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 (11th-14th). 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. 11th-20th 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!!
