Just A Little Bit On Tendulkar

"Sometimes I need to look at the scoreboard to figure out whether I'm batting hundred-plus or whether I am on zero." This is what Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar said trying to distinguish between the applause he got when he walked in to bat and when he got to a milestone.

If you’ve never watched the game of cricket and wonder who this man is and what he has done to receive this applause, follow this protocol. Find out where India’s playing, go there and wait for India to bat. At some stage, a small man, just under five and a half feet tall will walk in. Everyone will stand up for him, give him a one minute and sometimes longer applause, and you will be amazed at the atmosphere of awe, adulation, praise and excitement and enthusiasm knowing no bounds. Somewhere in there, around that man, you will also find an aura of modesty. That can only be Tendulkar.

Tendulkar is a rare breed. That long applause he has been receiving every time he walks out to bat in Australia is fine. But, the beauty of it all is that when you find out what this man has done and what he is capable of, you tend to believe he deserves every bit of that applause. He does.

Eighteen years ago, he made his debut at the highest level of all. So many people around today, enjoying his classy batting would not have yet come to being. It simply amazing that at the age of sixteen, when most others of his age group will be considered to have risked their lives to face an Imran Khan delivery, he faced that very man, without much ado. He is thirty four now, and thirty five is just around the corner. If he has been playing for this long, he must be worth something.

For a non-Australian sportsperson, the best scale of judgement is the applause, acclaim and recognition he receives from the Australian public, press and sports brains. Not many in the cricketing arena have come close to receiving as big an applause as Mr.Tendulkar every time he walks out into the middle, be at the G, at his favourite Sydney, where he has probably and unfortunately played his last or even at the Adelaide Oval.

One expects the average cricket freak to stand up and scream for Tendulkar – and he does. But he’s not alone; those experienced men at the Lord’s Member’s Pavilion, the respected cricketing brains, his opponents all respect him as much. The fanatic enjoys the way he dances down the track to Warne with sheer contempt and thwacks him simply over mid-wicket, long off, long on – pick your spot.

On the other hand, the connoisseur is simply in awe at the way he creams, nurtures, guides, propels, nudges or caresses the ball through that cover region with the optimum timing and footwork and just the right amount of power in perfect balance with that MRF sticker shown clearly on the face of his bat which by now is facing the direction of the hit. The same ball, pitched in the same area from the same bowler and if Sachin feels like it the same venue as well could on another occasion be simply bludgeoned through the same cover region at a much greater speed, appealing to another section of his huge group of admirers. Oh yeah, that is his cover drive - a treat to watch - but most believe that it is the straight drive that is his best stroke. I’ll give you the thrill of dreaming about that one by yourself.

Tendulkar’s short stature gives him a great advantage as a batsman. It allows him to poise perfectly balanced in his stance. Also on a lighter note, it makes his strokes look a little better. When Tendulkar leans forward on the front foot on the way to one of his unique drives, there is no camera angle as a result of which a trained eye can say “That didn’t look very good.” It always does.

There is not a shot in the book which Tendulkar cannot play. He has shown us that he can play every shot, with a good success rate, if he wants to. He can walk across to an off stump ball and flick it with no power and only timing through anywhere from wide mid on to fine leg slip. He can plant his front leg across – sometimes smartly outside the line of off stump to take the lbw out of the equation – and either sweep hard over anywhere in the leg side in front of square or guide it – slightly like the shot Marillier invented but quite a bit closer to the text book – with just a dab, as fine as you like it. The late cut, the square cut, the upper cut over anywhere between point and the ‘keeper and many other strokes add glitter to his strokeplay.

The sheer determination of Tendulkar is commendable. Not many can forget the Chennai Test of 1999 where Tendulkar batted with purpose for long hours, struggling in the heat of Chepauk in a losing cause. It remains one of the most valiant innings in test history. It is this determination that has brought him where he stands today. One cannot talk about this man’s determination without a reference to the series against Australia in 2003-04.

Prior to this game, the Australians had noted that Tendulkar had developed a tendency to play slightly in the air in the direction of short extra when attempting a cover drive. Obviously, Tendulkar did not have time to work on the flaw and correct it. He developed a simpler solution but one which was a little hard to implement – he decided to simply stop playing the cover drive. That certainly did greatly reduce the beauty of Tendulkar’s play but it made him more effective than he could have been with the cover drive when in that situation. This was a solution most players would have simply written off such an option as once the ball leaves the bowler’s arm, it is simply reflex action which takes over. A trained sub-conscious mind gets into the picture. But somehow, Tendulkar successfully did not play that stroke! He compiled a 241* at Sydney in the Fourth Test without playing a single cover drive. Tendulkar, in this exhibition, displayed the great amount of self control he possesses to all those who observe and analyse him.

Tendulkar does have a technical anomaly; not a flaw, but an anomaly. The position of his hands on the bat handle is abnormal and outside the text book. . When he initially came into the scene, cricket connoisseurs wrote him off saying that his grip – low on the bat handle – would prevent him from performing. Eighteen years, 11782 test runs and 16270 ODI runs later that does not seem to have caused much of a problem.

One other point on Tendulkar’s career was put very simply by Mark Waugh when he said, “Sachin, like God, must never fail. The crowd always expects him to succeed and it is too much pressure on him” It is humungous amount of pressure, but Sachin has not wilted.

For eighteen years, he has been a international idol and he is still looking good – albeit not as good as earlier - for more. Sensational and charming at the same time, Sachin Tendulkar the batsman will always remain one of the greatest to have ever played the game. Tony Greig said "First there is Tendulkar, then daylight, then everything else!"-BS