Sachin – The Greatest Little Man…

The Little Master

Amidst all the confusion and all the protests in Delhi, a great man bid adieu to ODI cricket. A man who single handedly carried Indian cricket on his back for over 2 decades. In a country where cricket is a religion, he is indeed the God. This generation has grown up watching this great man work his magic with the willow. A majority among us also had posters of him caressing the ball through the covers, or lofting the ball over long on for a maximum.

Just like every player, he had his purple patch. Just like some players, he came out of this purple patch all guns blazing. Just like very few players, he kept going on and on. And finally just like Sachin Tendulkar, he achieved greatness. There are very few records that this man has not achieved, whether it be in terms of individual runs, centuries, or even partnerships. I am not good with numbers or statistics, and I find no need to google it and find out, because frankly, one doesn’t need facts to comprehend his greatness.

There have been a lot of things that people have said about him in the past, praises and criticisms both included. Sir Don Bradman said that Sachin batted just like him. Hashim Amla said that nothing could happen to them on a plane in India if Sachin was on board. Mathew Hayden said that he has seen God, and he bats at No.4 for India. The icing on the cake should be when President Obama said that he watches cricket to see Sachin play just to try and understand why his country’s production goes down by 5% everytime he is batting. These are just some of the quotes I remember, and once again, there is no need to dig up stuff online to prove a point.

All said and done, I am not a die-hard Sachin fan. I respect him for all he has done, and I am glad that I was part of the generation that watched him play. The sole reason why I wrote this post, is just because of something I noticed yesterday. A lot of us have a lot of junk written in their own description, “sports fanatic”, “avid blogger”, “loves to eat”, etc etc. I happened to read his description. All it said was “Proud Indian”. That summed up his entire career, his entire life. All he wanted to be known as was a proud Indian, and that I am sure he is.

Many more brilliant batsman may come and go, but no one can quite take the place of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, the greatest Little Man to walk a cricket pitch in an Indian jersey. Hats off to his class. Hats off to his humility. Hats off to his achievements. Hats off to HIM. #RESPECT