Sachin..The Man..The Legend..The GOD..

When someone asks me what do you know about Sachin...? My reply would be “I don’t know who Sachin is, I only know Sir Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar – The GOD of cricket”

Since the inception of International cricket, in the year 1844, till today, there have been a number of players who marked their appearance in the field of cricket. We have had Legends and Champions like Don Bradman, Alan Border, Vivian Richards, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and the list goes on and on, but then we never had another Sachin Tendulkar. Crossing all these, why Sachin is named as the GOD of cricket?

In November 1989, Sachin made his International debut against Pakistan. From then on there is never seeing back in his 24 year old International cricket career. Let’s have a look at the stats on his career.

These numbers are enough to say that he is more than a Legend and can be called as a God of cricket. But exactly from when and where the term “GOD” in the history of cricket persisted.

This traces us to the Legendary Australian opener – Mathew Hayden. Although he never directly said that Sachin is the GOD of cricket, during Australia tour of India 1997-98, after seeing the impeccable batting style of Sachin, Hayden, in one of the public forums quoted that “I have seen God. He bats at number four for India in Tests.” And it was the era where cricket is gaining more popularity and late 90’s is the period when Sachin is in his peak form and every cricket fan in India started referring Sachin as the GOD of Cricket.

Following this in the same period, group of fans in the Indian crowd came up with posters which quoted as “If cricket is our religion, then Sachin is our God.”

And this was the era when the quote came in when social media didn’t even exist. It was the then Indian print media that used Sachin’s persona and the Indians’ affection towards Tendulkar which made this viral among the masses.

He is perhaps the only batsman who got out for more than 48 times due to poor/wrong decisions by umpires. And he never questioned their decision, but all he did is walk back to the Pavilion with a smile on his face, after all he never forgets that Cricket is a Gentlemen’s game.

No doubt, he mastered all the techniques in cricket and the current generation cricketers started referring to those of many.

Let’s see few quotes on Sachin by some legends.

• Sir Donald Bradman – “I see myself when I see Sachin batting”.

• Sir Viv Richards – "I didn't see Don. But to me, in all the years associated with the game, I haven't seen a better batsman than Sachin Tendulkar".

• Allan Donald – “In my several years of international cricket, Tendulkar remains the best batsman I have ever bowled to.”

• Mark Taylor – “We did not lose to a team called india...we lost to a man called Sachin.”

• Steve Waugh – “There is no shame losing to such a great player”

• Brett Lee – “Sachin Tendulkar is the best yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

• Andy Flower – “There are two kinds of batsman in the world. One, Sachin Tendulkar, Two, all the others.”

• Andrew Flintoff – “When you bowl at him you are not just trying to get him out, you are trying to impress him”

• Shahrukh Khan – “I would like to thank you, Sachin, for letting us breathe the same air as you do.”

• Barack Obama – “I don’t know about Cricket but still I watch Cricket to see Sachin play..Not because I love his play, its because I want to know the reason why my country’s production goes down by 5 percent when he is in batting”

• A fan placard at the Sydney Cricket Ground said, "Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed for even the Lord is busy watching him".

After all we are humans and what can we offer to this living GOD, except our prayers and worship to him.

Wishing the God of Cricket – Many more happy returns of the day.

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About the Author

The post is written by Sudheer . Sudheer is an MBA graduate from IIM Visakhapatnam. Cricket lover and a devotee of Sachin.. He is also interested in watching movies and giving reviews for the same..