Sachin Tendulkar - The ultimate servant

I woke up shocked to hear the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar from ODI cricket. I blinked at least a dozen times to see if it really was true. Sachin Tendulkar has been a tireless servant for the past 23 years. I personally felt he deserved an honourable retirement, or you could say ‘retiring on a high’. Quite often, cricketers are not lucky enough to retire as they wish to, and Tendulkar also met the same fate. Due to his consistent failures in Test cricket, Tendulkar simply had to take a tough decision. One would have to say he got pressurized by the media and the cricket pundits calling for his head. When people pass remarks like “why let the team down by hanging on” and “don’t be selfish”, he had no other way out.

Looking into Tendulkar‘s career over the years, one could see he was just a humble and trustworthy servant for the Indian team. Now the Indian cricket team boasts of players like Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Raina, Sharma etc. but in the late 90s and in the early 2000s, we didn’t have any of them. That is where the importance of Tendulkar should be emphasized. At those times, people used to say if Tendulkar departs, it’s end of the game and people used to switch the tv sets off or leave the grounds, and even I’m not different. When Tendulkar came on to bat in every match, the weight of expectations on him was too much from the fans – almost like he had to score in almost every match. Sachin Tendulkar is all about passion, commitment, motivation, temperament, humility and all this backed up by talent. I can look at those qualities and say that he is a true genius.

Here is a list of the 49 ODI hundreds Sachin scored in his illustrious career:

1. 110 Vs Australia, Colombo (RPS), 9 Sep 1994 2. 115 Vs New Zealand, Vadodara, 28 Oct 19943. 105 Vs West Indies, Jaipur, 11 Nov 1994 4. 112* Vs Sri Lanka, Sharjah, 9 Apr 1995 5. 127* Vs Kenya, Cuttack, 18 Feb 19966. 137 Vs Sri Lanka, Delhi, 2 Mar 19967. 100 Vs Pakistan, Singapore, 5 Apr 1996 8. 118 Vs Pakistan, Sharjah, 15 Apr 19969. 110 Vs Sri Lanka, Colombo (RPS), 28 Aug 1996 10. 114 Vs South Africa, Mumbai, 14 Dec 199611. 104 Vs Zimbabwe, Benoni, 9 Feb 199712. 117 Vs New Zealand, Bangalore, 14 May 199713. 100 Vs Australia, Kanpur, 7 Apr 1998 14. 143 Vs Australia, Sharjah, 22 Apr 199815. 134 Vs Australia, Sharjah, 24 Apr 1998 16. 100* Vs Kenya, Kolkata, 31 May 199817. 128 Vs Sri Lanka, Colombo (RPS), 7 Jul 199818. 127* Vs Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, 26 Sep 199819. 141 Vs Australia, Dhaka, 28 Oct 1998 20. 118* Vs Zimbabwe, Sharjah, 8 Nov 199821. 124* Vs Zimbabwe, Sharjah, 13 Nov 199822. 140* Vs Kenya, Bristol, 23 May 1999 23. 120 Vs Sri Lanka, Colombo (SSC), 29 Aug 199924. 186* Vs New Zealand, Hyderabad, 8 Nov 1999 25. 122 Vs South Africa, Vadodara, 17 Mar 200026. 101 Vs Sri Lanka, Sharjah, 20 Oct 2000 27. 146 Vs Zimbabwe, Jodhpur, 8 Dec 200028. 139 Vs Australia, Indore, 31 Mar 200129. 122* Vs West Indies, Harare, 4 Jul 200130. 101 Vs South Africa, Johannesburg, 5 Oct 2001 31. 146 Vs Kenya, Paarl, 24 Oct 2001 32. 105* Vs England, Chester-le-Street, 4 Jul 200233. 113 Vs Sri Lanka, Bristol, 11 Jul 2002 34. 152 Vs Namibia, Pietermaritzburg, 23 Feb 200335. 100 Vs Australia, Gwalior, 26 Oct 200336. 102 Vs New Zealand, Hyderabad, 15 Nov 200337. 141 Vs Pakistan, Rawalpindi, 16 Mar 2004 38. 123 Vs Pakistan, Ahmedabad, 12 Apr 200539. 100 Vs Pakistan, Peshawar, 6 Feb 2006 40. 141* Vs West Indies, Kuala Lumpur, 14 Sep 200641. 100* Vs West Indies, Vadodara, 31 Jan 200742. 117* Vs Australia, Sydney, 2 Mar 200843. 163* Vs New Zealand, Christchurch, 8 Mar 2009 44. 138 Vs Sri Lanka, Colombo (RPS), 14 Sep 200945. 175 Vs Australia, Hyderabad, 5 Nov 200946. 200* Vs South Africa, Gwalior, 24 Feb 201047. 120 Vs England, Bangalore, 27 Feb 201148. 111 Vs South Africa, Nagpur, 12 Mar 201149. 114 Vs Bangladesh, Dhaka, 16 Mar 2012

Sachin Tendulkar, it has truly been an honor to watch you bat and play for India; not just for the die-hard Sachinists, but also for neutral fans like me. I will surely miss those elegant flicks on the on-side, the upper cuts and those straight drives that shows the manufacturers logo. But no one is immortal, and nothing exists for ever. Wishing you good luck with the Test team.When you have announced retirement from ODI cricket, it simply means you are on a mission to revamp the Test team and make it No.1 once again. Thank you God for making me watch this living legend grace us for over these 23 years and who continues to in the Test team. Bidding adieu to the best ODI Cricketer in this era!