Sachin- the king of Cricket

Sachin, the name needs no introduction in India and in other cricketing world.  He scaled many heights, surpassed many records, created many new records, broke his own records many a time, still he is not tired even after more than two decades of  long cricketing career. I am not exaggerating, if I say that Sachin is the God to whom the cricket is a religion. 

Born on 24 April 1973 in Bombay, he was named after Mr(1973-04-24). Sachin Dev Burman, a favourite music director of his father, Mr. Ramesh Tendulkar.

Tendulkar began his cricketing career under the guidance of his coach and mentor, Ramakant Achrekar. He intended to become a fast bowler and attended MRF Pace Foundation to get trained as fast bowler but Dennis Lillee (the foundation chief and Australian fast bowler) suggested him to focus on batting instead. We would have missed a greatest batsman, if he chooses to become a bowler.

He was selected for the tour of Pakistan at the age of 16 yrs., after just only one first class season. Tendulkar scored his first test century playing against England during the year 1990 taking 17 innings for the fete. He scored his first ODI century against Australia at Colombo (Sri Lanka) taking 79 ODIs to score hundred.  Tendulkar got out 23 times between 90 and 100.  Considering the above the adage slow and study wins the race, aptly suits to Sachin.

He became the first ever batsman to score 50 test centuries when he scored 111 against South Africa a few days ago.  He is just 4 centuries away to complete the same fete in ODIs also.  He is the first ever batsman to score a double century in a One Day International match.  Many firsts of this kind are in Sachin’s account.  But, his journey is not exceptional to leaps and bounds of life.  But his commitment, his passion for cricket saved from succumbing to these adversaries.

There were many criticisms when Sachin was passing through a bad phase. However, Sachin never tried to respond to such criticisms; instead his bat answered and quelled these criticisms away every time.  He is a perfect gentleman and never been into any controversies. 

The class mixed with aggression batting style of Sachin mesmerizes each and every cricket lover and even his critiques.  One should have more than two eyes to enjoy when Sachin hits a picture-perfect straight drive.  He is also known for his unique punch style of hitting the ball over square. Even at the age of 37, he is very good at running between the wickets better than his youngest colleagues. 

The most spectacular thing with him is that he has the capacity to bowl medium pace, leg spin and off spin.  He is often being used to break the partnerships, though he is not regular bowler. He is the ninth highest wicket taker for India in ODIs. 

The biggest criticism against him is that whatever his records may be, his contributions could not bring a world cup title to India.  Despite the fact that cricket is a team game the expectations on Sachin Tendulkar are going high for the ODI world Cup.  However best he may be and however tall his records may be, they become useless, if he failed to contribute for the success of India in the world cup. 

Sachin is the undisputed king of the Test Cricket.  At the same time, I can’t confine him to one format of Cricket.  The number of runs he scored in other formats of cricket tells us that he is the king of all formats of cricket.