Australia this year, but that does not mean that he has to answer every single time to his critics when he dons the pad. For hundredth hundred, the hullabaloo created by the media surely created some amount of pressure on him, and the thrust of this R-word seems writ large on his face now. Everyone knows that the Master is in the last years of his game and he would be history in another one year or so, but even then the noise on his retirement is too loud. With Indian cricket relying on the strong shoulders of talented young players like Kohli and Badrinath, it’s time for Sachin to enjoy his game without the additional ‘burden’ that he had carried in his 23 years of international cricket. And, should we not give him his dues for his service to nation. Yes, he deserves that even if he does not perform ‘according to his merit’ in the next few tests.