- The mere mention of the name Sachin Tendulkar evokes an overwhelming feeling of varied positive emotions like admiration, adulation, euphoria, pride, a sense of achievement, and last but not least, an inexplicable feeling of accomplishment. Any number of encomiums will not suffice while explaining how a precocious talent like Sachin Tendulkar altered the entire country’s collective consciousness with his exhilarating exploits on the cricket field. No sooner did the baby-faced adolescent break into the Indian Test cricket team in the late 1980s, there was no looking back for the once-in-a-century cricketer and the cricket-crazy nation to go berserk. Since then, Sachin has regaled his legions of fans with spectacular performances that have lasted 25 years.
PC: Twitter
- Cricket connoisseurs around the world were delighted when the anticipated sparks from the blade of the teenager started becoming not only regular but also metamorphosed into explosives as Sachin matured along the way. The compactness, competitiveness, control, concentration, and comprehensive ability to dominate the opposition bowlers enabled the prodigiously talented cricketer to become a world-beater in no time. Indian cricket lovers were not complaining, nor was the global audience, which flocked to the stadiums just to watch the scintillating batsmen slay the bowlers through sheer talent, style, dominance, and pleasing strokeplay. Sachin’s evolution as a complete batsman largely coincided with the emergence of Team India as a group to reckon with.
- The early 1990s were the time when 50-over cricket witnessed revolutionary changes to the way the batsmen adopted explosive methods to up the scoring rates. The first fifteen overs with field restrictions allowed the batsmen the freedom to take aerial routes. Sachin was rightly considered one of the few batsmen who completely altered the way opening batsmen went about tearing apart the bowling in the 50-over format back then. There was something special in Sachin’s repertoire that made him stand way above his contemporaries. Call it sheer class, impeccable talent, blessings, or providence, Sachin exuded an out-of-this-world demeanor on the field of cricket that instantly endeared him to millions of fans around the cricket-playing nations.
PC: PTI
- And when his bat started dishing out hundreds with unbelievable regularity, the nation watched breathlessly, asking for more of that astounding batsmanship. The unsatiated nation erupted with joy whenever Sachin scored and felt utterly dejected when the batsmen failed. It did not matter whether Team India lost the contest, but Sachin’s rare failure with the bat made us feel extremely bad. Those millions who experienced the hollow feeling when Sachin failed to deliver will vouch for it. The maestro has turned 50 years old, a remarkable personal milestone, but knowing his penchant for scoring hundreds, all of us would fervently hope and wish him to reach yet another hundred in real life too. Stay healthy and blessed, Little Master!
