5 Reasons to Remember Tendulkar

And so it has finally happened, Sachin Tendulkar is actually going to retire.

It was nice of the BCCI to rig a nice friendly home series against the cuddly West Indies instead of having to enjoy his farewell cake against the demonic Dale Steyn, a series of ducks does not make an ideal farewell.

But in truth, this man does deserve to go out in any way he wishes.  In terms of the great things he has achieved you can number crunch all day and talk about the smashed batting records, but there is much more to Sachin Tendulkar and these are the things he should really be remembered for:

1. Surviving This Long
Maybe he should have retired already, but nonetheless to still be playing is truly something to behold. The man is 40 years old and debuted at 16, a 24 year old career which began in 1989 before most current players even worked out how to hold a bat.

Tendulkar 1994 © msn.com

Indian U-19 Team 1994

The young often promise a lot and fizzle out (Irfan Pathan) while others get fat and fizzle out (Sehwag), cricketing is a physically and mentally demanding sport. For Tendulkar to keep delivering for this long is a feat that only FedEx can match.

2. Being The One Man Team
Once upon a time India didn't have a team, they had a bunch of guys who turned up to play every now and then and casually fell apart any other day except when playing Pakistan. There was nobody around to help around and they were led by the corruption king Azharuddin. It was Sachin or nothing.

He soldiered on despite having no support from team mates and administration alike and having the weight of a billion fans expecting miracles every game. No cricketer in history has had that much weight on their shoulders, and he survived.

3. Being the First to 200
We live in a crazy world where 434 has been gunned down and Chris Gayle nearly hit a double century in a T20 slog.  But we mustn't forget that the first man to 200 in an ODI was in fact Sachin, yes I know I wouldn't talk about records but I think its significant that it was an old-school cricketer that broke the barrier before anyone else.

And this was despite Dhoni's best efforts to steal all the strike and leave him stranded! Yes that really happened, the Indian crowds booed while he kept rotating the strike back to himself.  Since then though Sehwag has also done it and many others will. Dhawan and Kohli are making 350 look easy and an average joe like Rohit Sharma is the latest to join the 200 club.  Even Dhoni is beginning to question all the extra help the modern day batsman gets, and by george he's got a point.

4. Winning the World Cup
Many will recall my good friend Dhoni being the 'star' of the 2011 World Cup victory, when in reality apart from that World Cup final knock (where he was outscored anyway) he did basically nothing but manage bowling changes and handle the press.

After a whopping six attempts at it, Tendulkar finally got there. In most World Cups he was immense (lets just forget about 2007) and in 2011 he made centuries against England and South Africa and crucial fifties in the quarter and semi finals. These two matches were much closer than many might care to remember, only he and Yuvraj had a clue against Australia and only him alone in that bizarre slop of a match against Pakistan.

5. Being A True Sportsman
The closest thing Tendulkar ever got to showing dissent was at the famous Bucknor flop in Brisbane 2003, and even then it was a brief look of astonishment before tucking his bat under the wing and walking off quietly.

That was him, no fuss, no back chat, the only thing that ever talked was that swishing blade of his. Its fair to say that he is the most respected opponent bowlers ever faced, even the potty mouthed Glenn McGrath generally had nothing to say to him directly.



Sachin Tendulkar is the last member of the class of the 2000s that rose India from shame to glory, they were the gentlemen Indian cricketers of the yesteryear and they will be missed. It is a shame that a group of talented but arrogant brats are replacing them.

Tendulkar the cricketer will always be remembered, but Tendulkar the sportsman should be remembered even more fondly.

The Rahul Dravid Tribute

Rahul Dravid, a player Indian cricket has so much to thank for. Equipped with a textbook technique and defence-first strategy, he truly was a rare breed coming from India, a nation that prides on trigger happy flamboyance. They called him The Wall, but I preferred to remember him as The Backbone.

His Test Match Legacy
India's overseas record in the nineties was a joke. Out of 39 test matches outside of Indian borders in the 1990s India won one test match, one single match in a full decade and that too in the sub-continent facing Sri Lanka. They were nothing short of flat track bullies who were ritually reduced to rubble when away from their comfortable dead wickets.

The resurgence of the 2000's largely came through a quintet of batsmen, however those other four would not have been enough alone. India needed Rahul Dravid.

Deliverance. © Getty 

His polished technique, unflappable temperament and unbreakable determination is what first got India on the cricketing map as a real threat, particularly overseas. Whether it was against McGrath or Murali, whether in Peshawar or Perth, he proved himself as the most important piece of the puzzle that pushed them to an eventual number one ranking.


