Long Live Tendulkar

Long Live Tendulkar

Last 10 innings- average is even less than R.Ashwin! His world has been changed! 23 years of cricket behind him, 100 international TON & his own country baying for his blood! This is Cricket for you. No matter who you are or what your achievement is! You may be the best batsman of this planet, you may be the greatest achiever this game has ever seen, but as long as you are playing, you are as good as your last inning’s score! This game spares nobody, even if your name spells Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar! 

First things first- yes, Sachin Tendulkar is going through a poor run as per his standard. Media is buzzing with his last 10 innings score but I feel 10 innings is too less to form an opinion for a Legend like Tendulkar. So, better to take the average of last 20 innings and needless to say that the Great Man is going through a lean patch indeed. 20 innings, 711 runs with an average of 35.55 is not at all an average with Sachin Tendulkar or his fans can be proud of. But, his colleagues are doing no better than him! Have a glance at the following figures:

	Total runs in last 20 innings	Average
Gautam Gambhir	561	28.05
Virendra Sehwag	793	39.65
Sachin Tendulkar	711	35.55
MSD	584	34.35
Virat Kohli	686 (17 innings)	45.73

Virat Kohli is a standout winner no-doubt. But above facts state that recent failures of Indian Team as a Test side is mainly because of the failure of the batting unit collectively. You can not just single out a particular person as because he is 39 years old and others are around 30. Sachin Tendulkar is not the only reason of India’s defeat against England in Mumbai. One batsman can win you a cricket match but one batsman can’t make you loose. You switch on any news channel, anytime during the day- only one topic- “When will Sachin retire”?? This is ridiculous, utter non-sense. If Tendulkar hasn’t performed, so did others. Why asking for his head only? When a person plays for 23 years, he cannot go on with an average of 55-60 in every season. Sometimes, his average will remain more than 100 (if he is an out and out performer) and sometimes, in some season it will go below 30...ultimately it averages out in the end. This is the rule; this is what happened to everybody who has stepped into the cricket field. Media talking so much about last 10 innings, average 15.33 – right? Just stretch a little further- 4 more innings in Australia (11^th-14^th). Total runs- 226, average - 56.50- in Australia, against Australia.. 

And, most surprising stat is if we stretch back further by 6 more innings i.e. 11^th-20^th innings total runs he scored is 535!! Average is 53.50!!! What are you talking about man? We call him GOD, ok, fine, but he is actually a human being. You can not expect superhuman like performance from him everytime, in every season when he stepped into the ground! Last 10 innings only the yardstick for Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar? You kidding me…

Ricky Ponting has retired..fine..he was a legendary cricketer we all know ! Wish him a very happy life out of the cricket ground..But you are comparing him with Tendulkar? You serious? Ricky Ponting is not the man who has changed the landscape of cricket in his country! He is not the man who has carried the expectation of billions for 23 years!! Opposition never felt, during his entire career that if you manage to get Ricky, you have got Australia! Never! But Sachin Tendulkar has carried the burden and expectation of billions single handedly for a substantial period in his career. Sourav and Rahul blossomed during and after late 1998, SRT had played almost 9 years before that when it was said and believed that “India is Sachin & Sachin is India” !! 

Am feeling really humiliated that I have to remind all these to everybody ! I agree he is going through a lean patch in his last 10 innings, I agree his reflexes has slowed down with age (which is quite natural) but what is this fuss about get runs in next two tests or take retirement ?? Virat Kohli played outstanding cricket in Australia series, still he is just 13 runs ahead of Tendulkar after the 4 tests (Virat Kohli total runs- 300, sachin tendulkar total runs- 287). Yes, You can say Tendulkar is not in his bloody best, scoring below par, he should get back into the groove as soon as possible which is most urgently required for Team India ! But for God's sake, stop this hue and cry about his retirement! He knows when to go! Kirti Ajad & Vinod Kambli’s suggestion not required! Absolutely not required! 

Lastly I would like to end with a Chetan Bhagat Tweet about Tendulkar – “Sachin flak shows how brutal media and fame is. Keep laying golden eggs, you are fine. Or they will want to cook you for that one final Roast “

Sad but True!!

An Open Letter to Gautam Gambhir

 Hi Gauti

Hope this letter will find you in good health..Thanks for the entertainment you provided on Sunday against the aussies and we are very happy that India ultimately defeated Australia in Australia without any contribution of Sachin Tendulkar ! We hope you guys will continue to make us pride. 

Gauti, upto the time we won on Sunday, everything was perfect..We were happy- enthusiastically we were watching the post match presentation, then press conference in the news channels- all was well until U said that .."Honestly this was the best playing XI . You don't want names. You want people who can deliver...." !!!!

We, the die-hard Sachin fans were spell- bound.. ! Just cant believe U said that.. Let me put your words in some other way " This is the best playing XI currently. Yes, Sachin Tendulkar shouldn't feature in the best playing XI because you shouldn't go by name, You want people like Raina who can deliver " This is what You mean to say na Mr. Gambhir ?? Then why dint you come out and say clearly that "Yes, I did mean that"..

