Nerve Endings Firing Away

Imran certainly kicked up a storm when he hinted at Sachin’s inability to take the winning run but on second thoughts, except of course to the diehard hardcore Sachin fans, was he really talking sense? Yesterday, I raved and ranted in equal measure regarding the andromedic fascination with the class of Tendulkar. The illogical pressure on a one-man army, that has known to blow away mighty opponents on more occasions than one is still subject to being doubted at being one of the greatest. I admit, being an Indian and Mumbaikar, makes one of those loyal Sachin fans that will not hear a single word of contempt against his demi-god iconic status. I do believe that he deserves the Ferrari and the homo-something rule waived for all his contribution not only to Indian cricket but also to the sagging ethos of a hero-starved nation of one billion. But I cannot suppress my rational mind and the verity of Imran’s statement slowly forms root in my disbelieving mind. The final moments of the Chennai Test, the earlier moments of the WC 2003 final; I horrifically begin to recount increasing number of times Imran has been right. Of course, there has been the Titan Cup, the Desert Storm blitzkrieg, the Pakistan WC 2003 walloping to counter his allegations. But when it comes down to the wire, we rather have a Steve Waugh to calm our faltering nerves. His 200 against the Windies in the Caribbean has been unanimously been considered the best test inning ever.

Have we pampered our little demi-god a bit too much or maybe the lofty billion-strong expectations are just too much for those shoulders? Shouldn’t we rather expect less from him but isn’t that doing injustice to the little master’s achievements that the great Don considered an uncanny resemblance to himself? Isn’t he the one with highest ODI runs and highest ODI centuries (and still counting)? Doesn’t Sunny himself want Tendlya to emulate his Test centuries record? Maybe our expectations are indeed valid. His match-winning capabilities should rise to the occasion and prove the clichéd maxim “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” right. Doesn’t it bother you that we have the world’ best batsman who played in four World Cups and we never won once? If we cannot win WITH Tendulkar, can we win without him? Let Sachin open dozens of restaurants, own a fleet of top-notch cars, get a host of laws waived in his favor; it is all admissible IF he does what he is known to do best; win matches. I may be virtually leaving a lot of loopholes in my frank expression of his abilities, but that is intentional in order to come to terms with what exactly counts as a match-winning inning and of course, is he expected to win matches for India each time he walks out to the pitch? I think a cricket team has 11 players and at least half of them are expected to bat well. Don’t get me started on why no Indian batsmen has crossed the 300 run mark yet, in spite of their lesser “talented” Aussie, WI and English peers are helping themselves to loads of 300+ helpings.

On a sidenote, don’t let yesterday’s post fool you on my views on the feminist movement, I very much support gender equality and abhor chauvinistic buggers like Dhoot of Videocon fame so if you belong to my kind of tribe, go on to Jivha’s blog and sign his online petition against gender discrimination.