The Tendulkar Phenomenon

My first memory of God is switching on the television, surfing to ESPN and watching a short diminutive man hit a red ball with an absolutely straight bat and a still demeanor, back at an onrushing blonde who had run in at 150 kmph, with the utmost composure and simplicity. 

Needless to say no one moved in the rest of the field. As Mathew Hayden would later go on to elucidate what traversed my mind that day, “I have seen God. He bats at No. 4 for India.”

If we consider an Economic Times report to be true and consider cricket to be India’s third most defining religion (although according to me it must rank much higher) after Hinduism and Islam then Sachin Tendulkar is undoubtedly the Zeus in the pantheon of cricketing Gods . As that dreaded day in November 2013 edges closer when he will let the curtains fall down on an illustrious 24-year old career , indeed not only cricket but all world religions will be poorer by a God.

Indeed such is the enigma called Sachin Tendulkar that even in a nation like USA where cricket is a poorer cousin of baseball, barely known of in most parts, the president Barack Obama once said, “I would like to watch Sachin play, not because I particularly understand the game, but because when he bats my country’s production goes down by half.”

Yet surprisingly if cricketing technique had been the only parameter of judgement then Sachin Tendulkar would most definitely not have been placed alone atop the divine cricketing hierarchy for players like Brian Lara, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, and Sunil Gavaskar among a few others definitely  compare quite magnificently with The Little Master in terms of cricketing skill. What sets apart Sachin is his approach towards the game, an approach that is iconic of him and him only – an approach where he never assumes himself to be the master of the game that he loves so much but always remaining a student, a student who learns something new after every ball even after 24 years in the cricketing circuit, a student who is not afraid to rediscover himself, a student who prepares for every match as diligently as he prepared for the very first one , a student who places the game above all else never for once considering himself greater than the game. That is the Tendulkar Phenomenon.

In fact ad man Prahlal Kakkar , once while shooting an ad film with Tendulkar had asked him to swat a fly with a cricket bat . Tendulkar put his foot down, refusing to do anything of the sort which projected himself as greater than the game. The cricket bat was replaced by a fly swatter in the ad. In his 24-year old career Sachin has never once promoted any item of intoxication or any item with health hazards although undoubtedlty deals with McDowells or Kingfisher or even Wills would have made him richer by more than ten times of what he is worth now. Many powerful messages through one simple action. That is the Tendulkar Phenomenon.

When Gavaskar retired many proclaimed that his 34 centuries shall never be eclipsed. When Kapil Dev retired many proclaimed that his 434 wickets shall always remain a world record. Both stand shattered today. Perhaps Tendulkar’s numerous records will not stand the test of time. Perhaps each one of his records will be ceremoniously displaced from its lofty pedestal but undoubtedly, Sachin himself can never be replaced, nor can he ever be displaced for the simpler reason that Tendulkar was not only about cricket , he was about so much more. Perhaps cricket was more about Tendulkar.

Indeed the crowds outside television showrooms watching their God, the crowds at the roadside tea stalls hearing the commentators describe their God’s actions, the crowds well past midnight at airports to welcome their God, the crowds in the midday heat outside ticket counters waiting vociferously to get their hands on the prized piece of paper allowing them to view their God, the Indian crowds at stadiums all over the world cheering the fall of an Indian wicket because it would mean their God would walk in and the foreign crowds sighing in anguish and the entire stadium giving their God a standing ovation on his walk back to the pavilion (making it difficult to discern an Indian stadium form a foreign one) all represent the Tendulkar Phenomenon.

All this will not end with Tendulkar but all this definitely started with Tendulkar.

For Tendulkar has for more than 2 decades not only carried the hopes of more than a million people on his shoulders but has down it humbly and with utmost diligence. Never has Tendulkar disrespected an on-field or off-field official for a glaring mistake, never has he disrespected a fellow opponent for anything said to him, never has he disrespected the thousands to come to watch him play, never has he in any way disrespected the game and it is this love for the game that sets him apart from everyone else. Never did Tendulkar fear to stand up for what he thought was right, even turning in his own team mates Ajay Jadeja ,Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia for betting and match-fixing . The real victory however came for Sachin when the same Jadeja gave him not one but two guards of honour in his last Ranji match against Haryana. As JK Rowling had once written, “It takes great courage to stand up to your enemies but even greater courage to stand up to your friends “.That is the Tendulkar Phenomenon.

Sachin Tendulkar, in short transcended cricket without for once letting himself rise above the game, keeping his feet firmly on the ground. The young Sachin, with long locks always wanted to be a fast bowler so that his hair would fly when he ran in but being shorter than average he was advised against it by Denis Lille and Sachin immediately directed all his efforts towards his batting. Indeed it’s not easy to hear someone squashing your dreams but it’s even more difficult to have the heart to dream again. Sachin not only recognized a lost cause but dreamt again and by God, if not for Lille and Sachin’s will to make it big in cricket, we might have lost a God to arrogance. Tendulkar’s life teaches us more lessons than an average day in school. That is the Tendulkar Phenomenon.

Perhaps there will never be another Sachin Tendulkar to grace us with his presence and if that turns out to be true , I’m immensely proud to be of the same nationality as The Little Master for no on epitomizes “Great things come in small packages” more than him. I will tell the future generations with pride that I was once religious, that I have seen magic beyond cutting up people and making them vanish, that I have seen the most complicated of things done in the simplest of willow flicks, that I was a witness to the Tendulkar Phenomenon.

P.S. - I will tell them with pride that the God chose Kolkata as the venue of his penultimate test and I was there to bid him goodbye.