I am today forced to think about those days as a child when I used to literally hate Cricket because whenever India was playing, Papa would be glued to the TV and not let me watch my favorite cartoons on Cartoon Network. I used to wish that somehow India loses early so that I get to see Mask and Captain Planet and Tom n Jerry. This was until when I was 7 years old in 1993 on that fateful night when everyone was talking about cricket. It was the Hero Cup semi final or something and I could just hear cricket wherever I went. It was on this wonderful night that I had a real glimpse of a tiny little 19 year old man who has today become one of the most important persons in my life. The last over that he bowled somehow amazed me and for the first time ever, made me watch cricket and forget all my cartoons. Then came the whirlwind 82 runs of 50 odd balls as an opener for the first time against New Zealand in 1994 and I was hooked on. Here was my Mask, Captain Planet, Tom, Jerry all rolled into one. He was Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - India's favorite son.
The tryst continued with the 1996 World Cup (by when I had become a cricket addict and even started playing cricket with my friends) when I went to watch my first ever cricket match at Wankhede stadium - the India v/s Australia match in which GOD made a brilliant 90 in a losing cause for India as usual. That was my first real heartbreak and that is when I realized for the first time that I am and Indian, one who feels bad when India loses. He was brilliant in fact magnanimous in that entire World Cup and would have brought India its second World Cup and this time at home if not for the other 10 fools in the team and the Indian cricket administration who screwed it completely at Eden Gardens in that heart breaking semi-final.
But GOD did not give up as HE took it a notch higher by single handedly crushing Australia and his nemesis Shane Warne in particular over a period of 6 months driving the best team in the world into submission and giving Warney nightmares. That Sharjah final in 1998 was the first time that cricket was the reason when I hugged Papa. And it was also the beginning of something that continues even today, getting better day by day.
His all round demolition of Australia in the first ICC Champions trophy when he made 141 and took 4 wickets too, his classy hundreds in Test matches all over the globe, the way in which he treated Akhtar & Co with contempt during the 2003 World Cup and many more such innings have no doubt given me pure joy, but for me his most memorable performances have been the one in which he came over the demise of his father to score a 140 in the 1999 World Cup, the one in which he came and took 3 wickets in no time to give India the impetus to win that now-so-famous Eden Gardens Test against Australia, , the one in which he scored a 241* at Sydney without playing a single cover drive because he was facing problems outside the off stump, the one in which he made a full length dive aged almost 37 against South Africa in the first one dayer just 2 days ago to stop a boundary.
Probably Lara, Dravid and Ponting are better Test batsmen, Donald Bradman is the greatest batsman ever, Sir Garfield Sobers is the best cricketer ever and I would even like to mention other great sports persons like Tiger Woods, Federer, Pele, Schumacher and many more who might have been better than Sachin at their sport. But, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar to me and to a better part of a billion people comprising of non-Indians too is GOD and no one else has even come close, leave alone beat him. He has single handedly carried the hopes of a billion people which no one else has. He has set standards of sportsmanship that none ever have. A classic example is the way he went into the dressing room of the Bangladesh Cricket team after the recently concluded Test series which India won 2-0 and congratulated them for being a great team and telling them that one day they will become a great test side. Another example is the way he congratulated the same team during World Cup 2007 even though they were the prime reason for India's early shock exit from the Cup. And there are numerous other examples which make him GOD.
Today was an example in masterclass, when he became the first to make a double hundred in ODI's carrying his bat through the innings and running all his runs himself as opposed to Saeed Anwar who had a runner running all his runs in that 194. And then when GOD turned up to field with the entire team after such an innings which would really have taken a heavy toll on him, I could see why HE is what HE is - GOD.
I have his photo as my desktop wallpaper for the past few days and he inspires me like no one else, not even GOD and hence, I will never forget the day February 16, 2008 when I met GOD at the IPL match and got a ball signed by him for holding on to one of Gilly's sixes. The only thing I repent about that day is that I did not tell HIM that he is amongst the most important people in my life.
Hail GOD!!!!
Let us all hope HE gets what he wants - a World Cup victory for India in 2011.
