Sir Sachin Tendulkar 4

[ajaybaskar]

LM,

Not sure if u r aware of this.. Russel Radhakrishnan, in an interview, said that whenever Sachin goes for gymming, he takes the discman (no ipods then) with him and that too with only one album always. LAGAAN.

[ajithfederer]

Sachin Tendulkar has reason to wonder what's going on
Vaibhav Purandare, Hindustan Times
March 15, 2011

There seems to be a huge gap in the quality of cricket that Sachin Tendulkar is playing in the 2011 World Cup, and many of his team-mates are. And the gap is just as enormous in terms of thinking and approach. This was never as starkly evident as in the match against South Africa in Nagpur. <
P>Tendulkar batted against Steyn and Co. at what, in terms of fineness and brilliance, can be called the highest level possible on the global stage; some others came up with the kind of performance that would scarcely qualify as befitting a team competing for the sport's most prestigious trophy.

In the process of pulverising the South African attack, he hit his favourite straight drive with the elbow held high, the feet neatly placed and the body beautifully balanced, pivoted on the back foot and played the hook to perfection, smacked the ball once through the covers off Morkel at a speed his friend Schumacher would be proud of, hit powerfully and effectively in the air in the manner of the destructive Sachin of the 1990s, and outwitted one bowler who, having bowled a dot ball to him which was fielded at mid-wicket, bowled the next one at the same spot, by just slightly changing the angle of the bat and sending it through the gaps for four.

His command over the proceedings was complete, and his mind, ever responsive to the needs of the situation. He ran his singles quickly and gave Virender Sehwag a lot of strike when the Delhi hitter was at his destructive best, and took on the role of aggressor when Gautam Gambhir needed some time to get into his rhythm. Always, he batted along with his batting partner, not in competition with him. And, much as he toyed with the bowling, he did not for a moment breach the principles of sensible cricket. There was no blind hitting, no reckless aggression; the knock of 111 off 101 balls was full of purpose and focus, intended to take the match away from the opposition.

It did indeed take the team to an unassailable position: 267 for 1, with more than 10 overs to go. If India had got no more than just one run per ball from there on, the total would have been in excess of 330. If they had taken singles off most deliveries and hit at least some of them for 2s, 3s and boundaries, the total would have been in excess of 350.

So all the batsmen had to do was to play out the remaining overs. Which they couldn't. Casual cricket quickly wiped out a world-class effort.

The most intriguing response to the harakiri was Dhoni's. At the end of the match, he alleged that the batsmen had been trying to please the crowds. He was at the other end when this shoddy display was under way. Did he say anything to them in the middle? It is not clear. Also, after the major batsmen got out, Dhoni could have taken it upon himself to attack and to play out at least 4 balls every over. Instead, he kept getting the singles, and the batsmen at the other end attacked. What, really, was going on?

When Tendulkar was at the crease with Sehwag, and especially with Gambhir, the conversation between them was continual without being disruptive. What happened to the communication levels with the skipper in the middle?

In the field, again, Tendulkar's efforts surpassed those of younger members of the team. His intensity was fierce; he dived to save singles, ran and threw in briskly; and once, he picked up the ball at third-man and threw swiftly in one easy, uninterrupted action to prevent what would have been an easy two runs.

The Indian wicket-keeper struggled to effect stumpings; one fielder at mid-wicket, and another in the deep, dropped regular catches, and the fielding and throwing left a lot to be desired, so much so that almost every time, the SA batsmen could run one for the throw. The captaincy, of course, was thoroughly unimaginative.

Tendulkar has got two hundreds in the tournament so far, against two major teams in the group; both have been nullified by poor team effort, though he batted nearly 40 overs in each of the games. Even against Ireland, he batted with responsibility after Sehwag and Gambhir got out early, and had he not strung a partnership with Virat Kohli before being caught plumb by teenager George Dockrell - who was born after Sachin had played his first World Cup in 1992 - the game could, perhaps, have ended differently. In any case, India made the chase hard for itself after he had got out.

'After Tendulkar, the deluge' has become a reality once again for Indian cricket, in this tournament. And batting, apparently, is India's greatest (and, at the moment, only) strength.

This is not quite the way Tendulkar would have liked to be on the cusp of a hundred hundreds in international cricket. He would be disturbed.

(Vaibhav Purandare is the author of Sachin Tendulkar: A Definitive Biography, published in India and the UK. As a schoolboy, in 1987-88, he watched helplessly as Tendulkar and his partner-in-amassing-runs, Vinod Kambli, got a world record 664-run partnership against his school, St Xavier's, Mumbai. He is currently senior associate editor, Hindustan Times, Mumbai

http://www.hindustantimes.com/specia...10-673770.aspx

HT writes pretty good on Tendulkar atleast better than TOI, The Sandhu etc....

