E-Paper
The incredible Indian: Sachin Tendulkar
A man who has enormous talent and ability, a man who knows no fear, and has an imprinted vision of greatness, writes Arun Lal.
A man who has enormous talent and ability, a man who knows no fear, and has an imprinted vision of greatness. A man who has been fashioning the resurgence of India and set an example that the youth can follow and inculcate this attitude, which has now pervaded all walks of life -- 'The Incredible Indian'. Leading the way is Sachin Tendulkar.
More than 9,000 runs in Tests and 11,000 ODI runs, with more than 65 international hundreds, stand testimony to an unrivalled consistency spanning over 12 years. He has inspired a whole generation of Indians and has held the team together for such a long time that it has now begun to bear fruit. The team now has self-belief and all the members are actually contributing their bit, which is doing the whole nation proud.
We have got used to seeing Sachin perform endlessly. It is only in the last year or so that his performance had fallen well below the high standards he sets for himself. The last hundred coming against the West Indies at Kolkata in October 2002. Eight Tests since then and only two fifties certainly put a lot of pressure on him. Mind you, he had 1141 runs in 21 ODI's at an average of 57.05 in 2003, which also included the man of the series award in the World Cup.
You can doubt form but not greatness. He has always had to handle pressure of huge expectations. This has been the first time he has had to contend with a series of low scores, which had eaten into his confidence. Sachin had been a bit down but few could say that he was out of form, because he has not been playing and missing; it was just that one mistake, an edge and it's all over.
He also had to contend with some rather ordinary decisions. It's a vicious circle -- some injudicious stroke play, coupled with ill luck dent your confidence.
Add to this, in the past he also had to contend with criticism that he does not perform when it matters most. This was crunch time and it can't get bigger than this. Into this cauldron of pressure walked in Sachin Tendulkar. Tentative, a bit unsure and desperately hoping to spend time out in the middle. He had to reach deep down just to be able to survive and ensure that India don't lose the decider. To begin with, this innings is aesthetically not his best, but must rank as one of the most important of his career.