When Tendulkar crossed the 10,000-mark in ODIs, Vijay Lokapally wrote: "The cricketing world takes notice when he rules the crease. Few individuals have dominated a team game like Sachin Tendulkar has. He must bat, bowl, field, and maybe even keep wickets in times to come."
Turning out in 100 Test matches puts cricketers in a different league altogether. Tendulkar joins other cricketers, who have stayed and delivered time and time again for their country.
Fifteen years after he made his debut in Pakistan, ahead of his second visit to the country, Rohit Brijnath recollects the Tendulkar journey back to where it all started. He writes: "People were talking then, now they are talking again. He is not in a slump (his last Test scores of 241 not out and 60 not out suggest that), but he is not himself either."
In the August of 2007, Tendulkar become only the third batsman to surpass 11,000 Test runs. Vijay Parthasarathy writes: "These days Tendulkar is capable of crafting his innings better. Slam-bang has been replaced by circumspection, and it is to the little master’s credit that his game is still evolving. Tendulkar is still a huge force to contend with."
Soon after Tendulkar went past Brian Lara’s mark of 11953 to become Test cricket’s highest run-getter, S. Ram Mahesh narrates his own Tendulkar experience: "Sachin Tendulkar has been able to address us all, and yet engage individually with each of us."
Celebrating two decades of Tendulkar, Peter Roebuck writes: "From his first outing to one of his most recent efforts, a stunning 175 against Australia in the Hyderabad ODI, Sachin Tendulkar has been a great batsman. Longevity counts amongst his strengths. Twenty years! It’s a heck of a long time and it’s gone in the blink of an eye. It has been an incredible journey, a trip that figures alone cannot define."
Throughout his career, Tendulkar has been compared with the greats of the game — Sir Don Bradman, Sir Vivian Richards, etc. However, the comparison of Tendulkar with Lara remained an unresolved debate for most part of their playing days. Suresh Menon (for Tendulkar) and Ted Corbett (for Lara) voice their arguments in this edition.
After Tendulkar's 40th birthday, Vijay Lokapally wrote: "He was born for cricket, the magical maestro, the “Sachin! Sachin!” refrain echoing at every turf that he has graced in the past 23 years. There is also a clamour for him to retire. He will, some day, but cricket will never gain another Sachin Tendulkar, who is now 40 years old."
Titled "A life of 22 yards over 24 years", Sportstar pays tribute to Tendulkar. "Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement will take away priceless experience from the Indian dressing room. Younger players have been mentored by him and they will miss Sachin during times of doubt. But, as he says, he will be just a call away."
Sachin was what everyone would love to be... "We identify so closely with someone like Sachin Tendulkar because he does things we cannot aspire to, or even want to given the amount of sacrifice involved, yet his centuries and aggregates and averages retain our faith in ourselves as a race. We can play a straight drive because Tendulkar plays it to perfection; we don’t have to chase perfection because he is doing it for us," writes Suresh Menon.
COMMents
Comments
SHARE