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Friday, November 15, 2013

The Master Class: Sachin Tendulkar



Today when the God of cricket will pad up for the last time in his international career, the whole world will be on the feet to bid adieu to the “Master Blaster”. A hero of generations, an inspiration, a role model, an icon will conclude the unstoppable journey of two and half decade at Wankhede Stadium.
May be we are having overdose of “Sachin Nostalgia “at the moment, but who minds it when it brings all excitement and happiness. Even today one feels Goosebumps and gets trilled just by remembering those 2 matches at Sharjah.
There have been many stars in Indian milieu but none like “The little Master”.  I won’t talk of runs and records he created. If you go by cricketing skills and talent; Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid were not any lesser by any mean. Then what makes Sachin Tendulkar “The Sachin Tendulkar”?

I feel it is not just the cricketing talent of the maestro which resulted in such high admirers and adorers. It is his attitude and behavior that has distinguished him ahead of his contemporaries.
 Sachin is the reflection of dreams and aspirations of billions of middle class Indians. You hardly see someone getting international fame at a tender age of 14-15 and sustaining it for next 24 years with same calmness.
Handling mammoth expectations of a nation of billions where in a second you are treated as God on success and in seconds turned into dust upon failure. Managing such enormous fame with such serenity and grace isn't a task which many could do.
His focus and composure always kept the conflicts and controversies away from him and his game. Even the ball tempering and monkey gate controversy fell flat in front of his modest but mighty character. Even the critics of his game also admire his temperament, attitude and confidence.
His Iconic image grew even stronger when he became the poster boy for almost every top brand endorsements and overshadowed the film star dominated turf.  He single handedly changed the outlook and the approach to cricketing set up in the country.  For over a decade he remained a “One man army” in a team sports game. How can one forget the time when people use to switch off television sets with disappointment whenever Sachin got out.
His off the field life and gestures is also a great contributor to this fame and success. As a son, lover, husband, father, friend and social activist he has always maintain that grace and dignity which has added to his fame. Unshaken, undistracted even during rough patches of career, he fought with injuries, came to serve country even when he lost his father. Sachin is inspiration for current generation cricketers and generation to come because of all this.

Sachin evolved on the cricketing stage in the era when India was trying to evolve on global scenario. Economy was liberalizing, things were suddenly changing fast. At the same time Indian cricket and world cricket also took a giant leap with drastic changes & commercialization. Sachin spearheaded the success story for Indian cricket in that era and years after that. There was a time when greatest of players never had scored 8 centuries in their career, Sachin shocked and amazed the world by hitting 8 centuries in a calendar year.
Game has changed in era of T20 cricket but again the style and legacy of “The Master blaster” is influential to this change. With changing time he has played different roles and inspired many as a mentor and facilitator.

An era is coming to end when Sachin retires but his achievements and contributions will always inspire the lives as always for years to come

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