Gavaskar And Tendulkar

Gavaskar And Tendulkar

What Gavaskar left behind in terms of cricketing excellence, Sachin simply expanded and reinvented. While Gavaskar was a product of the pre-economic liberalisation era, Tendulkar arrived at the cusp of a new dawn in the socio-economic-political context of India.

As Sachin Tendulkar's epic career draws to a close, it is worthwhile reflecting on what the legacies of the sporting superstar before him Sunil Gavaskar and his mean to Indian cricket. An immediate point of course is that both for long carried the vast expectations of the nation – of course Sachin had to shoulder a MUCH LARGER share – and for a substantial part of their careers were seen as lone warhorses of their teams.

When Gavaskar retired, many asked, `who next?` A couple of years into his retirement, and a young Sachin Tendulkar, whom you could easily have mistaken as a spectator trespassing on to the cricket field if you were a cricket novice, strode on to the ground with appropriate cricket gear but at an `inappropriate` age to take on the might of bowlers like Waqar Younis and Imran Khan. Over close to a quarter century, Sachin fulfilled both promise and expectations, which is incredible to say the least.

What Gavaskar left behind in terms of cricketing excellence, Sachin simply expanded and reinvented. While Gavaskar was a product of the pre-economic liberalisation era, Tendulkar arrived at the cusp of a new dawn in the socio-economic-political context of India. While Gavaskar had already shown many cricketers the way forward in terms of leading a post-retirement life, Sachin simply grabbed at the opportunities a liberalised India threw at him through the sheer weight of his performances. If Gavaskar associated with brands, Tendulkar bacame a brand himself.

Gavaskar fundamentally brought pride to the Indian psyche, which Tendulkar elevated and internalised at a level which few could match. Gavaskar's legacy lay in the way he positioned India to the world not only through his cricketing exploits, but also by the way he projected his pride of being an Indian. Gavaskar carried the self belief torch as an ambassador of `self doubting` Indians by simply putting up the runs at a pace which was appropriate for the times and on his own terms. But just around the time he hung his boots to become the `Voice of India`, in which role too for over two decades now he has kept the Indian pride at a high, the country needed a role model who could represent the very new and virbrant India that was being shaped.

Sachin in a way simply snatched the baton from Gavaskar, as there was hardly any time to pass it on as such, and created a colossus which the world will forever cherish and also look back and wonder. If Gavaskar in a way pioneered the Indian craze for records by creating one milestone after the other – Sachin redefined `records` and continuously kept setting new benchmarks. He ultimately reached a peak of a hundred international 100s, which is astounding for the human mind to comprehend, even after it has been achieved.

In this respect too, Gavaskar showed the way, as he was the first ever to score 10,000 runs in test match cricket. While many great players later joined the 10,000 club, he set the world's second best cricketing benchmark after the Don's batting average. To term the achievements of these two gentlemen as simply `Excellent` would be a huge understatement, and a reflection of the limitations of a language to fully comprehend the saga of such accomplishments.

While Tendulkar cannot exactly be termed as a protege of Gavaskar, but he imbibed the technique and balance of the original Little Master. Tendulkar in a way answered the imaginations of cricket connoisseurs who fantasised about a player who could have the balance of Gavaskar, the audacity of Richards and the all round ability of a Sobers. Incredibly, as if to say, nature bestows you with what you ask for, all three legends of their craft, found expression in one man – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Though Sachin cannot be termed as an all rounder like Sobers, he carried all-round ability, and could turn the ball square apart from hitting perfectly good balls square.

The inter-connection between Gavaskar and Tendulkar also has infinite worth in terms of their comparison with Don Bradman. While in terms of batting exploits, both could never come even remotely close to the average the Don had at the end of his career, there were other benchmarks set by the Don to be breached. While Gavaskar was the first to go past the Don in terms of number of test centuries, Sachin became the all time highest test century maker, and incredibly even attained the magical figure of 50 centuries. The Don felt Sachin played like him, a tribute lesser mortals can only dream of getting.

In terms of poignant test match batting too, they both played their epic innings in a losing cause against arch rivals Pakistan. While Gavaskar played his last test match innings on a very difficult pitch against Pakistan at Bangalore, in which he scored 96, Tendulkar scored a memorable 100 in Chennai. While the Bangalore test handed Pakistan a historic series win in India, the Chennai loss created a pain which was as close to the one inflicted by Javed Miandad when he hit Chetan Sharma for a last ball six in the 1986 one day tournament final at Sharjah.

Both Gavaskar and Tendulkar in their careers were also part of World Cup winning teams. Interestingly, India won a World Cup title long, long after Gavaskar had retired. It took a Tendulkar to break the jinx after India won the 1983 World Cup. It is significant to note the change in context that while the 1983 team `shocked` the nation by winning the world cup, the 2011 team would have `shocked` if it had not won the title. So, while Gavaskar and his teammates in 1983 engineered the beginning of a cricketing revolution in the country, Sachin and his teammates elevated the craze and cash associated with cricket to dizzying levels.

As the Sun sets on Sachin's career, it can be said that he perhaps fulfilled the unfulfilled potential of Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, who, people of my generation will recollect, had started emerging as a powerful one day batsman too towards the end of his career. Tendulkar went on to become the world's best one day batsman, and probably simply built on an idea that Gavaskar had embraced towards the fag end of his career.

There is also a geographical synergy of course. Both lived and played in Mumbai and for Mumbai, and rose to become cricketing icons of the nation.

Who is going to take their legacies forward now? The script is still being written. So, we will wait and watch.