Sachin Tendulkar: Fare thee well!

So, finally Sachin Tendulkar has announced his retirement from the IPL. Honestly, it is a very difficult task for any of his fans to assign the title to an article, where you are bidding farewell to a man who has been ruling your senses for the last 24 years. A highly loved human being who has filled your life with thrilling and evergreen memories, which have been imprinted, rather engraved all around your mind, heart and soul.

It was there on the cards for quite some time now. Every fan of the game is going to miss seeing him play - be it his splendid batting, marvellous fielding, occasional handy bowling, or more importantly his guidance to youngsters. His useful advice to all a newcomers, be it bowler or batsman or future leaders, especially in the need of the hour, has been remarkable. I do recall a very old incident, that after the end of a day’s play in one of the test matches, an upcoming Sri Lankan bowler was thrilled while sharing the fact that master blaster Sachin Tendulkar had rendered a selfless professional advice to him, for adding edge to his bowling as well as suggesting improvisations in his bowling action. This is the visible difference between Sachin and other “champions” of the game.

Now, over to the timing he chose for quitting the game. I believe that Sachin might have had a thorough consideration after having a word with his family and obtaining advice from friends. Many of the devotees strongly feel that the long pending decision of his retirement was also delayed due to the fact that perhaps he was honouring the expectations & desires of millions of fans, media, sponsors and the BCCI. After all, we all wished to see him play forever. While rewinding the memories, just imagine his amazing debut at the tender age of 16. His face showed total innocence and he was childlike, bravely facing England’s stalwarts of the era (often he was surrounded by 6 intimidating fielders). But as soon as Sachin started playing with total confidence, even the commentators were quite impressed by the way he made his entry & marked his futuristic presence by playing technically solid cricket.

From that day onwards, he has never looked back. Media had found a hero & from then onwards, he has delighted everybody with his classic style of cricket & has delivered on most of the occasions.

So much has already been written about his cricketing skills, but I wish to say that he should be remembered as a true gentleman cricketer. We salute the master for the immense pleasure he has been providing one and all throughout. Hopefully we can honour him for his tremendous contribution to the game by rightfully conferring the Bharat Ratna he deserves. We cannot wait for the time he takes over as the coach of the Indian team, so that all his fans can see him again on the stadiums. After all, millions watch the game only to see him bat!