End of the SACHIN TENDULKAR era?

The aura is gone, the ability to create awe in the opposition and lift his team by his mere presence is gone. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has descended into the ranks of the ordinary mortals, who have to work hard for their success-and he is obviously struggling to come to terms with his lesser status. Injuries appear to have taken their toll - more mental than physical, since the strokes are mostly all still there- and it is painful to watch his anxiety and vulnerability at the crease which he has, for long, occupied with such regal authority.

After failing, yet again, to deliver when his team needed him most in the World Cup 2007, Tendulkar’s career, one of the most spectacular in cricket history, is in real danger of fizzing out with a whimper. That would be a real tragedy, not only for his millions of admirers in India, but for the cricket world as a whole.


For, a finer gentleman, if not cricketer, has never trodden a cricket ground. His real greatness lies in the fact that amidst all the adulation and hero worship in his country, he remained level headed and humble. Adored by his teammates and admired even by all his opposing players,Tendulkar has never let success – or his crores- go to his head, and even today remains the perfect role model for any youngster aspiring to be successful as an international cricketer, or anything else in life. After all, he has never proclaimed himself to be a superstar or cricketing god- such titles have been thrust upon him by worshipping fans, right from the street urchins to the uppermost echelons of political, corporate and glamorous India. In this era of match fixing, ball tampering, chucking and sledging, he remains a shining example of integrity and sportsmanship, and his commitment to the team he is playing for (whether it be India, Bombay, Yorkshire or his club side) has never been less than one hundred percent.

However, it cannot be denied that, as a batsman, Tendulkar has too often failed to live up to the expectations of his team and country. His one day failures are only a recent phenomena and nominal when offset against his past achievments, but his failure to deliver with the bat at critical stages, especially in the second innings, of crucial Test matches will always be a blot on an otherwise spectacular career. The recent series in South Africa was an example, where a decisive performance from Tendulkar would have easily secured a historic series win for India.The atrocious and uncharacteristic dab in the first innings at a ball on middle stump from Ntini, resulting in an easy edge to the overjoyed Boucher at Durban when the second Test was finely balanced, was proof that Tendulkar’s powers of concentration were waning. And his crawl in partnership with Rahul Dravid, at a crucial stage in the second innings of the decider, was an appalling sight for Indian viewers. It was especially hard to digest, since the bowler who ‘tied them down’ was left arm spinner Paul Harris, who would have been appropriately handled, with one hand tied behind his back, by the Tendulkar of old.

There have been several other instances as well, when Test matches involving India were hanging in the balance, which a batsman of Tendulkar’s class could have easily swung decisively his team’s way, but the expected magic with the willow was not forthcoming. Here, you also have to take into account the enormous psychological boost the opposition gets at the fall of this prize wicket. It was not a question of lacking talent or ability (god knows he had enough and more of both); he simply seemed to lack the bloody mindedness to see the team through. Now, I can see his die-hard fans already pulling out the statistics to justify Tenulkar’s greatness; but greatness often has to be measured in terms of how many matches , especially Test matches, the player has won (or – in desperate situations- saved ) for his country, and I am afraid Tendulkar has not measured upto expectations in this regard.

This is not to forget his superb 169 ( at Cape Town in 1997) or 155 (at Bloemfontein in 2001) against South Africa, but both the Tests were convincingly lost. His 155 not out in the second innings at Chepauk in 1998, totally dominating Shane Warne, set up India’s vicory over Australia by 179 runs. But the closest Tendulkar came to achieving victory for India in a critical situation was at Chepauk in the 1998-99 home series against Pakistan. Chasing 271 to win, Tendulkar single handedly almost carried his team to victory before, admittedly hampered by a back injury, he threw his wicket away (seventh out) with only 17 runs needed. Not surprisingly, India could only manage 4 more and lost by 13 runs!

Sachin has never played a fourth innings knock, under pressure, of the quality of Sunil Gavaskar’s masterly 221 at the Oval against England in 1979 - but for some shameless gamesmanship from a cornered English team and atrocious umpiring towards the end which ensured a draw, India would have achieved the huge target of 438 on that memorable day. Nor have we seen any innings from Tendulkar to compare with Steve Waugh’s epic ‘blood and guts’ double century at Kingston (Jamaica) against a rampaging Ambrose and Walsh, which won the 1994-95 series for Australia in the West Indies and actually signalled the dethroning of the West Indies as the dominant force in Test cricket. Many of Gavaskar’s and Allan Border’s and Steve Waugh’s innings were products of mind over matter – and this is where Tendulkar suffers in comparison. Talentwise, he was streets ahead of the three ( and probably behind only Vivian Richards ), but the trio’s powers of concentration were clearly superior to the little maestro’s.While it has been a close race for the no. 1 batsman's spot between Brian Lara and Tendulkar until recently, it is no longer a contest .Today, the batsman Lara is competing with (not very successfully at that ) is Ricky Ponting.

And his bowling; Tendulkar could effortlessly bowl superb outswingers or indippers to bemuse the best in the business, or toss up lovely legbreaks and googlies which would have made Shane Warne smile in appreciation. But what is the point, when the batsman knows perfectly well that the full toss or long hop won’t be long in coming? He has never bothered to fully develop his bowling abilities to achieve the consistency required to be a serious bowler in international cricket. Ultimately, all the individual genius in the world is no good in a team game like cricket, if it cannot be harnessed for the benefit of the team as a whole.

Perhaps one of the reasons behind Tendulkar’s failure to conquer more frontiers is that he is too nice a person. He is a gentleman to the core but, unfortunately in today’s cricket, there is not much place for nice guys. You cannot be liked by all and sundry and still win everything in sight. His lack of success as a captain may have been due to the fact that he always loved to be one of the boys. A captain has to keep himself slightly aloof from his team mates, and be willing at times to offend the opposition - and his own team mates, occasionally- in order to be successful in today's environment. Sourav Ganguly managed to get under the skin of Steve Waugh regularly, but made sure, in the process, that his team were competing on equal terms with the mighty Aussies.

