Will leave the field as an unvanquished emperor.
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI: In his time, legendary batsmen Vivian Richards never saw Sir Donald Bradman. But he has seen compatriot Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and even the legends such as Sunil Gavaskar and Javed Miandad of his era. But for Richards none of them has been better than the Indian Sachin Tendulkar.
“I didn’t see Don but to me, in all my years associated with the game, I haven’t seen a better batsman than Sachin Tendulkar,” said Richards in a eulogy to the Indian who openly professes to have idolized him while growing up. “If there is a better batsman than Sachin then he hasn’t arrived yet.”
Such was the awe that Sachin Tendulkar had over the world of cricket.
On Thursday he announced his retirement: after playing his 200th test match at home against West Indies next month.
“All my life, I have had a dream of playing cricket for India. I have been living this dream every day for the last 24 years… “It’s hard for me to imagine a life without playing cricket because it’s all I have ever done since I was 11 years old,” the 40-year-old, who compiled a record 100 international centuries said.
Tendulkar had who made his debut against bitter rivals Pakistan in 1989 as a sixteen-year old with curly locks and disarming smile, has gone on to accumulate 15,837 runs in 198 tests and 18,246 runs in 463 one-day internationals. He was part of the India squad when the World Cup was bagged in 2011 at home.
At five-feet five he was not a colossus, though Tendulkar will leave the game as an unvanquished emperor who ruled cricket for 24 years and like all sportspersons gave his legion of fans mesmeric and emotionally overwhelming memories to cherish forever. Tendulkar quit as a batsman who created cricket history with 15,837 runs in 198 tests and 18,426 runs in 463 one-day internationals. He also holds the record for most centuries in tests (51) and ODIs (49).
Some say that Tendulkar has been sent by God to play cricket. But the ‘’little man’’ is humility personified and he is like any one of us who loved heroes and wanted to be like them.
“Every person likes his own identity and that is important. It is good to have heroes. When I was growing up, I had a couple of heroes. I wanted to be a combination, a mixture of Vivian Richards and Sunil Gavaskar,” said Tendulkar. “So it is important for this generation to have heroes and try and get closer to anywhere you can to your heroes. Heroes will always be heroes, so that is how it should be.”
Like Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, the humble son of a novelist and an insurance agent mother who rose to become a hero for generations to come.
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