The Cruel Limited Overs Fate
As an ODI player he was sorely misunderstood. Idiotic selections and favouritism ensured he missed a good fifty games for his country and didn't even play a single match in 2008 and in 2010. 'Too slow' they would say, and they would banish him in favour of hot shots who couldn't hold a candle on a bowling wicket. He was cautious at worst and he never cost India a match because of a poor strike rate, this was nothing but a myth.

For a period he was also unfairly given the wicket-keeping duties when they never belonged to him, and fought through a turbulent cyclone as captain fuelled by the egos of Ganguly and Greg Chappell. If that was not enough, he was cruelly denied the chance to be part of the 2011 World Cup victory, despite 12 centuries, over 10,000 runs and more rescue acts than Michael Bevan. A crying shame for he deserved far better, and yet he still managed to carry himself through it all with grace.



The 5 Best Test Performances:

1. Scored the most runs in England 2002 when India first started competing overseas.
2. He was there with Laxman during the Eden Gardens miracle with an equally important 180. No Dravid, no partnership, and the series would have been lost.
3. His 233 and 72 double in Adelaide 2003 gave India their first real success in Australia, and an honourable drawn series.
4. His 207 in Pakistan 2004 sealed a first ever series victory there.
5. Was the only Indian batsman to make runs in the embarrassing 2011 England tour.

The 5 Most Memorable ODI Performances:

1. Amongst the Sehwag carnage played a classy 99 only to be denied a century by Shoaib Akhtar.
2. Smashed 50 off 22 balls against New Zealand to prove that he too can play the slog game.
3. Top scored when eliminated by Sri Lanka in a horrendous 2007 World Cup.
4. A hard fought 76 was the only fight India had when eliminated by Pakistan in the Champions Trophy in 2009. He fell tragically to cramps and a run out. 
5. Bowed out with style in 2011, with a typically solid innings of 69 against England.

That was just a sampler of the number of times Dravid was left last man standing among a crumpling heap of Indian batsman. He earns many compliments from critics and opponents alike, however he will never experience the blind worship and respect Tendulkar and Dhoni get back in his home country.

Perhaps for the better? India needed a better class of hero, and Dravid answered the call and delivered for more than fifteen years. A career and an individual that every Indian should be proud of.



Goodbye Rahul Dravid, and thanks.

The Vettori Tragedy

It was 1997 when a certain Daniel Vettori first turned up, a spectacled baby-faced cross between Harry Potter and Goldilocks known only for his ability as a left arm tweaker. He batted at number eleven on debut behind Geoff Allot, who is the owner of test crickets longest duck. Few would have expected great feats from the man.

Nobody eats my porridge  © Action Photographics

Fast forward fourteen years and the mighty achievement list stands as follows:

• Most wickets
• Most experienced
• The only bowler the Australians choose not to attack
• Successor to Stephen Fleming as captain
• Three time world cup semi-finalist (out of four)
• Champions trophy finalist
• Stand-in coach
• National co-selector
• Best batsman

Thats right, best batsman. Epitomized brilliantly by his recently dogged, lone ranger innings of 96, which would have given him the most centuries for any current New Zealand batsman. Unlike the Taylor's and Ryder's who may have better batting averages, they did not face the supreme pressure that Vettori faced at usually 6 wickets down for not many. They did not have to bowl all day. And most importantly, they have far more natural batting ability.

Vettori does not possess a crunchy Tendulkar cover drive, or the easy swivel and pull of Ponting. What Vettori brings to the table is more common sense than the rest of his team combined, a knack for finding gaps and scoring quickly, and absolute discipline and control of his shot selection. Anything that is not in his zone is dead batted or ignored, there is almost so such thing as a loose shot. If you are going to remove him, you need to damn well bowl a ripper.

Its not even worth counting the instances when Vettori was left standing amongst a collapsed heap of junk. The tragedies that he had to endure over the years is almost Shakespearean.

Why do I bother getting up  © Getty Images

Perhaps the most telling story of all, he was near hopeless at the batting crease for the first six years of his career. You always hear of batsman tailing away and losing that natural timing and hand-eye, how often do you hear of a batsman continuously improving?

The numbers simply do not lie:

Span	Mat	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
97-02	44	64	878	90	16.25	44.59	0	4	11	102	2
03-11	63	100	3446	140	40.06	62.98	6	19	7	422	15

Somewhere in 2003 Vettori must have got struck by lightning, with a bolt of inspiration everything improved. All of his centuries came after 2003 along with 19 of his 23 fifties, his strike rate shot up to a healthy 62 and his average, the supposed benchmark statistic, more than doubled. Anything near 40 marks a genuine batsman. 

So hats off to The Daniel, long may you continue to forge runs in a team hardly deserving of your skill, wit and determination.