Blogs Ohh What A Player!!
November 15th, 2007 by prashantHow often do you hear a commentator from the opposing team admiring a player whole-heartedly? That too a Pakistan commentator glorifying an Indian player. That is what Rameez Raja was doing all day today. He used superlatives such as “Words are not enough to describe the experience of watching Sachin play” or “We are grateful to Sachin for giving us such a gem”.
Well he was neither sarcastic nor was he exaggerating. Sachin is such a phenomenon that transcends nationalities. Like Lara had said before India’s tour of the Caribbeans that Indian people might have doubts about Sachin but not us. It was Sir Don Bradman, the best batsman ever to have played cricket who told his wife that watching Sachin bat reminded him of himself. What a player!!
And it is not only his shot making that makes Sachin The “God” for fans like us. It is his total commitment to the game. You could see a number of times today that in both of his partnerships (with Gambhir and Sehwag) he was the one who was pushing for that extra run. Still arguable the best runner between the wickets. He never bothers to give any looks to the bowler and always lets his bat alone do the talking. Truly, words alone are not enough to describe this phenomenal player. One staggering statistics that was talked about today was that, if Sachin had scored Century every time he reached the score of 90+ in both forms of Cricket, by today he would have scored 100 Centuries. What do you say to that?
Of course, it won’t be long before the Indian critics would be criticizing him for not scoring even one ODI century in 2007 (though there is still time left) and how he is not the player he used to be. What is most interesting is that over the past few months I have heard the commentators say so many times that “Today Sachin looks in sublime form” or “He is batting like the old Sachin” or “This is how he used to bat at his peak”. Well, then why do these critics are gunning for his resignation? Why do they glorify a 43 by Sehwag as vintage Sehwag but discount Sachin’s continuing form as a thing of the past?
Well I guess it is all part of the package. So even players like Sachin have to pay this price simply because they are simply too good for us mortals to appreciate.
Go Sachin!!
November 16th, 2007 at 4:14 am
The most important thing about yesterday’s innings was that he was never bogged down by pressure. Ganguly and Gambhir got out cheaply and Sehwag was struggling to get his rhythm. But he kept his cool and played his natural game. Unlike the recent series in South Africa, where he was at his worst form, he maintained a positive body language throughout yesterday’s innings. I still remember Sachin stumbling and tottering for runs against Paul Harris and it was awful to see a great player like him struggling with his foot work and shot selection against a rookie spinner. Thankfully, he has shed all his doubts and has shown the world that he is still capable of playing a masterclass innings. I think the best way for Sachin to move forward is to show his middle finger to the critics and play his natural game, which is aggressive yet at the same time elegant.