டாக்டராக இருந்தாலும் எனது மனைவியின் கையெழுத்து அழகாக இருக்கும் சென்னை விழாவில் தெண்டுல்கர் ருசிகரம்
சென்னை நுங்கம்பாக்கத்தில் உள்ள நட்சத்திர ஓட்டலில் நேற்று நடந்த அழகான கையெழுத்தை ஊக்கப்படுத்தும் நிகழ்ச்சியில் கலந்து கொண்ட இந்திய கிரிக்கெட் ஜாம்பவான் சச்சின் தெண்டுல்கர், கடந்த காலங்களில் தனது மனைவி மற்றும் குடும்பத்தினருக்கு எழுதிய கடிதங்களை நினைவு கூர்ந்தார். அவர் பேசுகையில், ‘கிரிக்கெட் பந்தை அடித்து ஆடுவது எனக்கு இயல்பான ஒன்றாகும். ஆனால் எனது மனைவி அஞ்சலிக்கு கடிதம் எழுதினால் என்ன எழுதினேன் என்பதை இரண்டு முறைக்கு மேல் சரிபார்ப்பேன். அந்த காலங்களில் செல்போன் கிடையாது. இதனால் ஒருவருக்கு தகவல் அனுப்ப வேண்டும் என்றால் டெலிபோன், அல்லது கடிதம் மூலம் தான் தொடர்பு கொள்ள முடியும். எனக்கு கடிதம் எழுதுவது குறித்து எனது பெற்றோர் சொல்லி கொடுத்தனர். குடும்பத்தை விட்டு வெளியில் தங்கி இருக்கையில் நான் முதலில் எனது பெற்றோருக்கும், பின்னர் என்னுடைய மனைவிக்கும் கடிதம் எழுதினேன். பொதுவாக டாக்டர்களின் கையெழுத்து தெளிவாக இருக்காது. ஆனால் எனது மனைவி டாக்டராக இருந்தாலும் அதற்கு விதிவிலக்கு. அவரது கையெழுத்து அனைவரையும் கவரும் விதத்தில் அழகாக இருக்கும். கிரிக்கெட் வீரர்களில் கும்பிளேவின் கையெழுத்து நன்றாக இருக்கும்’ என்று தெரிவித்தார். கிரிக்கெட் மற்றும் அரசியல் குறித்த கேள்விகளுக்கு தெண்டுல்கர் பதில் அளிக்க மறுத்து விட்டார்.
முன்னதாக சென்னையை அடுத்த பொன்னேரியில் உள்ள அறிவு பூங்காவில் நடந்த நிகழ்ச்சியில் தெண்டுல்கர் கலந்து கொண்டு விளையாட்டு போட்டியில் சாதனை படைத்த வேலம்மாள் தொழில்நுட்ப கல்லூரி மாணவ–மாணவிகளை பாராட்டினார். அத்துடன் ‘டைஸ் 2016’–க்கான பேனரை வெளியிட்டார். விழாவில் தெண்டுல்கர் பேசுகையில், ‘மாணவர்கள் எதிர்காலத்தில் என்னவாக ஆக வேண்டும் என்பதை தீர்மானித்து அதற்காக கடினமாக உழைக்க வேண்டும். இளைய தலைமுறையினர் தங்கள் கனவை நனவாக்க ஒருபோதும் குறுக்கு வழியை நாடக்கூடாது’ என்று அறிவுரை வழங்கினார். வேலம்மாள் கல்வி குழும தலைவர் எம்.வி.முத்துராமலிங்கம், தெண்டுல்கருக்கு சால்வை அணிவித்து வரவேற்றார்.
மும்பை: சச்சினின் முகம், பெயர் மற்றும் கையெழுத்து அடங்கிய 15,921 வெள்ளி நாணயங்கள் வெளியிடப்படுகிறது.
