Cricket: I am not a Sachin fan anymore

After the big day, December 23, when the master called it quits, there were an array of articles afloat, making waves in the net, enthralling the readers, taking them back to their school days, reminiscing the days when the master ruled the roost; when the master dismantled a range of a bowling attacks, salvaging the pride of Indian cricket which was at stake after the dark clouds of match fixing loomed. The articles were voluminous, voracious, captivating, yet what every writer missed was life after Tendulkar. For an average Indian, for whom attachment is the fulcrum on which love revolves, detachment and moving on would be the most uphill task ever.

Harsha Bhogle wrote – Sachin was a good habit. Yet, he didn’t write about how bemoaning it would be to miss him. He still would be clad in whites, yet the colors have gone off his life – both on and off the field. The colors have faded for us too, the 90s kids, for whom Tendulkar was the holy grail in ODIs. I am a 90s kid, I grew up watching a plethora of ODI games, and often, the protagonist remained the same. The protagonist, a hero for every household, a hero for all walks of life, a hero for every strata of the society, a hero for all age groups and pretty much the only hero for us, the most ardent Sachin fans and the most awful cricket fans. Yes, I am the most abominable cricket fan. It doesn’t take an expert to point this out. In retrospect, most of us who hail him as the God know how miserable we were as cricket fans. Contradicting Harsha, Sachin wasn’t a great habit for some of us, the myopic master fans. A few bad habits were:

- When Tendulkar was on the crease, I care less about the team score and have my eyes set on Sachin’s score. As soon as he got out, the televisions were shut or the Cricinfo tabs were callously closed in a jiffy.

- In one of the most horrible confessions, I shy to say, in Test matches where Tendulkar bats at No.4, there have been instances when I have prayed for the early dismissals of two batsmen, which would invite the master onto the crease.

- As a continuation of the previous point, even if the scorecard read 28/5, our spirits din’t dampen if the master was not out. On the other hand, if the scorecard even read 280/1 and Sachin was gone, we remained unnerved.

- An Indian victory not engineered by the master wouldn’t give me even half the joy I get in a Tendulkar century. The team took the backseat and the driver’s seat was meant for the master.

- A last ball single by the master would sprinkle drops of pleasure and a last ball single by the batsman at the other end would call for some remorseless swearing.

- Any batsman who even came close to the master’s records or made hay in the master’s era, such as Ponting, Kallis, etc, were always undermined and despised despite their greatness. Hence I held myself back from a farewell article for Ponting or even the Wall in your own backyard, Rahul Dravid. The guilt of not penning a farewell article for Dravid or not appreciating his adroit batting skills continues to choke me till this very moment.

- On the 6th of January, 2013, when India took on Pakistan in the final match of the bilateral series, ESPN, which din’t telecast the India match, and more importantly was telecasting a Ranji game, experienced an unusually whopping viewer-ship. This was thanks to my fellow Sachin fans, as we were watching the ton Tendulkar notched up against Baroda in the Ranji game. With my eyes moistening for every boundary the master scored, I turned oblivious to the India-Pakistan game on Star Cricket, not even switching channels during the commercial breaks.

The above bad habits are just a few which spring to my mind when I pen this down, as the others are too remote to remember or carried forward. I do have company on this front, and there are thousands who fell prey to such mad fanfare. Hence, life after Sachin isn’t going to be easy. Moving on is going to be torturous.

Even though my hands tremble while typing this, there is a respite for us in the master’s retirement. We seek solace in the fact that cricket would come to the fore, the sport that made up our childhood, the sport that would make our fatherhood. Part of my new year resolutions was that I would follow cricket with more ebullience this year, especially ODIs. It is high time the nation comes above individuals. An individual can never make a sport for the sport to stand the test of time. It is time the bad habits are rectified. It is time the onus is on cricket. It is time the sport gets matured and sensible viewers. It is time I move on from Sachin. I’ve come of age and it is I time I’m freed from the clutches of being the clichéd Sachin fan, my childhood friend, a great friend indeed.

I am not a Sachin fan anymore.