As any kid growing up during the 90s in India, I was always fascinated by cricket from my early years and literally worshipped a man named Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Tendulkar was more than a hero, he was someone who rewrote history books and changed the way cricket was played, watched and broadcast in this country. As the legend grew, so did the madness.
Apart from driving bowlers and captains all over the world insane, the people of India were growing crazy over a 20-something boy.
However, in the last six years, I have been absolutely indifferent towards cricket. Whatever little cricket I have seen it is only because of professional commitments. But during the peak of my passion for cricket, I have spent hours and hours arguing about anyone who dared to criticize him.
When Tendulkar announced yesterday that he would be retiring after his 200th Test match, my first reaction was: another milestone clocked. It’s hard to imagine and understand the kind of pressure the man has to deal with over the years.
Ordinary people could have crumbled under the weight of expectations. For all the idol-worship and God-like status given to him, he is human.
I called my wife yesterday and told her that Tendulkar has retired. Her immediate reply was, “Didn’t he retire much earlier?” Now I don’t blame her as she has zero interest in cricket but it got me wondering how many times has he actually retired in the last few years. In 2007, he retired from T20. Then came the retirement from IPL, then ODI and I am not sure whether he has retired from that farce of a tournament called Champions League T20.
Perhaps I am being harsh, but Tendulkar over the last few years has made a few dents in his legacy. He hasn’t been the man I grew up worshipping – or maybe I grew up so my perspective about him has changed. He has chased records almost unashamedly -- something he denied for years. Hindsight is wonderful but I am pretty sure that his story would be more romantic if he had retired on 99 international hundreds, just after winning the World Cup in 2011.
He has done more than enough for the country to dictate terms but it faintly tarnishes his image when he says he wants to skip an international series for spending time with family but is seen at every meaningless game of CLT20. You do feel a bit strange when a man of Tendulkar’s stature never ever comes out and says anything about the murky world of match-fixing in cricket. He knows he wields the kind of power which can actually make a lot of difference to cricket, forget cricket, to sports in general. But he rarely does. I don’t blame him too much actually for that but you do feel disappointed.
There was something pure about Tendulkar the batsman and the man. You could see how much it meant to him to make a billion people happy. He made sure countless of people went to sleep with a smile on their faces after he had led India to a victory. For that India should and will always be in gratitude towards Tendulkar.
But something changed in the last five years –I will stick to blaming the IPL for everything wrong with cricket – and that pureness went away, the magic faded and things changed. As I said earlier, maybe I grew up and came out of the hero-worship phase, or maybe it was Tendulkar who changed. Still, he gave immense satisfaction, the sheer joy he provided for more than two decades and so many great sporting memories. For all that and much more, thanks Sachin. But I would be lying if I say I will miss you.
Apart from driving bowlers and captains all over the world insane, the people of India were growing crazy over a 20-something boy.
However, in the last six years, I have been absolutely indifferent towards cricket. Whatever little cricket I have seen it is only because of professional commitments. But during the peak of my passion for cricket, I have spent hours and hours arguing about anyone who dared to criticize him.
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To understand where this idol-worship comes from, you have to realize that for my generation there were very few sporting heroes, and Tendulkar towered over one and all. People always said he played for records, centuries and milestones and I always argued that Tendulkar always put the country first. Perhaps it was blind faith, but it was unwavering. You simply couldn’t criticize a man who carried the hopes of a nation alone. That, however, was then.
When Tendulkar announced yesterday that he would be retiring after his 200th Test match, my first reaction was: another milestone clocked. It’s hard to imagine and understand the kind of pressure the man has to deal with over the years.
Ordinary people could have crumbled under the weight of expectations. For all the idol-worship and God-like status given to him, he is human.
I called my wife yesterday and told her that Tendulkar has retired. Her immediate reply was, “Didn’t he retire much earlier?” Now I don’t blame her as she has zero interest in cricket but it got me wondering how many times has he actually retired in the last few years. In 2007, he retired from T20. Then came the retirement from IPL, then ODI and I am not sure whether he has retired from that farce of a tournament called Champions League T20.
Perhaps I am being harsh, but Tendulkar over the last few years has made a few dents in his legacy. He hasn’t been the man I grew up worshipping – or maybe I grew up so my perspective about him has changed. He has chased records almost unashamedly -- something he denied for years. Hindsight is wonderful but I am pretty sure that his story would be more romantic if he had retired on 99 international hundreds, just after winning the World Cup in 2011.
He has done more than enough for the country to dictate terms but it faintly tarnishes his image when he says he wants to skip an international series for spending time with family but is seen at every meaningless game of CLT20. You do feel a bit strange when a man of Tendulkar’s stature never ever comes out and says anything about the murky world of match-fixing in cricket. He knows he wields the kind of power which can actually make a lot of difference to cricket, forget cricket, to sports in general. But he rarely does. I don’t blame him too much actually for that but you do feel disappointed.
There was something pure about Tendulkar the batsman and the man. You could see how much it meant to him to make a billion people happy. He made sure countless of people went to sleep with a smile on their faces after he had led India to a victory. For that India should and will always be in gratitude towards Tendulkar.
But something changed in the last five years –I will stick to blaming the IPL for everything wrong with cricket – and that pureness went away, the magic faded and things changed. As I said earlier, maybe I grew up and came out of the hero-worship phase, or maybe it was Tendulkar who changed. Still, he gave immense satisfaction, the sheer joy he provided for more than two decades and so many great sporting memories. For all that and much more, thanks Sachin. But I would be lying if I say I will miss you.