Here's a test:
Do you feel sad when India wins but Sachin Tendulkar does badly? Yes? Then you are a true Sachin fan.
At my age I can claim that I have seen Sachin grow. I became his fan when he thrashed Australians in semi-finals and finals at Sharjah in 1998. So when he is interviewed by my favourite read in the cyberspace - Lunch with FT, I had to include the link in my blog. Go here and enjoy.
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Have been thinkin of posting a comment for long, but somehow sometimes the topics just had a higher level than my brain can fathom about... But there is no better, or rather no other auspicious moment to start off than a comment on this blog which describes my favourite Being in the universe.. Had the opportunity to read this article in its entirety just after lunch and please do trust me when i write this.. The usual sleepy nature that oft accompanies the post lunch session was banished after reading the article.. so much so that it created a warm feeling.. a feel good factor from then on throughout the day.. This may seem ridiculous to many... but who cares.. the fact is.. I felt good about it... I state this specifically because even when He bats brilliantly there are people to always point at something negative about Him.. For example, if He plays well in 1 innings of a test match and does not score at all in the second innings, its because He has got too much pride in what He has done in the earlier innings... Forget the recently concluded Australian series and let me take you back to the Sri Lankan series when most of our batsman failed.. One bad series from the Master and we have these so called cricket analysts mushrooming from all corners claiming it to be "yet another failure" when the fact remains that despite all the talk of India's fab four, He remains India's premier bet. He is always part of the opposition's itinerary of team plans and strategies. To be more specific, there is a diff plan/strategy chalked out ezpecially for Him.
The last time He was written off was after the 2007 World Cup, when He had performed reasonably well in the series before that ( Winning the "Man of the Series" in the ODI series against the West Indies at home).
True the loaded Indian batting line up couldn't find their way past Bangladesh in that tournament once Sachin failed. Another failure against the Lankans encouraged some publicity hungry maniacs to make uncalled for statements like "He should take a look in the mirror" and "He's just a comic hero now".
Even today, I hear my colleague asking me why Sachin is not playing. The fact was that He had requested for a rest, but he/she was of the perception that He was dropped. How could someone who was the main architect of our ODI win Down Under be dropped from the team? Did it occur tooo far behind? Lemme rekindle a few those who have 4gotten ... He reversed the law of averages, was dismissed cheaply in a few group stage matches, but saves His best for the last. The last 3 innings produce scores of 63, 117* and 91. The first ensures a birth in the best of three finals, and the latter two seal the tournament after just the first two finals, encoring the famous Sharjah performance.
Perhaps Sachin remains the only batsman in cricket history to be criticized so heavily for two failures, don't remember any of the Chappell brothers commenting on Inzy's retirement when he returned binary figures in 2003 World Cup. Not the story of a player who, apparently, plays a good knock only once in 2-3 years, and that too against weaker teams or, hold your breath, "when it is not needed"( Tell me when does someone score a century when the team "does not need" it ? ) and definitely not of someone who is past His prime.
PS: By the way, didn't hear any suggestions for the miraculously consistent Jaques Kallis after a disastrous England tour. Surprisingly, it wasn't even discussed as much as a single Tendulkar failure is.
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