இந்திய அணியின் ‘மாஸ்டர் பேட்ஸ்மேன்’ சச்சின். ‘சதத்தில்’ சதம் அடித்து அசத்திய இவர், கடந்த ஆண்டு அனைத்து வித கிரிக்கெட்டில் இருந்தும் ஓய்வு பெற்றார்.
200 டெஸ்டில் பங்கேற்ற இவர் மொத்தம் 15,921 ரன்கள் எடுத்தார். இதை நினைவுபடுத்தும் வகையில் தனியார் நகைக்கடை ஒன்று நாணயங்கள் வெளியிட (மார்ச் 14) உள்ளது.
இந்த நாணயத்தின் மேற்புறத்தில் சச்சின் பெயர், கீழே 200வது டெஸ்ட், 2013 என எழுதி, நடுவில் இவரது முகம் பதிக்கப்பட்டு இருக்கும். சுவிட்சர்லாந்தில் இருந்து கொண்டு வரப்படவுள்ள இந்த வெள்ளியில் இருந்து தயாரிக்கப்படுகிறது.
ஏற்கனவே 10, 20 கிராம் எடையில் நாணயங்கள் உள்ளதால், இது 200 கிராம் எடையில் விற்பனைக்கு வரும்.
இதேநிறுவனம் கடந்த ஆண்டு தலா 10 கிராம் எடையுள்ள ஒரு லட்சம் சச்சின் தங்க நாணயங்கள் வெளியிட்டது.
I was only 12 when Sachin Tendulkar first represented India and left a nation instantly mesmerised. I remember watching him dance down the track to hit Abdul Qadir for three towering sixes, and must have tried to do the same innumerable times, if only in my imagination. While I was still learning how to stand properly at the crease, Tendulkar was earning standing ovations around the globe; while I was still learning how to use my feet to get to the pitch of the ball, Tendulkar was taking giant strides. The more I played the game, the more I admired him, for it was only through playing that one truly understood the scale of what he was doing.
By the end of the 1990s, it was as if he had ceased to be just a player, and now symbolised excellence. It was around this time that I started nurturing the dream of playing for India myself. And yet playing for India and playing alongside Tendulkar seemed two separate things. Playing for India would mean countless hours of toil, something I was prepared for. But nothing had prepared me for sitting in the dressing-room next to my idol.
I was a bundle of nerves when I walked into the conference hall of Ahmedabad’s plush Taj hotel for my first India team meeting in October 2003. I had attended many team meetings before, but had little idea of how this one would unfold – and even less idea of how I would react to my first encounter with Tendulkar. Fifteen minutes in, I worried our chat wouldn’t go beyond the customary exchange of greetings: words were failing me already.
Our coach, John Wright, divided the team into batsmen and bowlers to discuss the forthcoming Test against New Zealand. I’m glad he did, for that’s when Tendulkar and I were introduced properly. I had played a couple of warm-up games against the tourists, so questions were thrown in my direction about how their bowlers were shaping up. To my utter surprise and pleasure, Tendulkar was the most inquisitive. How was Daryl Tuffey bowling? Had Daniel Vettori bowled his arm-ball? He wanted to know everything.
He had played these bowlers many times – and successfully. What need was there for a batsman of his capability to ask such questions of a rookie like me? But he did. And the reason became clear. He wanted to allow me to break the ice, to interact with him, to know him better. I suspect he realised that, as with most Indian debutants, I was overawed, and that this wasn’t likely to change unless he made a special effort. I can’t thank him enough for the gesture.
A couple of days later, confident from our last interaction, I called his room seeking an audience. Once again, he was happy to oblige. Until then, I’d been to the hotel rooms of many senior and junior cricketers, and had found most of them like any boy’s room, strewn with dirty laundry, shoes, cricket gear, laptop and iPod. Tendulkar’s was different: meticulous and organised, like his batting.
Gods’ idols were on the bedside table, bats neatly arranged in one corner, bed linen without any creases, dirty linen nowhere. He ordered a cup of coffee for us both, and chatted freely, as if we’d known each other for years.
