There was a time in 90's when it was unthinkable to even imagine an India cricket team without Sachin Tendulkar. From the day in 1989, when this boy from Mumbai smashed Abdul Qadir for 3 sixes in one over in that exhibition match in Pakistan, and made lighting fast fifty, he has been the darling of Indian cricket fans. Its not too far from truth that no one unites India more than Sachin. If you ever need evidence of this, watch any Sachin innings video on YouTube, but dont watch Sachin, watch the crowd when he hits a 4 or 6, or when he raises his bat after 50 or 100. No one watching remembers their religion and political preferences or even which part of India they are from.. they all just dance in the aisles..
This is what Sachin has done for all his 23 years in International Cricket. He has given performances of such magnitude on the field that has made India realize that we are not inferior, we are equal and even better than most in the world of sport.Its not that Indian cricketers in earlier generations were not that good, The Legends such as Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev also held Indian pride very high but Sachin's arrival also coincided with new confident India as whole. I remember reading an article from Harsha Bhogle where he mentioned that Sachin's arrival in cricket scene coincided with new economic reforms from then Finance Minister which opened up the Indian Economy and it has not looked back since. That was also the time when Indian IT industry really took off with companies like Infosys going public in early 90s. Now there is connection here. Indian IT industry is also industry of young people. At that time, all youngesters working in IT companies were working for many foreign clients, mainly in USA. It was still early days for Indian IT image and some where, all those young Indians in foreign land saw Sachin performing against the best of the lot and gained the confidence that we can do the same.
That was also the time when Indian people were watching cricket not for India team but for Sachin Tendulkar. It was common that whenever Sachin was out, half the stadium will get empty, rest will go quiet and most people will turn their TV off. Mid to late 90s, when Sachin was already 10 years into the international cricket, people used to fear, what after Sachin? it was a very scary thought....
However, what Sachin also did is to inspire a generation of cricketers after him, likes of Sehwag, Dravid, Ganguly joined him and started sharing some expectations of Indian public and Sachin , for once, had the luxury of odd failure and India still pulling off victories (Natwest 2002 final.. Ganguly's shirt). Sachin was still the main deal though.. it was Sachin's word in 2003 WC when he said "we will improve" on behalf of team and calmed the nation down after scratchy start of the tournament. True to his word, team pulled its weight and we all know that..
we still thought what after Sachin? it was still unthinkable though likes of Dravid and Laxman were pulling enough weight.. in the middle of 2000s, Sachin's form fluctuated in the second half, but he still had lot left.. and no Indian team was still possible without him.. not so long ago, it was Sachin who was pulling India through the early matches of WC 2011 with 2 back to back 100s. if it wasn't for his 85 (Scratchy , yes, but look at the score sheet now) in mother of all Semi-finals against Pakistan..God knows what would have happened..
We all know that India has not been performing well in last 18 months or so.. and its not Sachin's fault.. we also bid farewell to 4 stalwarts of Indian cricket in last 4 years (Ganguly, Kumble, Dravid and Laxman) who built the core of the team with Sachin earlier and team has still moved on.. New talent like Kohli has taken the center stage and we still have the promise of Rohit's and Raina's in middle order for ODIs.. Manoj Tiwari and Pujara are lining up for tests as well.. so if we think about India team without Sachin as well, its not so scary any more.. Sad, true, but not Scary...
we all know that Sachin will not be around forever (and we always knew that) , though he still has the hunger and drive , enough motivation to play Ranji Trophy opener before the test series against Eng.
Think about it, if it wasn't the love for the game, what else could be driving Sachin to turn up for his state side for season opener...?? we have heard the stories that Gavaskar turned up for his club game the next morning he returned from foreign tours but he was still young then.. Sachin is not..
so what if this England series is the last series for Sachin and he bids good bye to Indian Cap, will that be catastrophe? I dont think so, Yes, it will be very sad day for Indian cricket but one thing Sachin has done by playing for these many years is that given us the opportunity to get comfortable with the idea of cricket without him, we have had the chance to live with the scary thought for so long that we are not so scared anymore.. we have seen enough talent coming through all these years that we know that next generation will take care of themselves and still hold their head high in the field..
This will be HIS biggest legacy to Indian cricket..and HIS every remaining day on field should be celebrated for that..and HE should be Thanked for HIS services to Indian cricket on last playing day...whenever that happens to be..
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