It's not about playing cricket for 24 years.. It's about playing cricket with "PASSION" for 24 years.. Sachin Tendulkar

There are a lot of cricket players in this world who have touched millions of hearts, who have had a huge fan following, who have made their nation proud by winning matches and serving the team for several years but clearly there's only one man that stands out and is a class apart and he is none other than Sachin Tendulkar :)

Today, it reminded me of my childhood. When i was young(Not that i consider myself old now)... Okay, let me put it this way... When i was a child... Sachin Tendulkar was one of the many reasons i watched cricket. I still remember fighting with my father and asking him to buy me a cricket bat that had the same logo as Sachin Tendulkar's bat had. Back then he used a bat which had a logo called POWER on it. Does this sound familiar to you? if not see the image below and you will know what I'm talking about.

Sachin's POWER BAT

I didn't care about how good the bat was but i just wanted the bat only because it resembled Sachin's bat and i thought i would play awesome if i had that bat, plus it would look cool bcoz i owned one :).

Cork Ball  

Back then we used to have 3 kind of cricket balls - Rubber ball, Tennis ball, Leather ball(The one we could not afford as a child :)) and Cork Ball (Remember this one? )   - The alternative to leather ball.

One day i used my bat to play a cork ball game, however it was meant to be used to play tennis ball cricket. And then.... the bat's handle partially cracked but i still held on to that partially broken bat only because Sachin's bat was the same and it looked cool that i had one like that. Finally someday i probably gave it away as Sachin's bat's logo changed. :)

Oh man childhood was so much fun... I miss playing cricket with my childhood friends in Bangalore City :) I must admit i'm blessed to have been bought up in a place with so many awesome friends around me who loved to play cricket !!! What a lovely time we had... Okay I'm going out of track now... Let's get back to Sachin.

24 years of Cricket-
First of all playing cricket for 24 years is not a joke and most importantly playing clean and PASSIONATE cricket in those 24 years is just awesomeness and we should probably invent a word called #Tendulkarness which beats awesomeness :).

The only reason he would continue to play is his passion for the game, NO ONE in this world will spend 24 years on the same thing if they were not really passionate about it. If you are thinking he played to make money then your wrong, he would have had better ways to make money if he wanted to, but he didn't. He was never involved in a single match fixing scandal too.

He has won so many matches for India. I still remember this match played in Sharjah against Australia and if it was not for Sachin we would not qualify to the finals and win the cup eventually.There were times where people would turn off the TV when Sachin gets out because it wasn't fun watching anymore and they believed we lost the game if Sachin got out. There are so many other achievements and i can go on and on with it but let's not get there.

                                 


Critics that i don't agree with-
I know a lot of you will say that he played this long to create records blah blah blah....... Let me ask you something... What's wrong in that? If you were Sachin Tendulkar, would you not want to create records for your own and quite frankly you should be proud that there is an Indian who has created those records that is not easy to beat by any other cricketer. It's okay to get another Century on your records, who would say no for this?

Some of them say he plays for himself and not for the country... Give me a break... If you guys recollect, Sachin's dad died during world cup. He came back and played for the country not for himself. The country needed him to play the world cup. They didn't care what was going on in his mind. He could have easily said NO to play but he didn't only because of his passion for the game. It takes a lot of guts and courage to do this... Respect it!!!

He has sacrificed the time he had to spend with his family, missed taking his kids to school, attending their annual day events...etc. Luckily he had a great wife who has supported him and let him pursue his passion, Thank you Anjali !!!

There are a lot of articles and talks of comparing Sachin and Dravid/Ganguly/Lakshman... Guys remember its okay to compare but remember Dravid,Ganguly and Lakshman are good in their own ways but the nation loves Sachin not just for cricket but even for his personality. He has touched millions of hearts and built an emotional connect with each one of them who love him. That's why we saw people cry today when he left the ground for the last time. Let's admit it, the number of people who love Sachin is much larger than any other cricketer.

Personality -
I believe for any human being, character is the greatest quality anyone can have after which comes their successes and Sachin Tendulkar was a person who was so humble and is so down to earth.

I remember when he became the captain and the team lost a lot of matches, he accepted his failure and went on to concentrate on what he was good at (Batting). This is the meaning of "letting go" and accepting failures.
He has mingled so well with the young players on the team, never a news about him showing attitude towards them or anything like that. Oh by the way he still plays Ranji matches , he actually does not need to but he loves this game man !

In the 24 years he was never involved in a single match fixing controversy. With a famous personality like him its very easy to get tempted to take shortcuts but like he said in today's speech his dad gave him the freedom and asked him not to take any shortcuts which has paid off today. This is why a child's upbringing is so important :).

Some things YOU WILL NEVER SEE again -
Today as Sachin gave his emotional speech, at the end of it i had tears in my eyes as it just took me back to my childhood and i think if i was him i would have just broken down. Imagine what would be running in his mind as he got out for the last time, he knows that is the last time he will ever get to play a match again.
He will never get the same adrenaline rush as he got for these 24 years..... seems very strange right?? Well that is life we gotta accept it and move on ! But....

• We will never have the same excitement we used have waiting for Sachin to come and bat.
• We will never get to see some of his magnificent shots again.
• We will never hear the crowd shouting "Sachin Sachin" again. This is epic when you are in the stadium. What energy this man can bring in by just walking in the ground.
• Finally you will never see this man lift his bat again like this. Sad but true.                              

 So let's all take a bow for this wonderful man who has broken many records and has made our country proud, who has made some of our childhood and 24 years of our lives awesome, and last but not the least who is a wonderful person.

Thank you for EVERYTHING Sachin Tendulkar !!!

You are Truly AWESOME !!!

                                                                                           -One of your millions of fans
                                                                                             Chetan Nayak