The above is the link which has incited me into writing this blog. Whoever has written this audacious piece of article on Indiatimes, can only glorify one single incident of Sachin's so called illustrious career. In 15 years, THERE IS ONLY A SHARJAH CUP WHICH SACHIN HAS WON FOR INDIA ? That speaks loads of why Sachin is just a run getter and not a match winner. 1998 seemed more a lucky year for Sachin with him winning matches for India. Awesome. If the author of this article(I will be calling him stinker) says we are dragging Sachin into too many things, are we also not dragging Ganguly into every possible muck ? Why have double standards. Ganguly too has more than 9000 runs in ODI's and has more than 20 hundreds(22 I think ??). But his century at the Independence Cup in Dhaka 1998 goes unnoticed when India chased a world record(at that time) score of 314 against Pakistan. Why do we not glorify such an achievement ? Ganguly and Dravid led India to a Test Match win in Sri Lanka in their home turf, chasing a second innings total of 260 odd against the bowling of Muralitharan in 2001.Ganguly scored 99 and won the man of the match. India levelled the series, though lost the last test match. Why do we not glorify such an achievement ?That too India chasing in a test match and that too overseas? Did Ganguly not set up the chase for India at Lord's in 2002 for that memorable chase of 326 ?
And stinker has not written about Dravid anywhere in his article. Maybe Dravid is way ahead of Sachin and he wants to compare Sachin only with the non performers. If Sachin had been a performer he would have been compared with Dravid I believe. Dravid won a match SINGLE HANDEDLY IN AUSTRALIA AGAINST THE MIGHTY AUSSIES SCORING A DOUBLE HUNDRED IN THE FIRST INNINGS AND A HALF CENTURY IN THE SECOND. Did I see Sachin in that test ?? Ohh .. I dunno really. Ahh yes, he did bowl his leg spinners and get couple of wickets. I see, so is Sachin a bowler or a batsman ? ohoo .. ALL ROUNDER. So when Sachin fails with the bat his bowling reaches supreme levels comparable to Shane Warne. No, Dravid DID NOT score a double century in Pakistan to help India win a Test Match there. But Dravid committed a SIN. He declared the Indian Innings even though Sachin was on 194. Was Sachin's century not more important than an Indian win. Of Course it was ! I found a mention of Sachin's awesome performance against BANGLADESH, which fired him up. Wow , what an opposition Bangla is.. oh yes yes.. they defeated the AUSSIES just 1 week ago... OBVIOUSLY, Sachin's performance against Bangladesh is amazing.In fact not long ago he averaged more than 100 in ODI's against KENYA. Can you imagine that ? The MIGHTY KENYANS ?? My GODD !!
Truly, Sachin should be spared. And when Sehwag wins matches for India, Stinker goes on to say - "depends on seeing the ball early and on some great hand and eye coordination. But he alone cannot win matches for India". Ain't Stinker jealous, since Sehwag has stolen the thunder from right under his master Sachin ? Stinker's article is full of desperation to rekindle the lost image that Sachin had once. Desperate to highlight ONE phase in Sachin's career that has some value for Indian cricket.Where was Laxman, Yuvraj and Kaif when Sachin was battling in the middle ? They were there. After reading the article I have started to wonder if Sachin was so selfish to take runs that he forgot India had to win games. Maybe, he ran out Kaif,Yuvraj and Laxman. They were there though, in the middle and then out of it soon.Seriously, truth is bitter, and when spoken out, Stinker was stung and wrote this article.
When the media and Greg Chappel say that Sachin is past his prime, what they mean is he is not the risk taking batter he used to be. Precisly, then why again justify the same thing in this article. Stinker basically is disheartened by Sachin's poor performances ? What's the use of 34 Test tons and 38 ODI centuries when you do not see your country win in 70-80 % of them ? And, you know why the audiences expect from Sachin ? The bloody naked truth is, that the masses are fed up of him making runs and not winning matches for India. So, if you are in the team prove your worth, by performing and winning or atleast HELP win matches. You know why people want him to perform ? Because, he has so many records, that he can't be chucked out of the team. If there is a danger to his spot, he will score a century against Bangladesh and retain his spot. But, since records speak for themselves, he cannot , JUST CANNOT be dropped from the team. But we can be bold enough to DROP A CAPTAIN !!, Ganguly. Wow !! Awesome ! The most successful Indian captain can be dropped but not a Sachin, because he has records dammit !! Seriously, Stinker should know now, that Sachin is not an asset. He is a LIABILTY ! Thats the plain truth, naked truth. Accept it STINKER !
