Sachin Tendulkar - दिल है कि मानता नहीं

After having watched cricket quite religiously for a number of years, I almost quit watching cricket a few matches after last world cup. And during the time I watched cricket, it was more for Sachin than for anything else I guess. It might sound foolish but it gave some satisfaction to watch a graceful shot come from Sachin's bat as compared to it coming from any other. And then when I realised that it would be really unlikely to see the same old Sachin back given the age and the injury worries, I quit watching cricket and shifted to tennis. Most probably, I will quit watching tennis too when Federer retires. Probably that is what passion is. It blinds you! It makes you think one-dimensionally. But I like doing things that way :)

Anyway, passion is not what I want to talk about here. Now that the world cup has begun and India's campaign will begin soon too, here is a review of the previous world cup and a preview of the current one with respect to Sachin, as I see it, of course.

World Cup 2003: India started out on a disastrous note with a dismal performance against a minnow (I don't remember which one it was and am too lazy to look it up) followed by an equally bad performance against Australia, India looked all set to come back home empty handed. But our dear Sachin Tendulkar had different plans. He realised that, as usual, he has to do most of the work alone. Next came England. With this shot against Andy Caddick http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMbIO5aCBI0, Sachin announced what plans he had for World Cup 2003. The rest, as they say, is history. Sachin led India to the final almost single-handedly. What next? Well the whole of India was waiting for the cup. Various statistics came up. I remember myself going around telling people that the cup is India's because India has never lost a world cup final (India played only one world cup final before that) while Australia loses every alternate World Cup final. These stats are a lot of fun :). However, Mr. Zaheer Khan had different plans. Having reached the final, our dear Indian bowlers began to think they are the best in business, almost equivalent to the likes of McGrath and company. Result - Zaheer Khan began the first over with a lot of aggression, a lot of sledging, those exchange of looks with the batsman .. all so perfect. The only thing that was below par was bowling. We almost lost the match in the first over. The rest of the match was just resting on the hope of a revival which was never to be. India had to chase 360. Sachin got out in the first over and with him went India's hope of lifting the cup. The rest of the match was merely a formality. So as I see it, the rest of the ten players owe the world cup to Sachin and to me.

World Cup 2007: After having enjoyed detachment from cricket (yes, detachment is really really peaceful), I want to once again follow this world cup with the same amount of enthusiasm, maybe one last time, hoping for a positive result. This is most probably Sachin's last world cup, and probably the only achievement missing from his glorious career. He has promised the fans back home that there will be something to cheer about when the team returns. I would be waiting for some six off some 'Caddick' announcing Sachin's intentions. I know there are a lot of players in the current Indian team who are looking good .. and also that Sachin has not been doing all that great in the past some time .. but I still believe or maybe want to believe that Sachin Tendulkar can still do anything. I want the WORLD CUP ... बस मुझे और कुछ नहीं पता :D