Uproot the criticism

I

In a country where cricket is a national obsession, he has been elevated to a status of divinity. Undoubtedly, he has taken the interest of cricket to hitherto unknown heights. He single-handedly energized the game of cricket in India. He has set a benchmark for the generations to follow. People have derived countless hours of happiness watching him play. Nobody knows better than him do carrying the weight of expectations of a billion and Indians for which no testimony is required. To describe Tendulkar in one word, we would surely run out of adjectives.

For a player of his charisma, now-a-days a popular call on the internet forums these days, and among former cricketers, seems to be for a certain Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar to hang up his boots, at least from the shorter format. Tendulkar has faced similar challenges in the past and has managed to let his bat do the talking. He himself says that he hardly heeds criticism. Criticism is fine but constructively without leaving away the truths. These critics are only going to motivate him to comeback stronger. He will surely come back strongly and silence his critics for the umpteenth time.

Tendulkar follower base consists of both fanatics and critics. The point to be noted however is that there is no clear demarcation as to where fan-ism ends and fanaticism begins, similar in the case where genuine criticism ends and harsh criticism begins because of the most redundant thing – perspective. Tendulkar hardly had adolescence before he was shouldering the expectations of billions of fans, when most of these critics were trying to date their school sweethearts. This gentleman was busy in setting high standards in the game of cricket, which was wrongly conceived, to critics as numbers game.

Over the past two decades, the cricketing world has been used to Sachin Tendulkar looking up to the heavens in gratitude after completing yet another hundred. Somehow, that was missed for the past 1-year or so. You can articulate anything with statistics but one thing is always true – Cricket is a sport, which is both interesting and annoying when you look through statistics spectacles. He failed to score hundreds, but he is not out of his touch, which even an average cricket lover can easily comprehend. It feels pity on all ignorant cricket lovers who do not have a proper understanding of the game. I wonder how experts got into his head and claimed that the 100th ton is troubling little master. Even if he gets out in 30s, 40s, critics cite his 100th ton as cause and effect for that. For a man carrying hundreds of world records, does it matters lot? Surely not; it is just one more landmark in his career. This will be broken into shackles one day for sure.

Critics were talking about Sachin’s retirement for a long time and now these people have gone insane and are asking for Sachin to be dropped. Many are thinking he is past his prime. He might seem old with age pounding on his back but he still has that passion for the game, hunger for the runs. His technique still being at it’s best, helps him counter any delivery with ease and comfort, giving the impression of having all the time in the world to play the stroke – the hallmark of the greatest of batsmen. It is not the riches or the records but the love for the game that keeps the world’s richest cricketer going day after day.

For a man who has dedicated more than half of his life to the sport, he would certainly know when it is time to call it quits, better than any other person. Either these self-proclaimed critics with a microphone in their hands are out of their mind or are unable to accept that a man can achieve something so superhuman. It is foolishness rather than criticism. It is sheer madness rather than intelligence. If people still believe Sachin should be dropped, let them present the replacement too. Is there someone who is parallel to him? No, and we are sure never in near future we will find a parallel. Someone may remotely match his cricketing skills, but sure, they will never come any closer to Sachin as a person. How many times we have seen the young players getting into controversies in the recent past, from showing middle fingers to slapping teammates and to insulting other teammates in the press conferences. They have talent but nobody has the skills of Sachin to last long for well over two decades as an idol of perfect player on the field and as one of the best human beings off the field.

Lastly, I would like to ask the critics to keep their views on his retirement to themselves. Moreover, the day Sachin retires from the ODIs, cricket will definitely lose a part of its glory in India. It will never be the same again for the millions of fans who don’t even blink their eyes when Sachin is playing. Let us hope the day is a long way down.

The famous BBC sport quote will perfectly sum up this article in one line, “Beneath the helmet, under that truly unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don’t know, something beyond scientific measure”.