All this is not to assert that Tendulkar did not play his cricket hard. Nobody liked a battle more than he did. Sledging from the bowlers and surrounding fielders never ruffled him, and even the Australians quickly decided that he was best left alone. There has been no more exciting sight in contemporary cricket than Sachin Tendulkar, when in full flow. It is only that…….well, something seemed to be still lacking. Maybe we expected too much from the little master. Anyhow, let us cherish him while he is still around- a worthy successor will take some time to arrive, if at all.


Sreesanth - Kerala cricket's great hope

The fickle side of Indian cricket

It is not easy to decide which is more fickle – 'Team India' (read the Indian cricket team) or its millions of 'patriotic' fans. The fans were, predictably, at it again after India’s upset loss to Bangladesh in their World Cup opener. Dhoni’s house under construction was vandalized, effigies of the superstars were burnt left, right and centre. Then, after ‘Team India’ thrashed lowly Bermuda, the delighted fans at Port of Spain were reported to have mobbed the team bus and strained to get a glimpse of their heroes!

Rahul Dravid, at a press conference prior to the Bermuda match, regretted the threats to the players’families after such defeats. The burnt effigies didn’t worry him-and he was right too,for isn’t effigy burning a national pastime in democratic India? George Bush must be the guy burned in effigy the most times in India, in even the remotest corners, yet somehow manages to take it all in his stride! The difference in the case of the men in blue, of course, is that they are more accessible for these fans, and Dravid was understandably worried about the safety of the players’ families.


If Dravid really thought about the whole thing, he would realize that it was really Corporate India, in close complicity with the visual media, which is responsible for this situation. The sponsors have become very adept at exploiting the passionate – and sometimes mindless - cricket following in the country to their advantage, using the larger than life images of the star players to promote whatever product they want to – biscuits to insurance to posh cars. The players too, they must admit, are willing tools in this game. And the channels, of course, follow the team relentlessly and conduct previews and post mortems with their 'expert panels’ and generally leave the fans in no doubt as to what is happening with their heroes. Expectations are thus raised to a fever pitch, only to be shattered when these stars reveal that they are quite ordinary mortals on the stage which matters –the cricket ground.

The problem thus arises when the quality of performance does not match the quantity of promotion. When a batsman has just got out playing a reckless shot in a tight situation, who wants to see him grinning from ear to ear and sipping a soft drink in the ads five minutes later? What the players can do, to try and alter the situation, is to generally keep a lower profile - even when the team is on top. The catch is, this would mean declining lucrative endorsement offers from the sponsors. Are they prepared to do this? After all the BCCI is not exactly paying them chicken feed for their Tests and ODI appearances and contracts. Until then, one is afraid things will go on like this, with the fans riding the waves of euphoria and hero worship one day and the troughs of despair and destruction the next, in tune with the results the men in blue throw up. One other obvious solution is there- start playing like the Australians and keep winning everything in sight!

The hype generated in association with the Indian Team going into the 2003 World Cup was incredible, but somewhat understandable. After all, India had supposedly the most dashing batting line up in the world and the bowling to support it. And they did carry the team to the finals after an indifferent start. But, after the Aussies put matters in perspective by thrashing India in the final, one assumed the hype would be toned down this time around- especially since the build up of the Indian team to the World Cup had been nothing to write home about. But no, it started ridiculously well in advance, and would have the gullible fan believe that ‘Team India’ were once again favourites for the title -this, when they had lost 4-1 in the Carribean and 4-0 in South Africa very recently.

Perhaps Rahul Dravid, or at least Greg Chappel, should have stood up and admitted frankly that India, far from being favourites, were actually rank outsiders for the Cup – a fact quite evident to the discerning follower of cricket. Such an admission would, in fact, have taken a lot of pressure off the team going into the tournament. Instead, the men in blue chose to go along with all the hype and pretensions, obviously with other considerations in mind. And now, they are paying the price, and unless they manage to progress further in the World Cup, they have to expect more attacks on their palatial properties.

The real issue for the common man/fan is the almost obscene amount of money these cricketers earn, making even our IT professionals appear paupers in comparison. John Wright, in ‘Indian Summers’ describes a meeting with a taxi driver toiling on the roads of Bangalore from 6 am till midnight every day. On learning that he was earning at the most, Rs. 4000 a month, the then Indian coach couldn’t help reflecting that the amount almost represented each Indian cricketer’s daily food allowance! So that’s the issue, but it’s fine with the fans as long as the team is keeping on winning and doing the country proud. To be fair to the admirers, they don’t usually mind even if the team goes down fighting. But once Team India starts playing rubbish -as sometimes only they can- and losing tamely to even lowly ranked teams, they can hardly be faulted for wondering what these blokes were being pampered for.

It is interesting to note that these hysterical reactions from the fans follow mostly India’s performances in the One Day format. I suppose this indicates that these are mostly the new generation cricket fans, brought up on a diet of One Day thrills and who couldn’t care less about Test cricket ( the sponsors and the media are aware of this as well, hence the noticeably milder build up to the longer version games). For me,Test performances have always been more important; I confess I felt like pelting a few stones myself after watching the Indians gift wrap the recent 3-Test series (one which, with some application, they should have easily won 2-nil) 2-1 to the Proteans, having won the First Test comfortably. The only problem was that Sreesanth was the only member residing anywhere near my geographical area, and he was, after all one of India’s few success stories on the tour!


Sreesanth - Kerala cricket's great hope