What Sachin Tendulkar has yet to achieve.....

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2011, the year Indian Cricket lovers will never forget. India won the world cup after 28 years and also topped the test rankings. It was sad that we didn’t get much time to talk about the biggest win in the game of Cricket because of IPL. But, one moment, I can’t forget whenever the memories of that triumph passes through my mind.

The moment Yuvraj Singh hugged Sachin Tendulkar and had tears in his eyes! Yuvraj Singh and almost all the players of that squad had announced before the world cup that they wanted to win it for Sachin Tendulkar. There were critics as usual criticizing it but even if the players hadn’t announced, anybody could have understood after the victory that what the extra motivation for that victory was!

The way the entire team carried the LITTLE MAN on their shoulders was also a sight to watch and I think many people like me might have tears in their eyes on that moment. Even, Yusuf Pathan, who hasn’t played that much cricket with Sachin, wanted to carry him without anyone’s help. Virat Kohli who has also played very few matches with Sachin summed it best after carrying the great man on his shoulder by saying, “Sachin Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years. It was time we carried him.” That’s the love Sachin Tendulkar posses from his team mates, and why not? He is the man who inspired them all to start playing cricket, shared his experience and knowledge to help them to stay at international level and motivated them to bounce back whenever they were down! Who will not want to perform their best for fulfilling the dream of such a person??!! Anybody will!!

Sachin Tendulkar is not just a cricketing Legend but also an Iconic Public Figure. He is always as humble and as polite as he was at the age of 16. The way he manages himself on and off the field is a lesson for not only a sportsman but also for a common man. The dedication, the ethics and the enthusiasm that he possesses is a lesson to learn whether you are a sportsman or a businessman or an employee in the smallest company.

There are people criticizing captaincy of Sachin Tendulkar, but the way he has been leading MI in IPL, I feel his critics have already got an answer. What is the meaning of a “good captain”? Should a captain be measured by his records only? “No”, is the answer. He should be measured by leadership qualities. Qualities of a good leader are: exemplary character, enthusiasm, passion & dedication, calmness, good communication skills, good listener, vision, positive attitude, ready to take initiative & analytical approach in decision making. If the rise of Yuvraj Singh and Virendra Sehwag is a credit to Ganguly. The rise of Ganguly, whom Sachin started using as an opener and used as a bowler during Sahara Cup’97 victory, should be a credit to Sachin Tendulkar. And after all, leadership is nothing without a good team which Tendulkar was not fortunate to get.

What he brought out of Saurabh Tiwari and Ambati Raydu during IPL was a result of his good captainship. At least a part of success of JP Duminy and S.Dhavan while playing for MI, should also be credited to Sachin Tendulkar who brought their best out. The way he manages Lasith Malinga, his decision to stick to Keron Pollard while he was not performing during 3^rd IPL (which paid off in later stage), the decision of promoting Raydu and Rohit Sharma ahead of Symonds & Pollard, promoting Harbhajan Singh to number 3, asking Malinga to bowl a bouncer to get wicket of Hussy (and succeeding in it), all these and many more innovative and successful decisions gets overlooked if one decision of Sachin Tendulkar goes wrong way. Why? Because, we don’t want to remove the sentence we have typed in our mind about his captainship “Sachin Tendulkar is not a good captain”.

God doesn’t give many opportunities. But when talking about seeing Sachin Tendulkar captaining, we have got another opportunity to see him doing so in the IPL. So whenever the opportunity comes, grab it and use it to understand what the greats think on a particular situation and how they handle it while captaining!

Sachin Tendulkar has carried the expectations of the nation for 22 years now, and has 99 international hundreds in his bucket and still going strong. Every second he is on the field is a joy to watch! He is the man who has inspired a generation with his batting and has set a new standard for batting. In other words we can say that he has taken batting to a lot higher standard. One trophy which was missing in his “showcase” was World Cup but that is not the case now.

Instead of thinking about what Sachin has yet to achieve and finding a reason to criticize the man who has given sheer joy and pleasure to billions of people, it’s the time now to enjoy whatever cricket is left in him. The day when he will retire is not far and when it comes, cricket will not be the same again!!!

Kalpit Bhatt

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