Category: Sachin Tendulkar

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Nowadays people compare Virat Kohli to Sachin Tendulkar. The obvious reason is the former is breaking the latter’s record at a decent pace.  No one thought Sachin’s record will be broken so easily. Apparently people including me pay more attention to records that are broken. Then there are other class batsmen now like Steve Smith, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Joe Root, Kane Williamson etc. But how many present batsmen can bowl like Sachin and break important partnerships with a golden arm. Sachin has more than 150 ODI wickets including two five-fors. Has anyone including me thought about the environment in which Sachin had scored those runs. Is there any similarity in the batting environment existing now and the one that existed when Sachin was playing. Yes there is a huge difference in many aspects if you pay a little attention. Sachin had faced world class bowlers during their prime form on live pitches. Like Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Glenn McGrath, Chaminda Vaas, Saqlain Mushtaq, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne. Then there were Brett Lee and Shoaib Ahktar who could bowl all balls in an over at 150 kilometers per hour and more. Then there were all-rounders and part timers who could bowl very well like Azhar Mahmood, Abdul Razzaq, Jacques Kallis, Lance Klusener, Hansie Cronje, Chris Cairns, Andrew Flintoff, Steve Waugh, Heath Streak, Andy Blignaut, Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Shahid Afridi, Carl Hooper etc. How many present generation bowlers of all genres have the class the above bowlers had. There is Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Anderson, Ben Stokes, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Lasith Malinga, Ravichandran Ashwin, Nathan Lyon. Very difficult to say more than that. Further, when Sachin played the grounds were bigger, size of the bats were smaller, outfield was slower, batting powerplays were not there, technologies were limited. So the question is how many batsmen from the present generation can keep the scoreboard moving with a fine batting average and strike rate for them if they face the above class bowlers that Sachin had faced on live pitches and bigger grounds with smaller bats, slower outfield, no batting powerplays and no advanced technologies. Most probably the answer will be very few. Sachin had earned so many runs against many legendary and world class bowlers. I must say the present generation of batsmen are gifted if you consider the fact that five to six hurdles that Sachin had to face they don’t have to. Well I think there is a difference between receiving something as a gift and earning the same thing.

Written on 10^th September 2017

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Ever since I started watching cricket Sachin Tendulkar’s name has been discussed by people with immense pep. Now, even after his retirement the trend still continues. In a career that spanned over two decades Sachin had played so many great knocks and there are so much to remember from those knocks.

I have many things to reminisce about him from those experiences shared by so many legendary cricketers and those matches that I had watched him play over the years. As a teenager when Sachin made his test debut against Pakistan in Karachi, the same match when Waqar Younis made his test debut against India, he was injured by a Waqar Younis delivery, but he still continued playing with grit. Tendulkar was involved in a match saving partnership with Manoj Prabhakar against England at Old Trafford, when India were close to losing a test match. In Sharjah, he had danced down the track and had hit Shane Warne over his head when Warne bowled from around the wicket. He had opened with Sourav Ganguly and later Virender Sehwag in many one day internationals and was involved in so many great opening partnerships. Contrary to Sehwag facing the first ball when Sehwag and Sachin open in one day internationals, Sachin faced the first ball when he took on a mellowed but not adjunct Wasim Akram in Centurion during ICC World Cup 2003. There had been very few instances of Sachin facing the first ball in the Indian batting of a one day international when he had opened with Virender Sehwag. I remember Harsha Bhogle saying this in the commentary box. Both his five-fors in one day internationals had been in my hometown Cochin. Now he is the co-owner of Kerala Blasters.

But I am very much emotionally attached to this knock of Sachin in the ICC World Cup 1999. This knock may not be against the best of bowling attacks. Sachin had to return to India when he lost his father and he missed India’s match against Zimbabwe. I was so sad when I came to know the reason why he didn’t turn up for India’s match against Zimbabwe. I still remember Shahid Afridi greeting Sachin Tendulkar with a smile when he came back and was there for a practice session.  In the first match Sachin played when he came back from India, he scored a hundred and dedicated it to his father. Many Kenyan fielders had butterfingers and it was so funny to watch them fielding clumsily. Also it was the first time I saw Sachin playing reverse sweep and I don’t know whether he had played this shot before and after this match in a one day international. I can’t remember to whom Sachin spoke to during the presentation ceremony. It was either Bob Willis or Paul Allott. But both are excellent orators and I pay attention to the commentary of both of them. The commentary of Bob Willis and Paul Allott are somewhat similar and sometimes I fail to identify who is commentating due to the similarity in their Anglian dialect which I really like.

Sachin played this knock against the Kenyans in County Ground, Bristol and only three times Sachin had played in one day internationals in this ground including his first appearance in this match. In the next match Sachin played in Bristol during 2002 after this match, he scored a century against the Lankans. After that during 2007 when India toured England, Sachin played at Bristol for the third and final time and was wrongly given out when Matt Prior took a catch of Andrew Flintoff’s wide ball and he was out for 99. It would have been a record if he had scored a hundred in the third match he played in Bristol and it would have been hundreds in all matches played by a player in one single venue.

I have a few other memories to cherish about Bristol though I have never been there. At times my brother-in-law travels to Bristol officially and he informs me of the trips. Many branded confectioneries that my parents bring from United Kingdom after their visits have plants there in Bristol. Also I play one of my favourite house music songs in my german motorcar and that duo hails from Bristol.

1. Series –  ICC World Cup
2. Year – 1999
3. Venue – County Ground, Bristol
4. Date – 23 May, 1999
5. Result – India won
6. Margin – 94 runs
7. Player of the match – Sachin Tendulkar
8. Series won by – Australia
9. Margin – 8 wickets
10. Player of the series – Lance Klusener

Written on 9^th October, 2016