An Ode for the ODI God
Sachin is still the greatest batter
Talking about he not being a match winner,
I feel like a sinner
There is something called fate
Which even the batting God could not negate
Watching today, his yet another masterly ton
I pray to God, he plays for
I was talking to a friend about quite a few common things between the people from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh (Northies, all of them are not Madrasis!!). They share the same passion for movies, hero worship, politics etc etc. Today there is one more commonality added. Chennai and Hyderabad witnessed one of Sachin’s greatest innings ever in tests and ODIs respectively but unfortunately in both cases
It was almost the perfect innings. He not only perfectly planned his innings, but also
PS: Can some one teach Ravindra Jadeja the art of not getting excited at the prospect of running a tight single? Maybe VVS or Dada can teach him a thing or two about it, after all they were the masters at it!!
Its not that there is a documented reason for Sachin not being a match winner, but statistics sadly-but they do speak towards that conjecture.
ReplyDeleteThough that does not put a question mark on his abilities, but nevertheless render the stats some kind of jinx!
Blame Ravinder Jadeja - I do, but in the same breath Sachin's dismissal was on an unresponsive mistimed shot, certainly unbecoming of a cricketing genius.
-The paranoid.
What did the loss do? :-
ReplyDelete# etched this innings in the hearts of millions for their lifetime, just like the ones in Chennai Test and Sharjah Semifinals.
# increased the probability of discussions on "What if" rather that what is (was)once the gr8 man decides to hang his boots. eg: what if Sachin would have converted his 17 dismissals in the 90's into hundreds, would he still be compared with Lara & Ponting?; what if Sachin would have brought india home to victory more often, would he be then placed above The Don?
Is it not diabolical that Titanic is remembered more than Queen Mary II?
Sachin is god of cricket! There are lot of instances where sachin has scored more than 50 and India has won.. ppl feel match winners are those who get the winning run!
ReplyDelete@ Aman - thing about it dude.. there is a guy who has stayed in the field for about 47 overs without proper support from anyone.. Dont blame him! Jadeja was too small to handle the pressure.. maybe raina should have carried on.. lets hope for the best in future!!
But Sachin is the best!
@Aman: More than cold statistics though, it’s the moments that will endure long after he’s put his bat away for the last time. That final over in the Hero Cup semi-final. The audacious assault on Shane Warne in Chennai. The cold-eyed targeting of Shoaib Akhtar at Centurion, South Africa, in 2003. That match-winning century in Chennai, just a fortnight after the streets in the vicinity of his restaurant in Mumbai had resembled war-torn Beirut.
ReplyDeleteYou get batsmen who are exceptional when they’re 16. You get batsmen with adamantium wrists. You get batsmen who choose their shots well.
You get cricketers who are fit and dedicated to their sport. You get cricketers who can cope with the downs and who come back stronger. You get get cricketers who can last for 20 years.
You never get all of this.BUT Sachin has it all.
So putting up a ? on his abilities is not even a choice given. As far as unbecoming of a genius i guess it is next to impossible. only thing proved on 2923 one day was that Sachin is also Mortal not A GOD.
@Madhu: Sachin is the best :) Good point about Match winners ;) All the So-Called Match winners come at 2-3 down or even 4th. So people who think he is not a match winner
In all, Tendulkar has scored 1833 runs in finals, which is easily the highest - Sanath Jayasuriya is next with 1613. Tendulkar also ranks very high in terms of all-time averages in finals: among those who've scored at least 500 runs in finals, only three have a higher average. One of them is India's current coach, Gary Kirsten - in 20 innings, he scored 1019 runs at an excellent average of 69.73. Tendulkar's stats are very similar to those of Viv Richards, who averaged 55.73 at a strike rate of 84.78 in 17 finals. Brian Lara on the other hand, has struggled in finals, averaging only 28.16, more than 12 runs below his career average. His one century and two fifties all came in his first four innings; in his last 14 finals, his highest score was 35.
It was because of his inning we came so close and then to pin point him again & again is Shameful on our part. Respect the Legend. Period.
Sachin was, is and will always remain one of the world's greatest batsmen to be remembered in the history of the Game... One cant expect the entire team to rely upon only a single individual especially while chasing a mammoth target..
ReplyDeleteWhat we fail to realise is that had it not been Sachin, we might not have been able to reach half the target too, considering that he scored almost half the runs himself..
The bottom line of this recurring issue we face is that we expect all our heroes to shine come what may.. Maybe if he had hit just 75 runs and if India would have won, he would have become the Superstar of the match yet again.. Alas, we lost and Sachin ki band baj gayee..
I think ppl should just be a lil more wary and not stoop down to such levels and question a player of his class.. I honestly feel that media is to blame for all these questions raised on such an emminent personality because they are the ones who start such debates to gain their TRP's and the audience just falls prey to their TRP game rather than the cricket game...
So these are the emotions that the genius evokes..speaks volumes about his stature!
ReplyDelete@Aman: Yes you are right..history shows that he hasnt been able to hit the winning runs in many matches. My point is whenever he got out, to his bad luck everyone else underperformed! It wouldnt have hurt so much if the rest of 5 wickets together had managed to make just 18 runs!
@Gabbar: Sachin would not be placed above the Don. But by the time he hangs up his boots, I guess he will have created his own unique place just as the Don had :)
@ Madhu, @Chinu, @Karthik: Could'nt agree more!