Anything possible: Tendulkar

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With a thrilling win over the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Mumbai Indians not only put themselves at the third position on the points table, but also put an end to their losing streak.

Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar felt anything was possible in T20.

“It is T20 cricket and anything is possible in this format.

“Sometimes, when the bowlers don’t get it right, batsmen can have a couple of edges which go for boundaries,” said Sachin.

“It was a wonderful match and it was a wonderful crowd. It is always a pleasure playing at Eden Gardens.”

Sachin was all praise for Ambati Rayudu.

“Rayudu was fantastic. He showed great character.

“We had lost the momentum after three wins on the trot, but what is more important is to get the momentum back.”

Sachin was happy that the move to promote Harbhajan Singh clicked.

“Before we started to bat, we discussed keeping the focus on maintaining the run rate.

“I think, sending Harbhajan (Singh) at ‘one down’ was a good move as he got us some vital runs.

“Knowing the Knight Riders, we know that they are going to come back and come back hard.

“We have to meet them in the play-offs in a couple of days, and I am sure we will face a stiff challenge.”

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KKR will come back hard: Sachin

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Kolkata: Though visibly elated after an improbable last ball win over Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar cautioned his teammates that they need to be prepared for a tough battle in the Indian Premier League play off between the two sides in Mumbai as the city franchisee would come back hard.

After a five wicket victory over the Knight Riders, Tendulkar was all praise for James Franklin and Ambati Rayudu and the other batsmen.

"It was a great match. The crowd here is great and they made the atmosphere special and that's why the result."

"We batted really well. Kept up the run rate that was needed. Great work by Rayudu and Franklin," he said.

Tendulkar said the duo got the momentum going and that proved crucial. "You can lose the momentum but it is important to regain it. We got the momentum going."

Needing 66 from the last five overs, Mumbai Indians batsmen James Franklin (45 not out off 23 balls) and Ambati Rayudu (17 off six balls) fired on all cylinders to win the match off the last ball.

The visitors needed as many as 21 off the last over bowled by Laxmipathy Balaji, but Franklin hit four boundaries off the first four deliveries, before Rayudu sealed the game with a six off the ultimate ball.

On if he thought Mumbai Indians could win, Tendulakr said: "Anything is possible in this game. If you have the luck the edges go to the boundary. Franklin hit some good shots in the final over."

He also said the team management's decision to send Harbhajan Singh worked for the side as the turbanator scored some important runs.

On meeting Kolkata Knight Riders in the playoff he said: "Knowing KKR, they will come back hard, they are a good side and we are prepared for them."
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Sachin strokes revive Howrah school’s dream

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Sachin Tendulkar signs one of the bats he donated and (below) leafs through pages of Sachindia

A pen stroke by Sachin Tendulkar has brought almost as much joy to some of his young fans as his cricket strokes have over the years.

Five bats signed by the master will be auctioned to fund the expansion of a primary school for underprivileged students in Howrah’s Tikiapara.

Sachin signed the bats on Wednesday in a Mumbai hotel where he was staying with his Mumbai Indian team-mates before their IPL match against the Rajasthan Royals.

“He took no more than five minutes to agree to help the slum school, once he heard that it needed money to build a floor to house the classroom for standard VI, a library and a staff room,” said Prashant Desai, an investment banker from Mumbai who corresponded with the cricketer regarding the project.

Samaritan Mission, the school, set up in 2001 with six students, now has 800. It needs Rs 15 lakh to offer education till Class VI.

With two companies picking up two of the signed bats for Rs 3 lakh each, the dream that school founder Mamoon Akhtar nurtures of adding classes each year and eventually affiliating the school to the ICSE board has received a shot in the arm.

“We had been looking for expansion funds for a year without success and I was beginning to worry that we would have to put the plan on the back burner, when my friend Mudar Patherya came up with the idea of getting help from Sachin Tendulkar. In the end, everything happened smoothly,” said Akhtar, who had dropped out of St Thomas Church School, Howrah, in Class VII because his parents could not fund his education. He cleared Class XII as a private candidate.

Patherya, who runs Trisys Communication in Calcutta, was working on a book called Sachindia, on Team India’s recent World Cup win, that Sachin was to launch.

