I had planned to complete my work-in-progress post on time management this morning, but 2 amazing knocks from Tendulkar resulted in this post featuring on this blog first.
Many congrats to Sachin on reaching 15,000 ODI runs - what a player! Mind-boggling statistics spread over 18 years of high-consistent performance explained by one magic number - a career average of 44.24 after yesterday's knock of 93.
The 2 knocks of 99 and 93 this week against South Africa in some ways summed up Tendulkar's career over the years.
His 99 on Wednesday was all pure grit - prior to the match, he was not in best of forms, knew he had got out to playing a rather loose shot against Ireland. So, he came out to bat against South Africa with a very determined look, playing very straight with no flamboyance, stuck to his task with all the patience on earth and produced a gritty innings of 99. This is what differentiates Tendulkar from other great players say Lara - he changes his gears and plays well within himself when things are not going all great for him, managing to make runs and fight his way back.
Friday's 93 was a high class innings - knew he had got his bearings right, now was the time to dominate and prove a few things. Many aggressive shots on a pitch with a fair degree of bounce and movement - a few punching square cuts, powerful pull shots and then later danced down the wicket to the spinner to play a few lofted shots over the ropes - an exhibition of why he is still the best and the most dangerous batsman around. A glorious innings under rather tough circumstances!
I have been a Tendulkar fan for most of what I term as "my in-senses life". 18 years back, when Tendulkar first walked in, I knew very little about cricket (I was 7 then!). Being Tendulkar's fan then meant nothing more than appreciating those 4s and 6s and 50s and 100s - a boundary was "hurraay", a rare dot dot-ball was "come on, whack them out of stadium" and his dismissal meant "numb silence". Since then, I have followed almost every cricketing and non-cricketing move of Tendulkar. Over the years, as a Tendulkar fan, I have been through many different stages, with every stage providing an additional reason to admire Tendulkar:
For cricketing reasons (stages from 1989 till date):
hurray >> entertainer >> great shot maker >> early achievements >> aggressive batsman >> high degree of focus >> compact batsman with a great technique >> very stable head >> highly ambitious >> great batsman >> high commitment to the game >> mentally the toughest around >> high cricketing ethics >> team man >> best batsman with all possible world records >> high passion for the game >> closest to being a perfect batsman
For non-cricketing reasons (stages from 1989 till date):
cool head >> positive thinker >> aggressive thinker >> extremely modest >> very ethical in all spheres of life >> high commitment to family >> high emotional intelligence >> assumes social responsibility >> a very balanced thinker >> closest to being a perfect human being
Many congrats to Sachin on reaching 15,000 ODI runs - what a player! Mind-boggling statistics spread over 18 years of high-consistent performance explained by one magic number - a career average of 44.24 after yesterday's knock of 93.
The 2 knocks of 99 and 93 this week against South Africa in some ways summed up Tendulkar's career over the years.
His 99 on Wednesday was all pure grit - prior to the match, he was not in best of forms, knew he had got out to playing a rather loose shot against Ireland. So, he came out to bat against South Africa with a very determined look, playing very straight with no flamboyance, stuck to his task with all the patience on earth and produced a gritty innings of 99. This is what differentiates Tendulkar from other great players say Lara - he changes his gears and plays well within himself when things are not going all great for him, managing to make runs and fight his way back.
Friday's 93 was a high class innings - knew he had got his bearings right, now was the time to dominate and prove a few things. Many aggressive shots on a pitch with a fair degree of bounce and movement - a few punching square cuts, powerful pull shots and then later danced down the wicket to the spinner to play a few lofted shots over the ropes - an exhibition of why he is still the best and the most dangerous batsman around. A glorious innings under rather tough circumstances!
I have been a Tendulkar fan for most of what I term as "my in-senses life". 18 years back, when Tendulkar first walked in, I knew very little about cricket (I was 7 then!). Being Tendulkar's fan then meant nothing more than appreciating those 4s and 6s and 50s and 100s - a boundary was "hurraay", a rare dot dot-ball was "come on, whack them out of stadium" and his dismissal meant "numb silence". Since then, I have followed almost every cricketing and non-cricketing move of Tendulkar. Over the years, as a Tendulkar fan, I have been through many different stages, with every stage providing an additional reason to admire Tendulkar:
For cricketing reasons (stages from 1989 till date):
hurray >> entertainer >> great shot maker >> early achievements >> aggressive batsman >> high degree of focus >> compact batsman with a great technique >> very stable head >> highly ambitious >> great batsman >> high commitment to the game >> mentally the toughest around >> high cricketing ethics >> team man >> best batsman with all possible world records >> high passion for the game >> closest to being a perfect batsman
For non-cricketing reasons (stages from 1989 till date):
cool head >> positive thinker >> aggressive thinker >> extremely modest >> very ethical in all spheres of life >> high commitment to family >> high emotional intelligence >> assumes social responsibility >> a very balanced thinker >> closest to being a perfect human being
... I can go on and on and on about Tendulkar. But let me stop here and congratulate Tendulkar once again for getting to 15,000 ODI runs. As a fan, I would want Tendulkar to go on for ever, but we all do realise that Sachin is now probably nearing the end of his career. Let's hope that he finishes on a high, dominating all attacks over the next couple of years.