I asked him about his preparation and game plans, and he began to share details. What I saw of Tendulkar in the days that followed left an indelible mark. He was always first to the team bus, because he didn’t like rushing. He would plan most of his innings by making mental notes for the bowlers he was likely to face – a habit that meant he wouldn’t sleep properly for a fortnight before India’s game against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup. It was during our chat that I realised preparation for every battle was as crucial to success at the top as natural ability. Knowing the opposition is important, but so is knowing your own game. Those 40 minutes I spent with him changed the way I looked at Tendulkar – the player and the man – for ever.
We batted first in the Test, and I made 42. As I walked back to the pavilion, the stadium erupted. Almost everyone in the stands was on their feet. So this was what it was like to play for your country! I was disappointed to have missed a fifty, but that feeling evaporated as I soaked up the ovation. The noise continued even after I was seated in the dressing-room – which was when I realised, to my embarrassment, that the applause might not have been for me.
Needless to say, it had been for the man walking out to bat, not the man walking into the pavilion. Only then did I begin to wonder what it must be like to be Sachin Tendulkar, carrying the burden of so many hopes. And yet he behaved with the utmost humility. In that moment, my respect for him rose several notches.
The real measure of the man lay in the fact that even the most senior members of the team showered him with respect. “I want to protect him. Tendulkar must not come out to bat to play a few balls in the fading light against the raging Aussies – he is our best hope to win the game.” Those words, spoken by another great man, Rahul Dravid, to Nayan Mongia during the First Test at Mumbai during the famous 2000-01 series, still ring in my ears. The beauty of the relationship between Tendulkar and the other senior players was their mutual respect; no one behaved like a superstar. All of them encouraged an atmosphere of comfort, in which even a junior could happily pull a prank.
As I spent more time in the dressing-room, I gained a closer look at Tendulkar’s quest for excellence. Every net session had a purpose, leading to a discussion about what he was doing right or wrong. And he was quite happy getting feedback from the newcomers, including me. Each time he asked me something, I would remind him that it should be the other way around. But he would have none of it, constantly prodding me for my view. Sachin would ask me about his stance, head position, backlift and downswing. And it wasn’t just me: he would ask the net bowlers whether they could see him stepping out, or premeditating his strokes. Greatness isn’t just what you know, but what you don’t – and the effort you make to bridge that gap. Tendulkar mastered that art.
His gift was to appear in control. And that was so different from how I, or my colleagues, functioned. He didn’t always need to score a truckload of runs to spread calm. Sometimes, he just needed to do what felt beyond the rest of us, and put bat to ball. Here was a man who not only timed his moves so well that he looked programmed by computer but, with a twirl of the bat, made the ball kiss the sweet spot.
Criticism is inevitable, and so it was for him. If you’ve spent your life in the middle, with every move scanned by the peering eyes of a billion people, you are bound to be judged. But he endured all censure without resentment. It was as if greatness went hand in hand with humility. That may have been the greatest lesson of all.
Sachin didn’t face a single ball in nets during 2003 World Cup: Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar produced a fairytale run in the 2003 World Cup, which, in his own words, included the biggest match of his career, without facing a single ball in the nets, according to former teammate Rahul Dravid, who says the iconic cricketer “defied imagination”.
No cricketer ever has scored more runs than the 673 recorded then by the Indian legend in a single edition of a World Cup. The highlight was the 98-run knock that saw him take on the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar with aplomb.
“It (his preparation) changes from time to time. In the 2003 World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar didn’t bat a single ball in the nets, right through the tournament. He only got throw-downs. He just received hundreds of throw-downs through the whole tournament,” Dravid said.
“All of us were wondering ‘Why is he doing that?’ When I asked him, he said, ‘I’m feeling good. I don’t want to go into the nets and waste the touch. I want to feel good about my batting. If I have that sort of feeling, I will score runs when I go in”.