“Initially, we had planned to get 200 copies of the book signed by Sachin. I had also got a well-known bookstore chain to display them for free and give away the sales proceeds to the school. But Sachin made it simple when he said that he would sign five bats which we could simply sell or auction on eBay,” Patherya told Metro.

On Wednesday, Sachin not only signed the bats but also a few of the books. He asked for two of his photographs published in the book to be mailed to him.

“The book is a collage of images and statistics along with reports published in various newspapers after the World Cup victory. He asked for two photographs to be mailed to him — one in which he is raising his bat to the heavens and the other of Yusuf Pathan and other team-mates lifting him during a victory lap,” said Patherya.

Sachin did not say much about the charity except that he was proud to be a part of the event and that he liked the book immensely, added Patherya.

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Tendulkar is fit and will play all IPL games: Robin Singh

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Sachin Tendulkar during a practice session at the Wankhade stadium. (TOI Photo)

MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians coach Robin Singh on Thursday said he was unaware of any injury to Sachin Tendulkar and confirmed the skipper's participation in all the remaining IPL games.

A media report had said that Tendulkar would soon head to Germany for the treatment of a shoulder injury.

"He (Sachin) is fit for all the games," Singh told reporters here ahead of the team's clash against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede stadium on Friday.

Asked about the injury, Singh said, "I really have no clue. I'm only focusing on IPL now. I really don't know what has happened."

Singh said the match against the Jaipur-based franchisee was crucial for Mumbai Indians, which has suffered two consecutive defeats.

"We didn't play well. We didn't bat well. We played way below our potential. We are quite aware of that. It's quite an important game for us and we need to win it," he said.

"Any loss will hurt. Especially a game that you expect to win comfortably. So we sat back, we just wanted to reflect on what went wrong and wanted to better that," he added.

Friday's match will be last for leg-spin legend Shane Warne in the IPL and it will be last time that Warne and Tendulkar would be up against each other but Singh said they can afford to get distracted by those things.

"We are focussed on what we want to do. It's important to play the way we want to. We know its Shane Warne's last game but it does not affect us," he added.

Asked whether the team was struggling to cope up with slow turners, he said it was a problem for everyone and not Mumbai in particular.

"It's a problem for everyone. Even in Chennai the wickets are very slow. No team has got a huge score unless the wicket has been very good. It's a question of adapting. Every team has to face that. The more you go into the tournament. The more you go into the season the wickets are going to get slower. We are preparing for that," he added.

Singh also denied that his team was bad-chasers. "No we just batted badly. It was a easy score to get (against Deccan Chargers) but the batters didn't do the job. Overall we had a good game."

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For the love of Sachin

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Mumbai's games have been better attended than most in this IPL, thanks to the Tendulkar effect

It is an understatement to say Jaipur is hot at the end of April. The heat is like a living thing, determined to scorch the earth of all other living things. Yet there the Sawai Mansingh Stadium was three weeks ago, with its uncovered stands, already half-full at 2.30pm, a good 90 minutes before the scheduled IPL game. By the time the umpires walked out to the middle, the place was packed with fans eager with anticipation.

Rajasthan Royals typically draw tremendous home support, but on this day it was clear the fans weren't there just for them. The opposing team were Mumbai Indians, and the fans had come to see Sachin Tendulkar. They cheered when he came out to warm up, cheered when he came out for the toss, and cheered when he came out to bat. Such was the reception for Tendulkar that during Rajasthan's next game against Pune Warriors, Shane Warne was moved to say at the toss that it was "nice to be home. They cheer us well here as long as Sachin's not playing."

The faces in the crowd reflected their dual allegiances, literally. One girl had the Rajasthan logo - the double R - painted on her right cheek. On her left, in the same blue paint, she had "Sachin Tendulkar". Unfortunately for the fans, Ashok Menaria had Tendulkar stumped for 7 in the fifth over. Having missed out on a chance to cheer their hero at the crease, the fans produced the loudest roar of the game when Tendulkar caught Rahul Dravid. No opportunity to celebrate India's most cherished cricketer was going to be missed, whatever the situation.

