सचिन रमेश तेंडुलकर

24th April, 1973...... the world was blessed with a gem of an individual.....
Who kept getting better like an old wine... from a student at Sharadashram Vidyamandir School.... determined pupil of Ramakant Achrekar working hard at Shivaji park Dadar... a 16 year old playing test cricket... breaking lots of records as he played on.. heart throb of India.... to being best batsman that has every played on a cricket ground.....Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar...

They say statistics are like Bikinis... What they reveal is elementary but what they conceal is vital... :) but still good to mention a few of those of Sachin .....Debut in 1989 at the age of 16... 156 test matches scoring 12429 @ average of 54.27...420 ODIs scoring 16427 @ average of 44.... 41 test centuries... 42 ODI centuries...50 test fities and 90 ODI fifties to add to that.. well even these numbers dont say it all...The little master truly is godly....and ders more to come

.His debut portrayed a Baby faced Sachin facing lethal Paki attack, a 16 year old batting a real test in a blood soaked shirt after being hit on mouth by Waqar at Karachi...........heartbroken kid after being out on a duck on his ODI debut... maiden test century against England@Old Trafford at the age of 17....... celebrating Holi with smashing New Zealand for 82 in 49 balls opening the innings.... most runs in the 1996 world cup...performed great in 1999 and 2003 world cup...... biggest headeache of the aussies.... ...holding around 70 world records... he still continues being a shining knight in India's armour...

I still have in my mind images of him... ...An attacking opener who went bizarre to destroy opposition...... Disappointed being stumped out to Jaysuriya on 65 in the Eden Gardens World cup semis....... Thrashing of Henry Olonga at Sharjah in reply to short pitch bowling in the previous match......The Desert Storm innings against the aussies at Sharjah when he was unstoppable and so was Tony Greg talkin abt him......Giving night mares to bowlers like Shane Warne......battling the back problems in the Chepauk test against Pakis and sad Sachin returning to pavilion when he got out .......Looking up to skies dedicating his 99 world cup century to his dad........walking back dragging his bat when Aussies thrashed India's 2003 world cup dreams......Carrying Kumble's cap to umpire every time acting as his good luck charm... Fury on his face when hes judged out wrongly... dancing like a kid when he tricked Moin khan on the last bowl of the day in test match...its countless

Its quite unbelievable what he has achieved. I cant imagine what it feels like to him when expectations of nation of a billion cricket lovers are on him.. there are chants of his name in the ground all over..... ppl like Shoaib, Mcgrath, Murali are in the face and he is expected to thrash them all over the park.. every tournament..every match..every ball and after all this hes still supposed to be a human !!!
One can only understand all this when you experience reactions of people when Sachin is coming out to bat....crowd of about 50000-100000 going mad with every shot of his..... millions jumping up and down at home.... standing in the streets to watch him play...celebrations with deafening sounds when he reaches his milestones... The stunned silence and disbelief in the park when he gets out.

There would be always critics and arguments. While Don Bradman quotes him the best batsman in the world; people who know very little about Cricket argue he is not a match winner or think hes hyped up. He has seen it all and after 19 years of hard cricket, 80 international centuries, uncountable challenges and battles; this man still walks out everyday on the pitch like young Tendlya...hungry for runs.... he does want to break more records ... wants to play for the country...

As it is rightly said everyone who loves him Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our god...Hope we are lucky enough to see some more strokes, records, tricks of the keen cricketing brain, kiddish smile, the anger, the celebrations and a lot more from the little master......

God bless Sachya...