Sunday 15th November 2009
Saluting the legend of an epic hour
espnstar.com's Ayanjit Sen takes a look at Sachin Tendulkar as he rounds up a glorious 20 years in international cricket.
You get an exceptional player at the age of 16. You get a player who can last for 20 years and always has a hunger for runs. You can get a player who takes the attack to the opposition. You get a batsman who plays a range of strokes meticulously. You get a player who is always an asset to any team he plays for.
But you do not get all of these together. Unless, you know a player called Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - one of the best players cricket has ever produced.
Did you know an odd fact that it took 78 one-day internationals for the Master Blaster to score a century? But since then, he has scored 44 centuries and has been an epitome of success. A kind of searing noise ripples across the stadium when the crowd greets a hundred by Sachin.
Watch MS Dhoni and Ricky Ponting's comments after Sachin crossed the 17,000 run mark in ODIs
The 36-year-old has reached the zenith of his cricket career but still has that hunger for runs. His stupendous 175 in the recent one-day series against Australia proved just that.
His deft touches coupled with raw power, temperament, mental and instinctive skills are truly unmatched in the cricket world today.
It has been a long journey for Sachin. His unbeaten 664-run stand with Vinod Kambli in the Lord Harris Shield Inter-School match in Mumbai in 1998 was the first time he shared space in the sports pages of national newspapers.
Images of Sachin Tendulkar
And, then he never looked back.
Even when he was left with a bleeding nose by a Waqar Younis bouncer,he did not wince and that showed the grit and determination that 16-year-old Tendulkar possessed.
He scored his first Test century at Old Trafford in 1990 against England and then ripped apart the bowlers on the 1990 tour of Australia.
Since then, he has poundered bowlers of all Test playing nations to score over 12,000 runs in 156 Test matches and over 17,000 runs in 436 one-day internationals. Leave apart the fact that he had, on many occasions, played his part as a slow bowler.
Be it Test cricket, one-day cricket or Twenty20, he has always excelled.
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He is often compared with the likes of Don Bradman, Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards but he is in an entirely different league. He has combined all qualities deftly that are required to make a batsman like him.
Even when he is miles away from home playing in another continent, he is omnipresent in all the coaching camps that have come up in many Indian cities and towns. He is a God to these cricketers who are dreaming to reach that pinnacle of glory.
He has had his testing time when his form dipped and when he had been hit with injuries. But he chose to let his willow respond.
The greatness that lies with Sachin Tendulkar is unparalled. The 5 feet 5 inch player has great many qualities. One being self-belief that no barometer can register. His technique, wisdom, humility, temperament - all confluence in a river of greatness.
And, for all youngsters, he is an icon off the field too. Despite being the most famous personality in the country, the way he carries himself is what stands out in this glory-hungry nation.
The legend of Tendulkar, must be saluted as much for his humilty as it is for his runs.
Today, he has climbed Mount Everest in terms of runs, records and years.
He fits perfectly in poet Chesterton's phrase - The legend of an epic hour. Long may he reign!
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