Nov 5th, 2009 shall remain in our minds forever.. But what about Nov 5, 1989 ???
That was the first time Sachin got selected into the Indian team that toured Pakistan...
What a long wait it was though to witness this 100 from his bat !! For many it was a reminiscent of Sharjah 1997-98 Coca Cola cup against the Aussies..
He was 27 then, and India had 2 targets in the match - 1 for victory and 1 to ensure that India are through to the finals.. 285 for a win and 254 for reaching finals, it was revised to 276 and 237 after a dust storm.. Considering the then playing conditions, 280 was on par with the current 330s.. At 4-138 the hopes sunk, but this man thought otherwise.. He plundered the Aussie attack and scored a mammoth 143 at more than run a ball to secure India's place in the finals.. He walked after edging a delivery down the leg side..
In the finals, chasing 272 for a win, all hopes wrested on Sachin as he scored 134 off 131 balls to ensure a win.. The point is getting to 272 was considered a winning total, and to chase it down happened not so often those days..Warne had gone for 61-0 in his 10 overs..
Yesterday, we got to see Sachin at his attacking best after 1998 Sharjah cup.. Ironically, this was against the Aussies too.. A magnificent innings, a description of which by mere adjectives and superlatives do not do justice to the knock..
How great was the knock and how big was the heart break !!
He cannot cry now at the defeat, he is old enough.. But cry he did, when he scored a 100 against Pakistan in Chennai only in vain.. Chasing 271 for a win, Sachin who had got out for a duck in the 1st innings played with a sore back.. On reaching 254-6, Sachin went down to a floater from Saqlain and gave a catch to mid on.. India, you wouldn't believe, got out for 258..
" I think Joshi told me he[Sachin] went down the wicket and told him its gone too long now,let me finish this match.
So it was flotter from Saqlain,He came down the track and wanted to hit over the top of long on.
I came down the dressing room,I think its fair for me to say,he[Sachin] was weaping like a school boy,I kept on telling him why are you taking the whole blame yourself,by then we lost the match.You made impossible possible by playing this great inning.He[Sachin] said no sir,I have lost this match.
We were in the podium,I think very few time you gets man of the match on the loosing side,he got the man of the match on the loosing side.From the podium I signal to Anshuman Gaekwad the coach of the Indian team and asked him where is he[Sachin], because I knew he was Man of the match. Gaekwad said he not coming because he is crying.
I think thats what commitment is all about." -- Late, Mr. Raj Singh Dungarpur..
This would have been a bigger heartbreak for him, chasing 350 isn't easy.. India had posted 354 in Nagpur, and we all know how the Aussies crumbled under pressure and there was no significant partnerships handing India a 99 run victory which could have been worse had we taken the last wicket cheaply..
The 2nd story that unveiled itself was in Hyderabad, this time Aussies had scored 350.. Belter of a wicket, Sachin was edgy at the start.. His feet weren't moving.. He slowly got to 17000 runs.. 6(14) balls.. A four and a no-ball to follow.. A free hit that was sliced for 4 behind point.. From there on, it was as if saying I want to hit this through cover and I hit it.. Sublime innings..
Years since we saw him coming down the wicket to a spinner and hoisting him straight for a six.. He hit 3 like that..
A flick coming down the wicket to Voges that went for 4 through mid wicket.. An inside out shot through cover, a flick of McKay's slower ball, stand and deliver- cover drive that went whistling past the fielders, a short arm jab that split short third man and backward point of Hussey, a shot through where 2nd slip would have been came right of the middle of the bat...
Do we remember that Ian Chappel had called for his retirement in 2008 as Sachin was according to him playing only for records ? He had in his article to cric-info had claimed that Sachin is NOT THE BEST ODI batsman, Ponting has easily overtaken him and that Ponting has played better in many pressure situations and the finals too which Sachin apparently did not do off late and that since he was well past his prime he must retire gracefully..
Before anybody else makes a decision on what will happen to Tendulkar the player himself has to have a good long look into the mirror and decide what he's trying to achieve in the game. At the moment he looks like a player trying to eke out a career; build on a glittering array of statistics. If he really is playing for that reason and not to help win as many matches as he can for India then he is wasting his time and should retire immediately.Read the complete article here:
Now, shouldn't we ask him to look into a mirror and answer the question 'If he is writing such blogs to get more user comments and thus say he is popular and eke out a career in blogging as an expert analyst' . If so, he must retire immediately..
What do u say ??
2 comments:
Exactly .. Sachin is indeed the most committed and best batsman world has ever produced. His modestly and hunger for the game can never be equalled by anyone.
About that chappell's blog -- he always was a cynical person. Never understands a joke, never understands humour and his humour is never understood by his listeners or readers .. He is obsessed with ponting and australia.
But one thing is certain .. ponting might not be as good a batsman as the great Sachin ... but he sure is the best fielder among the present cricketers .. 2nd best all over( after jonty ) .
Sadly, people who don't understand cricket criticise tendulkar for scoring centuries in losing cause ( ian "headlong" chappell ). They seem to forget he has indeed a record of having scored maximum centuries in finals (6) which no other batsmen have done. And india have won those all those 6 finals ..
He is a person creating records and not a person who is after them. AS yuvi rightly puts it. "this guy keeps creating one record or another and you can't plan celebrations for them"( something like this ). Well done sachin ..
exactly, i hv never seen him run after records.. infact we have denied a 200 when dravid declared wen he was on 194*.. bad umpiring decisions hv denied him atleast 10 more centuries..
He even holds the record for maximum 90s (17) and max 99s (3)..
Chappel has called JP the next big thing in world cricket, lets see where his prophecy goes..
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