The only Indian Superhero

The young guns of India were just toddlers. Today’s sporting heroes of the world were hardly in their high schools. A sixteen-year-old had taken guard against the menacing pace trio of Wasim, Waqar and Imran at a green top in Pakistan. A fast swinging Waqar Younis bouncer hit him on the nose. Excruciating pain and heavy bleeding followed, but the little boy stood his ground. The next ball was smacked down the ground past Waqar for four and the on drive that has captivated generations for the last twenty three years was born that day in 1989. Yes, it has been that long.

Much has been the debate about Sachin Tendulkar being the best player in the world, much about him being a match winner and far more about his hundredth century or his retirement plans. This is about celebrating Sachin Tendulkar as an Indian after 23 years of his tireless contribution towards cricket. The way he played with the panache of old against Pakistan after having the monkey off his back and the vintage Sachin image of stepping out and smashing a fast bowler over mid-off for six in the opening IPL game, sends out a warning to the bowlers and cynics alike. The fire is still burning.

Through the struggling Indian team of the early nineties, home dominance of late nineties, the shameful match fixing days, the era of resurgence of Indian cricket and at last the coveted Cup of glory: he has seen it all. Across all crossroads Sachin has been like a beacon, shining through with great honor and dignity. His numbers and statistics are only for critics to analyse. What puts those figures into perspective is the expectation he has carried. The unending burden of performing day in and out, facing criticism in times of calamity and the task of carrying a batting line-up single handedly throughout a decade of mediocre team display, has never seemed to have taken its toll. Even now the passion exists.

Sachin Tendulkar enjoys like a child on the field even after two decades of gruelling action. In return he gets lousy news channels putting up primetime shows to discuss how he should be forced to retire, or how he is not paving the way for youngsters and how his batting average has dipped in one year. Then all the new drama of whether Sachin deserves the Bharat Ratna. If politicians who have done nothing for the country apart from leaving behind a lineage of corrupt leaders who are causing havoc to this day have received the honour for ‘public service’ then Sachin deserves the award thousand times over.

India as a country stood united against the British pre independence. Since then we have been torn apart by communal violence, religious hooliganism and country wide fragmentation time and again. Cricket has been the only uniting force. That is why in spite of the attempts by so many factions to promote Olympic sports, cricket still hogs the major limelight. Well because in a country where people do not have much to cheer about, cricket produces that outlet. Every Indian victory is ours. The sole cricketer who has surpassed all federal boundaries and has been an Indian is Sachin. That trademark straight bat bearing MRF in the earlier days and ADIDAS now has been the image etched in our subconscious forever. The nation comes to a standstill when he bats. His centuries are not his alone. Every man in India derives unmeasured joy from Sachin’s batting. The pride with which we can proclaim that we ‘own’ the world’s best again, the dream that every Indian can dare in whatever sphere of life taking inspiration from him, has been his gift to a success hungry nation for two decades now. This is Sachin’s public service.

No one gave him a chance after his tennis elbow injury. The champion though wrote his own script. Coming back stronger than ever Sachin has scored more than twenty international hundreds in the last four years itself. His average is higher than Ponting or Lara and he has scored more Test centuries away from home than anyone else. The fact that his greatest accomplishments are Down Under and against the best bowling line up in the era stamps his authority as the greatest batsman. More than performance it’s his endurance, never ending urge to keep on playing, honesty and dedication to the game that makes him the true Superhero of Indian Sports.

This dream, this joy , this anticipation and this enigma he has been providing us for twenty three years now. No politician, no noble prize winner, no other sportsman has been able to affect the millions in India for such a long time and in such a staggering way, as he has. So, forget the 100th ton. Forget the fact that he did win a World Cup. Forget about all the cynics out their trying to rob your fun. Sachin Tendulkar is India’s national emblem. Whether it’s a rickshaw puller in Kolkata, a shikara driver in Kashmir, a political pimp in Delhi , an actor in Mumbai or a technocrat in Bangalore, they all unite irrespective of the divides to celebrate a Sachin century. No other single human in the field of sports has ever penetrated the lives at grass root level of rural India the way Sachin has. Bringing glory, pride and happiness to those simple lives for over two decades, Sachin Tendulkar is the glue that sticks together 30 degrees of latitude in the northern hemisphere. Sachin Tendulkar is the reason why one billion hearts beat time and again in resounding unison echoing the resonance of a Nation in celebration. He is God’s gift to India. So for India, for her people, for the world, for all of us who still dream and believe in magic, let him go on and on.