Sachin Tendulkar – A Blazing Start And A Carnival Finish

Sachin Tendulkar – A Blazing Start And A Carnival Finish

At the start of his career, the `man` in him conquered the `boy` who was bleeding from his nose, and almost two-and-a-half decades later, Sachin left the field with millions of fans bleeding in their hearts and holding on to their tears.

Few sportspersons, if any, in the world would have been handed a script that Sachin Tendulakr received. It all started twenty four years ago in Pakistan, where he suffered an almost career damaging blow on his nose as a tender sixteen-year-old. However, the `man` in him conquered the `boy` who was bleeding from his nose, and almost two-and-a-half decades later, Sachin left the field with millions of fans bleeding in their hearts and holding on to their tears.

Every brick of the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on November 16, 2013, would have recorded for posterity the emotional words that Sachin uttered during his farewell speech. The speech too was delivered with the same passion, precision and spontaneity as the runs that flowed from his bat. Communication skills and Public Speaking trainers from around the world would have noted and stored the speech as part of their training architecture.

In my lifetime I have seen extraordinary cricketers from around the world come and go – Gavaskar, Richards, Imran, Botham, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee – to just name a few. But cannot remember any one of them being given such a sendoff by a nation. It was as if Sachin was to be the last of the legends to serenade the cricket field. It almost seemed like the country wanted to celebrate his achievements by creating a carnival atmosphere which would last in their memories for at least another twenty five years, whereby they can continue to retain the Sachin magic deep within them and cherish his `guiding` presence in their lives.

Of course, Sachin benefited from the media exposure which retiring legends before him did not have an advantage of. Yet, to see an entire country being consumed by as routine an event as sporting retirement was incredible to say the least. It is unfathomable that such a gala finish to a career can be achieved simply through human orchestrations. You can surely influence but a few hearts through marketing gimmicks, but such a spontaneous outpouring of emotions for a man whose role modeling abilities are incomparable can be manifested only through divine will. That Sachin is Destiny's Child was always known, and substantially proven in the last few weeks of his colossal career.

To top it all, the government, under fire on many issues, for a change got a Thumbs Up from the entire nation by its timing of the Bharat Ratna announcement. If at all there was any missing link in his career – the statistics are mind boggling: 200 tests, 450+ ODIs, 100 international hundreds, over 30,000 international runs – the Bharat Ratna fulfilled it. If at any moment in the last few weeks Sachin felt really sad at moving out of the game that he so dearly loves, the Bharat Ratna announcement would have put those feelings to rest, as nothing at all in our country gets bigger than this in terms of recognition.

The fact that Sachin redefined the benchmarks set for individual excellence in the game of cricket, and in the process created and sustained mass frenzy for such a long period of time -- even though there was a period when a fickle minded nation questioned his abilities post the 2007 World Cup disaster – is itself a wonder and testimony to the vast reservoir of Genius as well as Resilience that lies within him.

As this blog is intended as a celebration of his career, I have refrained from deriving the various lessons that Sachin's batsmanship and cricketing genius offer to far lesser mortals like us. I surely intend to share my perspectives from that angle another day. But suffice it to say that every bit of what Sachin achieved and the manner in which he achieved them has long standing lessons not just for our country but humanity.

It is said – and rightly so – that no individual is ever greater than the game. Sachin was the only one who came close to upsetting that theory. But thankfully – and I say thankfully because the Universal Principles of life cannot be tampered with or tweaked around – Sachin left the game, to my mind, as a Supreme Mortal, and not as God, by elevating the human cricketing excellence consciousness to a level none before him had ever done.

The game for a while will feel a deep void as another aspirant inherits the hallowed Number 4 position in test matches, but the game has a way of eeking out geniuses from the masses, and surely another Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will present himself to the world. Hopefully, this time too, it will happen in India.

For the moment, for one more time, Thank You Sachin. We Will Miss Your Presence On The Cricket Field!