“If you care for cricket, you must love Sachin”.

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By Tanya Rudra

For cricket lovers, the name, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar exemplifies the inimitable stuff that champions are made of. He is a true perfectionist and posses the mental strength that inspires the world.

Sachin Tendulkar is GOD, the God who can’t afford to fall (at least I believe). It is believed that, even God is permitted to commit a few mistakes, but for the God of Cricket, the margin of error is rather less.

Ever since his advent in international cricket in 1989, he has been the greatest icon of Indian batting. Numbers prove his ability and sheer consistency and it cannot be denied that Sachin Tendulkar’s contribution to cricket has been unparalleled.

Even after being rated as the greatest and the most complete batsman, it is unfortunate that he still has to keep proving his worth as a “match winner”. It is a pre-conceived notion that India never wins when Sachin scores a hundred and some even say that he plays for his own records.

It must be heartbreaking for him and for those who worship him. Because I believe that Indian cricket is indebted to him for giving us the joy for more than twenty years, without fail.

For those who prefer to see the Tendulkar Effect in numbers, rather than being mesmerised by his stroke play, here are the figures. Out of 48 ODI centuries that the master blaster has scored, India has won on 33 occasions, lost 13 and two games ended in a tie.

He is a proud Indian. Playing for India matters to him the most. We should not forget the miraculous innings of 175 against Australia at Hyderabad on 5th Nov’09, where all his team mates failed him.

Tendulkar almost chased the mammoth total of 350 with a little help only from Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina. But, it all ended in heartbreak. Sachin Tendulkar fell awfully close to pulling off an incredible chase on his own. He got out and the rest choked, falling short by three runs with two balls to go.

Still, he is accused of not being a match winner. It is heartening to see how he takes all the criticism and moves on, striving hard to give his best, every time he dons that blue India jersey.

In ode to his heroism and for the love of cricket, it is rightly said that “If you care for cricket, you must love Sachin”.