Sachin Tendulkar - The day you retire, what will I do !

I know I shouldn’t be zeroing on a particular man, when the whole team played well to win the Commonwealth Bank series. But I admit I am unashamedly biased towards Sachin Tendulkar. There is no dearth of articles, analyses, panegyrics on Sachin, as every other Indian is the most ardent follower of his. So, I won’t paraphrase the obvious here. But I would just like to show my gratitude to the man who has shaped my wide-eyed dreams as no one else.

A child doesn’t know anything other than the distilled purism of this world. For me, cricket happened to be that joy which pervaded me before my dreams came and carried me into the hallowed world of cricket. I still remember the World Cup in 1992 when I woke up in the wee hours and ran to other homes to watch the matches. Rubbing my eyes, I used to seamlessly land up on the field through the television set and soak in all I could. There played a man - a short-stature genius – who had defied his age to brush his shoulders against the best. India had a very poor World Cup then. But my fascination with cricket and him was sown.

Cricket moved on, and so did my adoration. Running from the school as soon as it ended to know the scores, dashing to other homes to watch through the window whenever there was a power cut, visualizing how the next match will shape up in India’s win – these were some of the daily happenings of this awed child. Cricket percolated inside me in such a way that a distinct only-to-be-felt joy started relating to that.

My viewing career peaked and so did Sachin. He moved on to become the most premier batsman in the Indian setup. The defining moment came in 1996 World Cup when he carried the aspirations of the whole country with him. Each shot of his then drew oomphs of awe from us. My most vivid remembrance of his magnificence remains his innings of 90 against Australia in Mumbai in the league matches. The whole aura was electrifying; people perched on their seats with all their hopes of life resting on the gladiator fighting in the midst. India lost that match, but the whole set-up symbolized India of nineties that no other match, according to me, has done. I came to know later that that innings remains the favourite of many of the connoisseurs. That amazing was it!

Since then cricket and Sachin have moved forward synonymously tied to each other. And I have followed them like a religious saint. The winning touch came to Indian team after the ascendancy of Ganguly as the captain. Good professional players came who were/are more dedicated and yearning than the previous ones. As a result, the team started winning more often in this decade, and now under Dhoni’s captaincy, it looks well set to go all the distance. Sachin remains the overseeing Providence of the whole caravan.

Soon he will retire. It has to happen sooner than later. He will bequeath his cricket-bred country to the posterity. Probably India will win more. Also probably a better player will come. But never again will India watch cricket with those childlike misty eyes carrying hordes of dream, whenever a certain player walks on the turf with those small godly steps.