It is hard to believe that Sachin Tendulkar, forever the icon of the common man, shaper of fortune, entertainer and charmer, has turned 50. Then again, when you consider the fact that his son is a first-class cricketer himself who recently made his IPL debut, 50 doesn’t sound too incredible.
Even for a generation of Indian cricket fans inspired by the exploits of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli, the name ‘Tendulkar’ is bound to trigger strong emotions. For followers of the erstwhile old-fashioned world that lived and breathed from the time Tendulkar made his international debut as the face of a 16-year-old kid, those nine letters were more than a name. Tendulkar was a spirit, the boy wonder through whom we lived our lives in turn, who carried forward the hopes and aspirations and dreams of millions and did so with panache, humility, unwavering steadiness and always with his feet firmly on the ground. hinged on
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The legend of Tendulkar the batsman is too well documented to bear detailed repetition. He made a name for himself in school cricket along with his great friend Vinod Kambli, declaring his credentials in first-class cricket with centuries in the Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Irani Trophy, as well as limited overs. Deodhar Trophy, and broke down in tears when he was not selected for the Caribbean tour in early 1989, when he was 15. He had what it took to deny the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Ian Bishop, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.
By November of that year, his credentials could not be ignored, and thus he was on a flight to Pakistan to coach the likes of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, a young Waqar Yunus and Abdul Qadir, among others. . Pakistan was taken aback; They were concerned for the little boy against their mean fast bowlers, they were concerned for his physical health. Within a month and a half, they joined the rest of the world in rising to salute the teenager’s skill and spirit.
In the one-day exhibition, Tendulkar brought down Qadir’s clever leg-spin with some of the biggest sixes of the time. In the Fourth Test at Sialkot, after his face was hit and bleeding by Waqar, he angrily waved to the physio and scored a mature 57. Tendulkar left Indian shores as a boy; By the time he returned, he had transformed into a man well on his way to becoming Superman, though it was impossible not to think of him as anything more than a young boy with his pouty face to go along with Makes a hoarse voice.
While Tendulkar earned the respect and admiration of the cricketing world with his exploits in Pakistan, back in India, he became a demi-god, a status he continued to hold throughout the 24 years of his international career and beyond. The virtuoso came and went; Azharuddin and Vengsarkar made way for Dravid and Ganguly, Sehwag and Laxman, who were then joined by Dhoni and Kohli, but it was Tendulkar who captured the nation’s attention and enjoyed his undeniable admiration until he Did not hang himself. Shoes in November 2013.
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His lucrative cricketing journey overlapped with an exciting phase of opening up of the Indian economy, in which liberalization exposed Indians to things they had only heard about in the past. From a sporting point of view, the major influx was live television, which further embellished the legend of Tendulkar.
Long before Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, the other little big man from Mumbai, carried the Indian batting on his broad shoulders for more than a decade and a half. Since scoring 774 runs in four Tests in the Caribbean in 1971, Gavaskar became a remarkable figure, the one Indian wicket every opponent craved. Buoyed by the expectations of a country that was just beginning to establish itself on the cricketing map, Gavaskar went past Sir Don Bradman’s mark of 29 Test centuries and then became the first man to score 10,000 Test runs. .
Most of his heroes were heard rather than seen; In Tendulkar’s case, whether he was bashing the big Australian team in Perth or demolishing Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock in Cape Town, the live pictures filled our living rooms and made us live our dream. Tendulkar became a beacon of hope, a rallying point for all Indians everywhere in the world. No cause was lost so long as he was in the middle, no problem insurmountable so long as he wielded his heavy willow like a scimitar. When Tendulkar reached a milestone, India celebrated with enthusiasm; When that failed, a wave of despair swept the country. With all due respect to the country’s many other champion sportsmen, no icon has influenced the mood of the nation as widely and powerfully as Tendulkar.
Through it all, Tendulkar remained effortlessly dependable. His talent was unique, of course, but it was the way he carried himself that boggled the mind. He had the world at his feet, had celebrities and commoners eating out of his hand, but he wore his greatness lightly, inspired by values from his scholarly father and a solid, simple middle-class upbringing that He wore proudly and without. Settlement. History is replete with examples of extraordinary struggle to get hold of fame and money and immense popularity. Tendulkar stood out as a shining example of decency (none of it a liar), his respect for the game and his gratitude for the wishes and enthusiasm of his fans, both loving and enduring.
The chants of ‘Sa-chin Sachin’ accompanied him to the crease and lifted him to great heights, as he acknowledged during his tearful, teary-eyed farewell speech on his last day as a Test cricketer at the Wankhede Stadium. What is generally understood to be after all the festivities were over, he walked to the center of the field and hobbled down the 22-yard line. What an extraordinary champion!
Cricket has been as integral a part of the Tendulkar personality as Tendulkar has been of the sporting landscape. As he brings up another half-century, he might just put his feet up and let himself slip into the role of a proud father, carrying the weight of an illustrious surname while watching Arjun go about his business. More than once translated a billion dreams into reality.
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