We, the SRT fans were in tears Mr. Gautam Gambhir ! Not because You have said that, it is because People like You have also started saying all these, rather, is daring to say all these.. No, We will not counter anything.. We will not ask how an opener who has played 14 tests and 25 innings Since February 2010 till date with an average of 29.33 (without a single ton  in all those 25 innings) is retaining his place in  the team in this era of competition where legends like Sachin is rested for the sake of rotation ! We will not say that in this 2 years period only two opening batsmen in world cricket, who had played at least 15 innings had a worse average  than that opening batsman  namely Phillip Hughes  of Australia and Imrul Kayes of Bangladesh and both are already kicked out from the "best playing xi" of their country.. We will not say all these, we should only smile and ignore all your words but we couldnt..coz we loved you too..We had not expected this from You..You are insulting Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar damn it ! You are insulting his millions of fans worldwide, openly, in press conference! That Sachin Tendulkar who has sacrificed playing International T20 since 2007 so that juniors like you can come into limelight. Remember this guy is the orange cap holder of 2010 IPL and 2nd highest run gettter in IPL2011 which is supposed to be a junior's tournament ! SRT has played only 16 ODIS out of 64 played since 2010, 9 of that 16 is at World Cup 11 only... Indian Team has mastered the art of winning ODI s without him, we are very happy for that, he also wants that, but that doesn’t allow you to insult the great man .. You shldn't do that gauti, You have no right to hurt millions in this way....

What are you thinking of yourself Mr. Gautam Gambhir? Do you think by scoring one match winning 91 against Australia You will be able to wipe out the memory of great Sachin Tendulkar from millions of Indian fans world wide ? If it was not you, we would not give any importance because we know dog used to bark when Elephant walks away, Elephant only ignores...But we couldn’t forget that 97 you played against the Lankans in the World Cup final and thus, it was painful for us to start hating that  Gautam Gambhir ! But you are compelling us to do so ! How old are you Gauti When Sachin hit that century in Perth in 1992 ? You are backing your captain about the rotation policy, fine , do that but you should know that just few days back your captain has announced publicly that he would quit any one form of cricket by 2013 (Given his technique and form most probably he would quit Test Cricket, never deserved to play that though) and he is also not sure to feature in the 2015 World Cup ! If he is not sure about himself, then why not giving rest to himself also?? Hope you and your skipper remembers somebody like Parthiv patel is warming the bench too along with Manoj Teewary & Irfan Pathan ! If rotation is to be followed all should be rotated, why only the openers? If we say this is only a trick by your captain to accommodate Suresh Raina in the team, then?? Suresh Raina doesn’t deserve a place in the playing XI in the overseas condition till date, no matter what your captain feels..Yes, he is an utility cricketer and devastating batsman in sub-continental condition but not in Australia.. N nothing much to say about your captain ! He was playing a “gem” of an innings yesterday till that sixer.. He is lucky that he got a full length overpitched delivery just at the right time and capitalised on that, otherwise stage was set for your skipper to be the villain..and if he continues to play in this way, very soon he would also not be a part of the so called “best playing xi”..Based on the current form, Do you feel your Delhi-mate opener deserve a place in the “best playing xi”??..”Honest” view please...We know he is an impact batsman, we know he is more destructive that Vivian Richards on his day, we know all these, please don’t repeat...Just ask your heart Whether Virendra Sehwag deserve a place in the best playing XI or not right now?

I may be wrong..It is also possible that You have not given that statement keeping Sachin Tendulkar into consideration..Then come out and clear everything..You cant just float a comment in the air and let the news channels speculate on that... When News channels are quoting you and saying "Is Sachin unwanted in the ODI team", it hurts Gauti, it hurts badly...

You know, its not your fault..Sachin himself is responsible for all this..How dare he remains century less for consecutive 11 tests?? Once he is born as Sachin Tendulkar, he has to score century in every 3^rd test he played..there cant be any exception..We treat him as GOD, so how come GOD remain century less for almost 10 months? Why did he skip the 5 ODI s against Windies in home turf ? Who told him to go to Australia early to prepare for Test matches leaving the safe option of playing against windies at batting beauties of the country?? Why did he choose to play the two most toughest ODI series only in last one and half year- one world cup and one triangular odi series in Australia?? Yes, he shouldn’t do all these..When he has teammates like you, he shouldn’t do that...

Anyways, please pardon me everybody (As this is an open letter, many people can read this) if I sounded emotional ...or sounded irrational..Many people have already advised me to listen to the brain, not to the heart...But, cant do that, as the name Sachin Tendulkar itself is well enough to initiate the process of  Heart taking over Brain !

Good Luck Gauti...Wish you grand success in your career..Hope you continue to make us proud and happy (?)..All the best..

Thanks & Regards

A die-hard SRT fan.