Calling the Mumbaikar the greatest player he has played with, Dravid said Tendulkar changed the landscape of Indian cricket.
“He’s changed the landscape, both on and off the field, for Indian cricket over the last two decades. It’s almost mindboggling. A whole generation has grown up with Tendulkar. They’ve seen his ups and downs and lived their lives and dreams through his feats. So many people in India want to be a cricketer,” Dravid said while speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s ‘Modern Masters’.
“For the last twenty four years, there’s been a whole generation of people who have had this privilege and opportunity of claiming to say they were there when Tendulkar was the best batsman in the world”.
The former India captain said Tendulkar defied imagination.
“A legend, the greatest player that I’ve played with as a batsman. He’s been a huge inspiration. To see a 16-year old boy do what he did was unbelievable. It defied imagination and was a huge inspiration for me. I felt like if he could do it then I should also try to be a Test cricketer,” Dravid said.
On Tendulkar being accused of selfishness, Dravid said: “I think it’s a little bit unfair. All of us want to score hundreds, all of us want to score runs and the team does benefit when you score runs. When someone’s scored a hundred hundreds, if you start nitpicking and looking at each and every innings, sure you’ll find enough innings to prove your point, but there are also other innings when those hundreds have been critically important to Indian cricket. It’s hard to begrudge someone the desire to score hundreds”.
Dravid said Tendulkar could not lead India to victory on a few occasions in Tests because of a weak bowling attack.
“I still think in ODI cricket he has had quite a few match winning, match defining innings. In one day cricket, even if someone scores 300-350, as a pure batsman you can still control the game. In Test cricket, you have to rely on other people; you have to rely on the bowling attacks. Bowling attacks win you Test matches,” he said.
“Especially through Sachin’s golden period (1998—2002,2003), and especially away from home when he got a lot of runs, maybe we didn’t have the bowling attack to back him up in those games. I can remember, even as recently as Centurion, his last Test hundred was a brilliant Test hundred against Steyn and Morkel. But we couldn’t get South Africa out in the fourth innings. The context of those hundreds changes completely if you have the bowling attack to get people out. If there’s one thing he’d like to better about his numbers, though, it’ll probably be his fourth innings in overseas Test series.”
Dravid felt Tendulkar’s greatest biggest strength has been his temperament.
“For me, Sachin’s greatest strength really is his temperament, his ability to handle the pressures that have surrounded him. He’s been the focus of attention since he was a 16-year old kid. And for so many years to be able to handle all of that and still to be able to perform and not get frustrated by it and not get disillusioned by it shows an incredible mind.”
Speaking about Tendulkar’s technique, Dravid said: “One of the things that has always stood out for me for Sachin has been balance. It’s that ability to judge length and to be in that right position for nearly every ball. It’s very rare that I’ve seen Sachin struggle for any particular ball. His judgment of length was marvellous.”
The much-awaited autobiography of batting icon Sachin Tendulkar will hit the stands on November 6 with a high-profile release of the book in his home city Mumbai.
The book, titled ‘Playing It My Way’, will be published worldwide by Hodder and Stoughton and by Hachette India in the Indian sub-continent.
The book has been co-authored by renowned cricket historian and media personality Boria Majumdar.
“I knew that agreeing to write my story would need me to be completely honest, as that’s the way I have always played the game. It would require talking about a number of aspects I have not shared in public before,” said Tendulkar in a press release issued by the publishers.
“So here I am, at the end of my final innings, having taken that last walk back to the pavilion, ready to recount as many incidents as I can remember since first picking up a cricket bat as a child in Mumbai thirty-five years ago,” Tendulkar added.
“My autobiography will be available on Nov 6th Excited,” Tendulkar tweeted.
The front cover of the book shows Tendulkar raising his bat while walking away from the field one last time after his knock of 74 against the West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium on November 15.
Originally Posted by littlemaster1982
Ganguly-kku Dhoni mela ivvalavu gaanda?
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