A sheer Master Class

Sachin Tendulkar was in the 180s when I stopped fidgeting and promised myself, if Sachin breaks Anwar’s record today I m going to write a column about it tonight but when Sachin did break the record I conveniently forgot my promise and prayed again, if he goes past 200 I will definitely write a column about it. I am not a superstitious person but then stranger things have happened in cricket vis-à-vis a Saurav Ganguly clutching his locket for life at Lords or Sachin not daring venture out of the bathroom lest something ominous happens or a Virender Sehwag hoping the opposition win for whenever he wishes India win, they invariably end up losing.
It was a rainy dark and stormy night on 21st May 1997 when in Chennai Saeed Anwar tore the Indian bowling attack to shreds. Thousands of miles away from Chennai listening to the match on a local radio in a small town in Jharkhand I could almost feel for Kumble and the ilk and the little boy that I was back then I somehow told myself that one day Sachin would avenge it. Those weren’t the days of cash rich IPL or 20- 20. Those days a team scoring more than 300 was virtually guaranteed a win. It was the time when the game was pure unadulterated class.
March 8 1999 was the day I had my first brush with dirty communalism. For that was the day I sat in a friend’s house watching a live telecast of an India Vs New Zealand game in Hyderabad when to my utter horror and distaste I realized that my friend was actually chanting verses from the holy Quran praying that Sachin not get past to 194 lest Anwar’s record falls. It was an alien concept back then that someone who was born an Indian could actually root for Pakistan. As must as it disgusted me and it sure did devastate me that Sachin remained 9 short of surpassing Anwar’s record, a little voice consoled me with a belief that a day will come when I can look back and say , the wait was worth it.
With friends, over endless cuppas and sometimes pegs whenever a discussion ensued over which Indian cricketer would break the 200 barrier it was always a Sachin vs. Sehwag debate. Even though Dhoni once came agonizingly close to it for all practical purposes he was a no show in this debate primarily because Dhoni has adapted his game such that a double is virtually out of his domain for now. There were friends who felt Sachin’s time has come and gone for a double and that the 36 yr old body can only take that much while Sehwag was still in his elements and it was only a matter that Sehwag even remained not out for about 35 to 40overs.I must confess there was a lot of logic in this argument but then Sachin is fond of springing surprises whenever the masses write him off. And today when he finally did it a close friend called me up with words that were echoing throughout the country, “It had to be him”. A man who has the unique distinction of having the most batting records to his name had to do it. He had to do it for his team, he had to do it for the country, he had to do it for his late dad whom he always looks up to after crossing a century, he had to do it for his millions of fans and he had to do it for that little boy who long back promised and consoled himself that one day Sachin would do it.
P.S:-I would be naïve to imagine that this record won’t be broken. We all know what happened to the 4 minute mile mental barrier. What was once deemed impossible has become a standard for all professional runners today. A 200 mental barrier will soon cease to exist. In times to come there will be batsmen who will cross 200 but even in their ecstasy they would do well to remember that it was a Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who showed them that it could be done.