24.04.2010
By Chayan Rastogi
His fans calls him ‘Superman'. His opponents call him the ‘Run-machine' and his peers call him ‘God'; such is the stature and such is the charisma of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, the 'wonder' of Indian cricket.
Though he has been around for more than 20 years in international cricket and will turn 37 today, but the continuous flow of runs from his bat even today shows that he is perhaps, untouched by age. With almost all the significant batting records in his name, Sachin Tendulkar is the most worshipped cricketer in the world.
From scoring the highest number of runs in Test cricket and ODIs to the most number of centuries in both these formats, Sachin seems to be on a mission in this IPL to prove his metal in the T20 format too. A format which was considered to be only suited for young and fresh legs; the ‘Orange cap' holder has even amazed his critics (if any) with sheer brilliance of his bat.
Unfazed by tight fast bowling at the start or pressure bowling in the middle overs, Tendulkar has always managed to pace his innings brilliantly, often studded with quick running and picking boundaries at will.
The excellent form of Sachin Tendulkar in this IPL has been the major factor of the winning script of Mumbai and with his team out-performing all their competitors; the victorious run redeems Sachin's reputation in leadership. With crafty field placements and good bowling changes, SRT has knocked-off his critics who say that he is not a ‘captain material'.
As a captain he has been an inspiration and one thing he has laid the focus on is to provide oodles of self-belief to the young players of his team. Always refusing to acknowledge the question that team Mumbai heavily depends on him, Tendulkar has shown full confidence in all his players.
He has always played a great role in shaping youngsters of India for years and it was for providing quality international exposure to the Indian future prospects, he deliberately sent players like Sourabh Tiwari and Ambati Rayudu ahead of players like JP Duminy, Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard.
Such is the aura and the respect Tendulkar holds among his teammates, it looks every player wants to do his best to get his appreciation and a little pat on their back!
No words can define Tendulkar's greatness and contribution to the game and remember the demand of awarding him ‘Bharat Ratna' is still doing rounds.
