Sachin Tendulkar: The transition of a fan from the 1996 World Cup to 2011

One man stood at the front of the recovery – Sachin Tendulkar. Top score in the next match against Zimbabwe, the now memorable Andrew Caddick six over mid wicket, a brilliant partnership against Sri Lanka along with Virendar Sehwag and the best of the lot – the innings against Pakistan on 1 March 2003 (in my opinion, the best ODI innings ever played considering the stage and enormous pressure on him, surprisingly critics say he can’t deliver under pressure). Another brilliant innings against surprise semi-finalists Kenya and we were into the finals. This time, a stage better than 1996. Surely, this was to be our year.

India won the toss, and Ganguly, asked Australia to bat, hoping to take advantage of a pitch left damp by dew and rain. The Indian pace attack had been a revelation in the tournament with Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra proving to be a lethal combination. But the demolition job in the final was completely unexpected. The first over went for 15 runs with the now famous Zaheer stare and the ball had gone for a boundary of a wide. Needless to say, it went downhill and into the doldrums for us after that. With a target of 359, we were never really in the contest, and when Sachin was gone trying an ugly pull cum heave down mid-wicket the fan cried again. In most sports, the team what wins the cup also tends to have the player of the tournament – Zinedine Zidane in 1998, Ronaldo in 2002, Kobe Bryant for the Lakers – and here it was the 2^nd time in 8 years that didn’t happen. The player some regarded as the best ever to have graced the sport still had not touched the holy grail.

The World Cup, at long last!

To the present- 2011:

Virat Kohli: “This goes out to all the people of India. This is my first world cup; I can’t ask for more. Tendulkar has carried the burden of nation for 21 years; It was time we carried him. Chak de India!”

Tendulkar: “Couldn’t have asked for anything more than this. Winning the world cup is the proudest moment of my life. Thanks to my team-mates. Without them, nothing would have happened. I couldn’t control my tears of joy. Thanks to the support staff. Thanks to Mike Horn, who has helped with the expectations and pressure. The team stuck together in the rough phases and proved people wrong who doubted our ability. Self belief has been always there but in the last two years, we have been very consistent. It’s been great honour to be part of this team. Thanks to Gary and Paddy Upton.”

Zaheer: “I can’t explain this feeling. It’s for this special man (Tendulkar).”

Yuvraj: “It was for Tendulkar. We did it!”

There were tears again but this time it was out of joy.

If only Azhar had decided to bat first as any captain winning the toss at Eden Gardens would have done, if only Zaheer has decided to concentrate on line and length instead of glaring at Hayden, maybe there would have been two more trophies in a certain house in Mumbai. Maybe we would never need to debate whether Sachin is indeed a match winner. Maybe he would have been left in peace much earlier.

The fan’s heart still aches and weeps at what was so near yet so far.