THE AGESLESS GENIUS

The 37-year old has regained the numero uno spot in test cricket after eight years. Well, ‘37’ seems to be just another number to him, which I guess hardly matters to him now. Having spent, rather ruled the cricket world for more than two decades Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has dictated many such numbers in his own terms.

He scripted miseries for the opponent teams single-handedly for almost a dcade, till he got ‘Dada’, ‘the Wall’ and the ‘very very special Laxman’ beside him. Gradually we got familiar with the terms ‘Big-3’ and then ‘Fav-4’… but again, only factor that remained constant is Sachin. In a recent article ‘Time Magazine’ hailed the master as the ‘Timeless Genius’… and why would they not? Most of our generation grew up watching Sachin playing and destroying opponents’ attacks…while most of his contemporaries have hung up their boots, some turned coaches, some commentators, some pitch experts, so much so that some have taken up the job of umpires. But this man’s never say die attitude still continues to cause nightmares to the opponent team every time he comes down to bat. I remember reading an article in ‘Anandamela’ in my early school days that referred to him as the ‘Bismoy Balak (Wonder Kid)’. The Kid eventually turned in to the God of Cricket and kept rewriting the history every now and then. Today, the master-blaster is as dangerous as ever, but has come a long way to add more elegance and maturity to his game.

Most number of Test matches, most runs in tests, most centuries in tests, most of number of ODI matches, most ODI runs, most ODI Centuries, highest individual score in ODIs, most number of Man of the Match’ and ‘Man of the Series’ awards, first one to reach many milestones… 403 runs in 4 innings in the recently concluded test series against the Aussies at an average of 134.33… numbers, numbers and more numbers! What more can one ask for to achieve in a lifetime?

But I guess there is certain a thing beyond numbers which the batting maestro would also long for, especially at this stage of his career where calling it a day is just a matter of time. The master batsman has added numerous feathers in his cap during his illustrious career, but he fell short of his some of his contemporaries probably in one aspect, and that is, getting a world cup for his country, and to some extent, a triple hundred in tests. Probably this is what kept him going on over the years, and even today his wicket remains the most prized wicket of all as it always has been.

After successfully hosting the Hockey World Cup and Commonwealth Games this year, India is again gearing up for hosting the ICC World Cup 2011. The World Cup which often seemed to be so near, always stayed little far from team India. More so for Sachin, who already has played in five of the Cricket carnivals and roaring to go for the sixth one, is yet experience the feeling of lifting the most covated tropy in the game. As expecting him to play in 2015 would be a bit too much to ask for, winning the World Cup in its home truf would probably be the best farewell gift that Team India would give to its longest serving compatriot.