It has been a similar story at stadiums around the country. What the 2011 IPL has made clear is that Tendulkar transcends team loyalties, especially now in the twilight of his career, when it's hard to know if there will be another chance to see him play. The fans want to get a glimpse of him so they can tell their grandchildren: yes, I saw him bat. India's World Cup triumph has added to his aura, making his career appear complete. It was the final piece in the puzzle, the storybook ending, and what we are seeing now amounts to the standing ovation at the end of play.

"People are making an extra effort to be at the ground," Amrit Mathur, the chief executive of the Delhi Daredevils, told ESPNcricinfo. "It is one more chance to see a legend, to see Tendulkar. Because he is Tendulkar, and if you miss out, you might not see him again."

The numbers back up the existence of a "Tendulkar effect". Television ratings for Mumbai have been consistently higher, and their games have attracted more viewers, than those of the other franchises. It is the same story at the box office. Ashish Hemrajani, the founder and chief executive of BookMyShow.com, which handles ticket sales for four of the 10 franchises, told ESPNcricinfo that all the Mumbai games have been sold out, barring a few early ones. While other teams' sales depend in part on the quality of the opposition and the time of the match, Mumbai, he said, has transcended these factors. "The Mumbai games most certainly sell off quicker."

Neetu Bhatia, who heads Kyazoonga.com, which handles tickets for Pune, said they were selling about 70% of the tickets for each game, with one exception - Mumbai. "It was completely sold out. And not just sold out two days prior but sold out three weeks prior." When it comes to watching Tendulkar, you don't take chances.

	"People are making an extra effort to be at the ground. It is one more chance to see a legend, to see Tendulkar. Because he is Tendulkar, and if you miss out, you might not see him again" Amrit Mathur, Delhi Daredevils CEO

Part of Tendulkar's universal appeal is his consistent excellence, which resonates with fans of all backgrounds. Keshav Joshi, 29, has been watching cricket since he was six years old. In 1996 he went to each of India's games in the World Cup. Having grown up in Pune, he supports the Warriors and the Maharashtra state team, who have had a long, albeit unsuccessful, rivalry with Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket (think of Maharashtra as the Manchester City and Mumbai as the Manchester United of Indian cricket). It is safe to say that Joshi is not a Mumbai fan. But like millions of others, he finds it impossible to set aside his admiration for Tendulkar, the India batsman, in favour of IPL team loyalty.

"I think SRT's fan following is based on his exploits for the Indian team, and although he plays for a different IPL team, deep down I want him to do well even against the Warriors, as long as we win," Joshi said. "The same question could be asked to supporters of the Maharashtra Ranji team. When we play Mumbai, I still want SRT to do well. A lot of it has to do with him showing his mastery irrespective of who he is playing against."

Joshi roots for Tendulkar to score runs against the teams he supports, so he can have "the opportunity of seeing the best batsman on earth play". He even supported Mumbai in the first three IPLs because of Tendulkar and the team's geographical proximity to Pune, but switched loyalties once the Warriors were born. His support for Tendulkar, however, remained intact, as it has for others like him. "A lot of my friends, now that PWI is pretty much out, have begun supporting Mumbai again."

It isn't just the fans who revere Tendulkar either. Mathur, the Delhi chief executive, says it extends to the players who play with and against Tendulkar. "The people in the squads on either side - they consider it a privilege that they are in a game with Tendulkar." Signs of that were evident during the World Cup. R Ashwin, the India offspinner who plays for Chennai Super Kings, said playing with Tendulkar was a moment he had waited for. After his first World Cup game, Ashwin took a stump out of the ground and got Tendulkar to sign it as a memento.

It is an aura that has grown not only with the sheer weight of Tendulkar's achievements but also because of how he has carried himself as a person. "He is one icon who has conducted himself very well," Mathur said. "No taint in his conduct or in his behaviour or in a way he has carried himself, not just as a cricketer but as a personality and as a role model. He has reached a stage I think it will be impossible for anyone [else] to reach."

Mumbai has two games left in the league stage and at least two more playoff games. Two of those games will be played in Mumbai, but wherever Tendulkar plays, it will sound and feel like home.

Tariq Engineer is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo

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