[SoftSword]

agree to each and every word of the above article..

[SoftSword]

LM,

Not sure if u r aware of this.. Russel Radhakrishnan, in an interview, said that whenever Sachin goes for gymming, he takes the discman (no ipods then) with him and that too with only one album always. LAGAAN.

no wonder.

to both the legends.

[SoftSword]

Harsha Bhogle on Sachin Tendulkar...On a serious note

by Swapnil Anil Bhurat

Remember when you failed an examination. How many people recall that, your class, friends, relatives? You failed to make it to the IITs or IIMs. Who remembers. How many times have you had the feeling of being the best in your class, school , university, state….., you failed to get a visa stamped this quarter…, you missed a promotion this year…, how did it feel when you dad told you in your early twenties that you are good for nothing…..and now your boss tell you the same...

You keep introspecting and go into a shell when people most of whom don’t matter a dime in your life criticize you, back bite you, make fun of you. You are left sad and shattered and you cry when your own kin scoffs at you. You say I am feeling low today. It takes a lot from us to come out of these everyday situations and move on. A lot??? really?

Now here’s a man standing on the third man boundary in the last over of a world cup match. The bowler just has to bowl sensibly to win this game. What the man at the boundary sees is 4 rank bad bowls bowled without any sense of focus, planning or regret. India loses, yet again in those circumstances when he has done just about everything right.
He does not cry. Does not show any emotion. Just keeps his head down and leaves the field. He has seen these failures for 22 years now. And not just his class, relatives, friends but the whole world has seen these failures. We are too immature to even imagine what goes on in that mind and heart of his. That’s why I would never want to be Sachin.

True, he has single handedly lifted to moods of this entire nation umpteen number of times. He has been an inspiration to rise above our mediocrity. Nobody who has ever lifted the willow even comes close to this man’s genius. His dedication and metal strength is unparallel. This is specially for those people who would have made fun of him again last night when India lost. They are people who are mediocre in their own lives. Who just scoff at others to create cheap fun. Who have lived in a small hole throughout their lives and thought they have seen the oceans.

Think about the man himself. He is 37 years of age. He has been playing almost non stop for 22 years. The way he was running and diving around the field last night would have put 22 year olds to shame. The way he played the best opening quickies in the world was breathtaking. He just keeps getting better which is by the way humanly impossible. Its not for nothing that people call him GOD.
But still I don’t want to be in those shoes. We struggle in keeping our monotonous lives straight, lives which affect a limited number of people. Imagine what would be the magnitude of the inner struggle for him, pain both mental and physical, tears that have frozen with time, knees and ankles and every other joint in the body that is either bandaged or needs to be attended to every night, eyes that don’t sleep before a big game, bats that have scored 99 international tons and still see expectations from a billion people.

Well I think its time that his team realizes that enough is enough. They have an obligation, not towards their country alone but towards sachin. They need to win this one for him. Stay assured that he himself will still deliver and leave no stone unturned to make sure India wins this cup.
This is not just a game, and he is not just a sportsman. Its much more than this. Words fail here...

[Plum]

I don't like this do it for Sachin thingie. It is as if Yuvi-Raina-Pathan are better than Rahul-Lax-Ganguly and this team is the best chance for a world cup for Sachin.
Sachin has played alongside better batsmen and incredibly, better bowlers. Few months back, this team wqas said emphatically as the best Sachin ever played with and therefore will win the cup for him.
But even if they win now, it is clear they need a lot of things to go theor way. This team isn't much better than previous ones irrespective of results they achieve.
In a way, it will be a honour for Sachin for the story of his life to play out again. He was too good for his team - and he still is. It would be a tragedy if india wins now and people claim this team is worthy of sachin - as if the team that had rahul, kumble, srinath er al was less worthy of Sachin

[Plum]

From elsewhere:

Would like to add an anecdote here...At Chepauk, against England, it was a very hot afternoon and Strauss and Collingwood were just blocking away to death. The post lunch session had just started.
All the people in the D Stand (Squatting Stand, which directly faces the sun in the afternoon) some 1000-2000 of them, moved up in the stand so that they come into the limited shade the roof offered. Then Sachin came to that boundary as a result of a feld change..THE Entire Stand came pouring down to grab the fence just to be near him facing the 38 degree Sun directlly.. Then Strauss takes a single and Sachin moves back to the infield, The entire crowd moves back up...
This happened for one entire session...
India is normally crazy about Cricket..but with Sachin, The craziness is something that can only be experienced and despite my meagre efforts cant be described with mere words

[ajithfederer]

Plum is this from guardian??

[ajithfederer]

[Plum]

Plum is this from guardian??

Yes, yes. It is.