 |
Have you ever thought of what will happen to Indian cricket after Tendulkar?”
The air was full of anticipation as the question hung for an infinitesimal moment. In the small lounge of a five-star hotel, where a select gathering listened intently to every word he spoke, where the only noise that could be heard between the conversation was the click of the cameras, Sachin Tendulkar said: “Oh! I really don’t know how to answer this question. Of course, cricket goes on. There have been players in the past, our heroes, who retired and cricket went on.”
The two are intertwined—Indian cricket and Tendulkar. So don’t blame him for not dwelling on it for too long. It is a question that a billion people would rather not ask themselves.
People say Twenty20 cricket has brought an entirely new audience to cricket—women and children. Tendulkar did that way back, permeating through the collective consciousness of every Indian even before he completed his first year in international cricket. The 119* vs England in Old Trafford (1990), the 114 vs Australia in Perth (1991-92), the twin centuries against Australia in Sharjah (1997-98), the World Cup efforts in 1996 and 2003, the 155 vs South Africa in Bloemfontein (2001-02), the 241 at the SCG (2003-04)... the list is endless.
All his innings, a nation sat hooked to its TV sets, unblinking, hoping, praying, crying, rejoicing. We watched wide-eyed as he ripped through a charging Shoaib Akhtar in Centurion in the 2003 World Cup. We did the same recently, as he valiantly tried to pull off a win against Australia in Hyderabad. There we were again, alongside the women and children, sitting with bated breath, watching the maestro exhibiting his class, in complete control, taking no risk yet unleashing his strokes to all corners of the park. This happened amid talk of the impending death of the ODI cricket with the advent of T20. Tendulkar and India proved the doomsayers wrong.
The 20 years have amounted to 73,103 runs in 159 Tests, 436 ODIs, a T20 international, 261 First Class matches, 523 List A matches (domestic level of ODI matches) and 25 T20 matches. It may be impossible for even a die-hard fan to remember so many innings, but not Tendulkar. He can vividly recall each innings. He also has a photographic memory of his dismissals—he can describe it more correctly than any match report lying in newspaper archives.
It is difficult to miss the excitement and joy in his voice as Tendulkar talks about his first century. “I was unbeaten on 96 overnight and couldn’t sleep. We [Sharadashram Vidyamandir] were playing against Don Bosco and I was impatient to get to my first ever century. Another reason for my impatience was that I had invited Achrekar Sir [coach Ramakant Achrekar] to dinner at my home, but he said the day I score a century he would come. Next morning my father took me to pay obeisance at a Ganpati temple. I scored the century in the very first over. The first thing I told Sir at the change room was that he now had no way out but to come to my house.”
Tendulkar has made batting look so easy and complex at the same time. “Nothing is easy and you have to work hard for it. I’m a person who hates taking anything for granted, I want to prepare to the best of my ability,” he says. “I wanted to go out and express myself to the best of my ability, and if the pre-match preparation was good then I was in a position to go out and deliver, and that is something I focused on. There may be innings where you don’t do well, that’s fine, but as long as you’ve given 100 per cent, that is what matters to me.”
Innumerable reasons are attributed to his genius. Talent, focus, discipline, hard work, but the basic reason behind it is that he takes his cricket extremely seriously. Yet, even for someone who started leaving his imprint on the landscape of cricket far and wide at such an early age, he admits to having his moments of doubt. “In the earlier part of my career, in the second Test at Faisalabad, I scored 58. But in the previous Test I had got out early and I had actually questioned myself whether I belonged there. I felt out of place, tense, and didn’t know what was happening around. In the second Test I went out and decided that, come what may, I’m going to be there. That innings was the turning point of my life because after that I felt I do belong here,” he says.
Interestingly, while it is his ODI exploits that come forth in one’s memory—maybe because he has played so many of them—it is the Test innings that he brings up often in discussions. Tendulkar may have dished out hi-cal, instant gratification performances in the shorter version, but it is the subtle flavours of the longer version that he prefers. “We should play more Test cricket for sure. It is obviously not a great news that we are only playing five Tests this season. Ideally, for any team to progress you need to play more Test cricket as that is where the real cricket is,” he says.
Tendulkar often speaks about how his game has evolved from the aggressive one a 16-year-old played to the vintage essays that come off his bat at 36. Brand Sachin, too, has evolved in a similar fashion.
Tendulkar being a minor, his father, Ramesh Tendulkar, had to sign his contract with the BCCI on his behalf before his debut series against Pakistan in 1989. Six years later, in 1995, at 22, he entered into a five-year contract worth around Rs 30 crore with WorldTel, which made him the richest cricketer in the world. In 2001, a Rs 100 crore deal was signed with WorldTel. In 2006 he entered into a contact with Singapore-based World Sports Group.
There he sat under dim lights, his charcoal grey Adidas T-shirt sporting another logo on the right side—ST, underlining his essential character, understated mostly, with glimpses of flashiness (as reflected in his love for expensive fast cars). ST branded cricket equipment and kids’ consumer goods, like clothing, food and toiletries sporting the brand, are some of the plans in the pipeline.
Having never rushed in his career, he has mastered the art of patience (the 241 at SCG in 2003-04 did not have single one of his trademark cover drives). It is this patience which has seen him live his life under intense media glare. Yet, here he was, answering every query, which he had probably answered a zillion times before, with not a hint of impatience. His voice sounded tired after a few hours but a few cups of black tea kept him going. There were no grudges about what he has to do; just a simple, uncomplicated acceptance of how things are and how they have been.
“This is the way I’ve known my life from the age of 14. That is when I started playing first-class cricket when I was part of the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team. But I’m comfortable with it,” he says. “People have appreciated me for what I am, so I don’t make any special effort to change.”
That is Sachin for you—simply Sachin, even after 20 years.
