A Tribute to my Greatest Hero

I was nearing my 7th birthday, when I became familiar with the phenomenon called Sachin Tendulkar and his impact on Indian cricket. It was 18th February 1996. India were playing against Kenya in their first match in the 1996 Wills World Cup. Sachin Tendulkar starred with the bat as he scored a magnificent unbeaten century to help India dismantle Kenya without much ado and since then, like millions of his fanatic lovers, I have become an ardent fan, soaking in every moment of joy that Sachin has brought us as a nation. Sachin Tendulkar is synonymous to cricket as Pele is to football, Babe Ruth to baseball, Muhammad Ali to boxing and Michael Phelps to Swimming.

Today will mark the start of the farewell of the greatest living cricketer and the best batsman ever to play cricket. When the second Test between India and West Indies begins at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium at 9:30 am, Sachin will embark on the last leg of a 24 year old journey that began at the age of 16 in a Test match at Karachi in 1989 when he debuted as a wunderkind. For the one last time, the world will see him wield his willow at the stadium where it all began in 1988, when Sachin made his first class debut with a century for Bombay against Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy.

After this match, there will be no switching off the television when he gets out. There will be no more standing ovations that stretches from the time Sachin walks into the ground to the time he readies himself to face the bowler. Sections of crowds at grounds won’t take turns in going ‘Sachin, Sachin’.

The common Indian expression "Cricket is my religion, and Sachin is my god" can never once be doubted as he carried his country’s sporting fortunes with dignity and grace. He has majestically carried the burden of aspirations of 1.2 billion people for 24 years. And putting gloss to his god-like status is his demeanor and character; he is the picture-perfect hero without any whims of a superstar and without any controversies. Sachin’s deification is also testament to the fact that despite being a big nation, India is a sporting Lilliput. Every Olympic brings forth the fact about India’s inability to compete with other large nations- India’s haul of six medals but barring any gold medal from London Olympics in 2012, was its best medals tally ever.

For much of the 1990s, he was the lone wolf of Indian cricket, his exploits on the cricket pitch were solo efforts: he was world-class, the team around him less so. The whole team revolved around him and his contribution was utmost essential for every Indian victory.

Sachin is the leading run-scorer in the history of Tests, with 15,847 runs in his 199 matches, He is also the leading run-scorer in the history of one-day internationals, with 18,246 runs in an extraordinary 463 ODIs. He has 100 international centuries in all. Surely no-one will ever come close to that record. People always tend to suggest that there can be no one better than Sir Donald Bradman, but just by taking one look at Sachin’s record and the amount of pressure with which he played every match will stop even the sternest of the critics to claim with certainty if Bradman was greater.

The world has seen so many great athletes in the last 20 years; the breathtaking skills of Lionel Messi, the sheer genius of Tiger Woods, the effortless stroke plays of Roger Federer, the exploits of Michael Phelps in the swimming pool and the unbeatable Usain Bolt destroying every record in 100m and 200m but for me Sachin Tendulkar is the world’s greatest athlete of the last 20 years.

No one can succeed Sachin, of that there are no two opinions. No one can replace him – not as an opener in the One-Day International batting line-up, not at No. 4 in the Test, not in the hearts of the people, not in the impact he makes on his teammates, on the opposition, on the fans at the ground, on the millions of viewers across the globe.

They say form is temporary and class is permanent, and as long as he has a cricket bat in his hand he will always be a class act.
So, as the time nears for us to bid farewell to the game’s greatest and grandest, it is normal that his departure from the middle will cause sadness. No doubt we will miss the class of Sachin, the experience of Sachin, just the sheer presence of Sachin. But we must recognize what he has achieved and cherish the fact that we are lucky enough to witness one of the greatest sportsmen of all time.

Good bye, Little Master.