Sachin
- Still a long way to go
“Genius does what it must, talent
does what it can” Owen Mereditch
People always have mighty expectations from genius.
Sometimes unrealistic, too. They wish to fulfill their
dream by someone who is genius. Their hero. For millions
of cricket lovers in India, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
is perhaps the finest creation of God, if not the
ultimate. But alas, the man hasn’t delivered to that
extent as we hoped for.
Doubtless,
Sachin is the most charismatic and courageous cricketer
around yet he has to prove many things. Ever since
the venerable Sir Donald Bradman has publicly acknowledged
the striking resemblance of his batting style in Sachin’s,
the entire nation went berserk in heaping praise over
Sachin. Suddenly, Sachin became larger – than –life
figure. Little importance was given to the fact that
apart from winning some ‘home Test’ matches and some
great wins on the benign pitches of the sub-continent,
his contribution was not as magnificent as the crazy
media made us to believe.
Of course, Sachin’s calibre as
a great batsman is beyond doubt but so far he hasn’t
been able to translate his enormous potential into
epoch-making performances, where he can be bracketed
along with the likes of Don Bradman and Garry Sobbers.
Isn’t it a cruel agony that despite
having such a phenomenal cricket India hasn’t been
able to win a test-series abroad (Read: outside the
sub-continent) in past 14 years? At this point apologist
may argue that cricket is a team-game and Sachin alone
can’t be held responsible for that. Well, but when
an Arvinda De Silva or a Chris Cairns can win matches
with individual brilliance for their respective teams,
why not our Sachin. Undoubtedly, always a mile ahead
from his contemporaries.
The other question is that-Has
he been hyped a bit too much? Or is he being exaggerated
by the media? There is some point here. When have
we seen Sachin battling in the fourth innings to save
a test match? Barring one or two matches, it is a
rarity. Giving one’s best when chips are down, which
is the very hallmark of a champion, is unfortunately
not the case with Sachin. In this regard, performance
of Steve Waugh and to an extent Brian Lara’s is more
striking.
If we allow ourselves to go in
the pages of history, our very own Sunil Gavaskar
in this regard is awesome, indeed. Authoring epic
hundreds against the best fast bowling attacks ever
in the history of the game, he astounded the whole
world. Comparing two individual’s performances and
that too, played in different era is not only hazardous
but also unfair. Yet it is not too astonishing to
hear from old timers that Sunil’s performance is test
matches is more enviable.
This article is not mean to belittle
the greatness of Sachin. It is not that he is incapable
of playing heroic knocks in crunch situation or in
the testing condition that will give India its ‘first
abroad test’ victory after a gap of more than a decade.
He is, and definitely will. But so far, it has come
in bits and pieces and even the staunchest fan of
Sachin will admit it.
Or may be we are expecting too
much too often and not realizing that he is only a
human. But huge expectations will always be there
whenever he bats for India. That is the only small
price he has to pay for his unmatched adulation and
unparalleled adoration from his countryman.
