Ouch. Today is the date. Everyone knew this day would come. No one knew when, or, they just did not want to know. The inevitable end was announced today.
It is an emotional day for all his fans, wherever they are. An emptiness settles in all of our hearts and a slight panic tickles in our stomach, similar to the final few moments of our farewell day at college. A lot of people took up the bat, ball or gloves after watching him bat. But, before that, a whole lot more people took up the remote in their hands and never let it go. The religion existed for more than a century, but the God gave it the boost (pun unintended).
My memory of watching cricket is punctuated with one or more of his acts. A catch that he took running backwards and fell on his head, in WC 1992 match is still vividly on my minds. That was the conversation in the school that morning before the classes started and that is how I still remember it. The tragedy of 96 WC Semis, 99 WC century after his fathers' death, 99 Chennai Test loss to Pak, 2003 Pak match, 2003 WC final loss and a few others in the last decade.
Over the period of these 24 years, our ways of following cricket has changed a lot. Generation of the 80s used to get earfuls for spending the whole day watching a pointless ODI day match. I wonder if anyone does that these days, without moving for 7 hours. We catch an over on the tv, another on the mobile, and catch up with the scores and comm at the end of the day. We have vicariously spent so much time with and on Sachin as we have spent with our friends or families. The match is only a part of the show, the real conversations start after that. Hours and hours of debate how he should have played, how he should have fielded, how he should have bowled, how he should have caught, how he should have captained. Probably, the only thing we didn't tell him was, how to live.
Before Sachin, cricket was only a pastime. It was considered taboo for someone to say 'I want to be a cricketer'. 'Mattaya vechuttu padikkara vazhiya paaruda', haven't all of us heard that before our evening cricket sessions. Now, there are more open minded parents who encourage their wards to pursue their interests in sports. To say Sachin has played a part in it, will not be an exaggeration.
Certain things that we do doesn't involve much thinking, we just do it that way because we have been doing it that way for a long time. On opening an Indian team test scorecard, the eyes unknowingly settle on the 4th batsman's score. It will take time to make that change, digest this reality. But think about this, on the day of his retirement, a dressing room that is full of players who grew up watching him on TV in their childhood, what a great honor. I wonder if any sportsperson has played a sport long enough to be honored in such a fashion.
His longevity and statistical majesty are topics that have been the fodder for 24x7 news channels for a good part of the past decade. Next to chicken or egg first debate, Sachin or Rahul debate would have been the most argued one on earth in any sort of gathering of Indian cricket fans. Good cricketers and even the great ones of the future will be unfairly measured on the Sachin scale, and, the debate will go on.
10/10 for you, 10dulkar!!
It is an emotional day for all his fans, wherever they are. An emptiness settles in all of our hearts and a slight panic tickles in our stomach, similar to the final few moments of our farewell day at college. A lot of people took up the bat, ball or gloves after watching him bat. But, before that, a whole lot more people took up the remote in their hands and never let it go. The religion existed for more than a century, but the God gave it the boost (pun unintended).
My memory of watching cricket is punctuated with one or more of his acts. A catch that he took running backwards and fell on his head, in WC 1992 match is still vividly on my minds. That was the conversation in the school that morning before the classes started and that is how I still remember it. The tragedy of 96 WC Semis, 99 WC century after his fathers' death, 99 Chennai Test loss to Pak, 2003 Pak match, 2003 WC final loss and a few others in the last decade.
Over the period of these 24 years, our ways of following cricket has changed a lot. Generation of the 80s used to get earfuls for spending the whole day watching a pointless ODI day match. I wonder if anyone does that these days, without moving for 7 hours. We catch an over on the tv, another on the mobile, and catch up with the scores and comm at the end of the day. We have vicariously spent so much time with and on Sachin as we have spent with our friends or families. The match is only a part of the show, the real conversations start after that. Hours and hours of debate how he should have played, how he should have fielded, how he should have bowled, how he should have caught, how he should have captained. Probably, the only thing we didn't tell him was, how to live.
Before Sachin, cricket was only a pastime. It was considered taboo for someone to say 'I want to be a cricketer'. 'Mattaya vechuttu padikkara vazhiya paaruda', haven't all of us heard that before our evening cricket sessions. Now, there are more open minded parents who encourage their wards to pursue their interests in sports. To say Sachin has played a part in it, will not be an exaggeration.
Certain things that we do doesn't involve much thinking, we just do it that way because we have been doing it that way for a long time. On opening an Indian team test scorecard, the eyes unknowingly settle on the 4th batsman's score. It will take time to make that change, digest this reality. But think about this, on the day of his retirement, a dressing room that is full of players who grew up watching him on TV in their childhood, what a great honor. I wonder if any sportsperson has played a sport long enough to be honored in such a fashion.
His longevity and statistical majesty are topics that have been the fodder for 24x7 news channels for a good part of the past decade. Next to chicken or egg first debate, Sachin or Rahul debate would have been the most argued one on earth in any sort of gathering of Indian cricket fans. Good cricketers and even the great ones of the future will be unfairly measured on the Sachin scale, and, the debate will go on.
10/10 for you, 10dulkar!!
Very nice, from your heart, although sad for you, reading it put a smile on my face, not a big cricket buff, but I too have watched this giant of a cricketer, a lot.
ReplyDeletethanks Abi...
ReplyDelete10/10 - Today is the date
ReplyDeletehad he not retired in 2013, maybe I wouldnt have blogged at all!! so, in that way, 10/10 is special.
ReplyDelete