The day finally had to arrive and after November 18, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will not step onto the field as a player again. I still don't know what I truly feel about that given that he has been a fixture in the Indian team for almost the entire 25 year span that I have followed the game for. At least the fact that he has chosen to retire in phases (one format at a time) has meant that I (and I'm sure many other cricket fans) have had the chance to wean ourselves off the "SRT habit" slowly. There's so much to write about this little man and so many ways in which he shone but for me three things stand out.
First, there's the impact he had on Indian society at large (cricket fans or otherwise). In a country that's often needed reasons to hope and celebrate given the bleak episodes that otherwise abound, Tendulkar has been a source of unadulterated joy and strong inspiration for more than two decades. For a people that are easily disillusioned and prone to cynicism, he has been the exception. In fact its almost fair to say that hardcore followers of the game in India often judged him much more harshly than the rest of the populace for whom he could no wrong. Other than cricketers, politicians and film stars are the only segments of society that command mass attention in India and arguably Tendulkar shone far brighter than anyone from those professions simply by dint of how good he made people feel. No other cricketer (or sportsperson) has managed this degree of public impact on this scale and for this reason alone, I think Tendulkar commands a special farewell. Rohit Brijnath's suggestion of a medal in his honour seems fitting.
Tendulkar was also possibly the only Indian cricketer (Kapil Dev might be the one other) to be universally admired by players, media, and fans from outside India. His ability to command a standing ovation no matter where he played is unique not just for Indian cricketers, but possibly behind only Bradman and Sobers through the history of the game. And those two greats didn't play at nearly as many venues as the Indian master and certainly not in a period when so many things competed for the public's attention. I've had the privilege of watching several matches where the little man has played and from Lord's to Chepauk, the crowd always stands as one when he enters and exits. If there were a metric to measure reels of newsprint (and web pages) per player, Tendulkar would be right at the top. And through all of this, you'd have to search with the finest toothed comb ever to find anyone who had anything even close to negative to say about him as a person. Except a few people like Mukul Kesavan who forever seem to be on the lookout for a “bash-Sachin” opportunity. More on that in a separate post though.
Finally, there is his batting. He has to be the finest mixture of technique, fluency, toughness, and domination that certainly India has ever had but even on the world stage, he is probably behind only Bradman and Sobers again. At least that’s my biased view. And the other remarkable thing that puts him ahead of his contemporaries is the fact that he dominated both Test match cricket and the ODI format. Home and away. For nearly 24 years, with barely a few blips. There's always so much talk and debate about whether he's the greatest modern batsman or whether Lara or Ponting deserve that accolade. To me the fact that Tendulkar averages more than 2+ runs per innings in both Tests and ODIs when compared to Lara and Ponting settles that debate. In fact, the only one who comes close to the Indian master (and actually has even higher averages over a very long period) is Kallis and the only thing that gives Tendulkar the edge is the fact that he's done this for about a half dozen years longer and in ODIs, he's played a much larger number of match-winning knocks.
His numbers of course and all of the special, memorable innings (and some bowling spells) are riveting too but they warrant a separate post. In due time. First there's the little matter of watching as much of his final two Tests as possible :-)
First, there's the impact he had on Indian society at large (cricket fans or otherwise). In a country that's often needed reasons to hope and celebrate given the bleak episodes that otherwise abound, Tendulkar has been a source of unadulterated joy and strong inspiration for more than two decades. For a people that are easily disillusioned and prone to cynicism, he has been the exception. In fact its almost fair to say that hardcore followers of the game in India often judged him much more harshly than the rest of the populace for whom he could no wrong. Other than cricketers, politicians and film stars are the only segments of society that command mass attention in India and arguably Tendulkar shone far brighter than anyone from those professions simply by dint of how good he made people feel. No other cricketer (or sportsperson) has managed this degree of public impact on this scale and for this reason alone, I think Tendulkar commands a special farewell. Rohit Brijnath's suggestion of a medal in his honour seems fitting.
Tendulkar was also possibly the only Indian cricketer (Kapil Dev might be the one other) to be universally admired by players, media, and fans from outside India. His ability to command a standing ovation no matter where he played is unique not just for Indian cricketers, but possibly behind only Bradman and Sobers through the history of the game. And those two greats didn't play at nearly as many venues as the Indian master and certainly not in a period when so many things competed for the public's attention. I've had the privilege of watching several matches where the little man has played and from Lord's to Chepauk, the crowd always stands as one when he enters and exits. If there were a metric to measure reels of newsprint (and web pages) per player, Tendulkar would be right at the top. And through all of this, you'd have to search with the finest toothed comb ever to find anyone who had anything even close to negative to say about him as a person. Except a few people like Mukul Kesavan who forever seem to be on the lookout for a “bash-Sachin” opportunity. More on that in a separate post though.
Finally, there is his batting. He has to be the finest mixture of technique, fluency, toughness, and domination that certainly India has ever had but even on the world stage, he is probably behind only Bradman and Sobers again. At least that’s my biased view. And the other remarkable thing that puts him ahead of his contemporaries is the fact that he dominated both Test match cricket and the ODI format. Home and away. For nearly 24 years, with barely a few blips. There's always so much talk and debate about whether he's the greatest modern batsman or whether Lara or Ponting deserve that accolade. To me the fact that Tendulkar averages more than 2+ runs per innings in both Tests and ODIs when compared to Lara and Ponting settles that debate. In fact, the only one who comes close to the Indian master (and actually has even higher averages over a very long period) is Kallis and the only thing that gives Tendulkar the edge is the fact that he's done this for about a half dozen years longer and in ODIs, he's played a much larger number of match-winning knocks.
His numbers of course and all of the special, memorable innings (and some bowling spells) are riveting too but they warrant a separate post. In due time. First there's the little matter of watching as much of his final two Tests as possible :-)
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