And about endurance. When you speak of endurance, it is not about getting dismissed in 170's 5 times and the like in Test cricket. It is about stamina, mental make up to score double hundreds and triple. SEHWAG scored it, the first triple century by an Indian, because as stinker says - "depends on seeing the ball early and on some great hand and eye coordination. But he alone cannot win matches for India" . Suprisingly India won that Test match by an innings . Now has Sehwag won a match for India Mr. Stinker ? How many double hundreds has Sachin scored ? I can number them AND the opposition
NZ - 1(Home)
Bangladesh - 1(Away ??!!! ha ha ha ha )
Australia - 1 ( VERY LUCKY, but dont worry, match was a draw, but Sachin had a double hundred dammit ! what more do u want ?)
Is there more ? I doubt it. Correct me and add that extra double ton, if you know it, coz I havent checked any records properly here, but most of them are correct.
But Rahul Dravid ? Naah, he scores Double tons only away from home and in Australia and wins matches, as in Pakistan too. Where was Sachin when Laxman and Dravid made that epic partnership to lead India to a win in Kolkata ? Ohh.. shucks, I forgot, he was bowling his leg spinners. WHAT AN ALL ROUNDER !!
I can seriously RIP APART Mr. Stinker here, I just wish I could add a comment to his article, but could not find the link to add one. Any of you Sachin lovers, let's talk.. let's talk sense and statistics. CMONN !!
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6 comments:
Really well written. I fully endorse your views. Hope atleast blind Sachin fans open thier eyes and face the truth. But he is no more than an ordinary player if you take the last 3-4 years. And interestingly, in the last 4-5 years Dravid has risen from an ordinary player to a great match winner.
I am really happy that there are atleast some people who can think outside of the individual records (Indians are always passionate about personal landmarks).
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Here was a mail from me to one of the blind Sachin fans:
-----Original Message-----
From: Japesh T
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 12:47 PM
To: Prabhu Krishnamurthy; Raghavendra P. Rao
Subject: RE:
Boss, there is a difference between WI & India. Lara makes runs when others in his team struggle whereas the person whom you are talking about fails when the rest fails. The person whom u r talking abt- Everybody knows how he plays when he nears his personal landmarks. The person whom you are comparing with Lara has not played any innings of worth in the recent past ignore some innings played against Bangladesh. You cannot compare him with Lara. Lara has time & again played the best innings under adverse circumstances and many a times won the matches single handedly.
Even the common public started realising that the person whom you are talking abt is no longer the special batsman. He is just a ordinary batsman who makes the 11. It is only the commentators( the so called experts who were just mediocre players , the ones who give some rubbish pitch reports which turns out be just a laughing stock).
As said, the glory days of Sachin are gone. Now he can just play a occassional good innings and try to break many more records which other cant even dream of.
As such we Indians are ones who go ga -ga over personal milestones rather than collective brilliance.
Look at Aus - they dropped Bevan when he was avg 57 in ODI's . Know the reason - Bcoz they felt that he is just playing safely in the death overs to get a not out. There are numerous examples. They dropped Mark Waugh when he was their best batsman.
Mind you, some 9-10 yrs back, I used to watch each and every Sachin innings, sometimes bunk schools, classes etc. Even during examm days. But of late it is boring to see him bat only.
I (for that matter many others) will consider Sachin great if he can come out in open & say - I am prepared to bat during the difficult situation as a senior batsman and not where I feel comfortable to score runs ( like coming at No. 4 or 5 ) and playing a few truly champion innings and guiding India to victory.
Buddy, Itz after all India's win that matters , not Sachin's personal landmarks. What does Sachin' personal landmarks give us ? - Nothing buddy. Try to come out of the shell and start looking at a bigger picture. I know for fanatic fans of Sachin, it would be the most difficult thing to digest.
For the time being he is just a past wonder.
-----Original Message-----
From: Prabhu Krishnamurthy
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 12:30 PM
To: Japesh T; Raghavendra P. Rao
Subject:
2nd test match in succession. Even after heroics of Lara, west indies couldnt avoid defeat.
What does it show? Cricket is a team game and one person just cant get the team to victory. You need bowlers who can take 20 wickets. You need atleast 2 batsmen to click in both innings!
So if someone scores a 100 and the team loses, is it right to brand the batsmen who tried as selfish???? Isnt it silly. You know what I am talking abt ;-)
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And guess what guys, the friend of mine ( Blind Sachin fan ) replied back. It makes an interseting read as to how ppl cannot come out of the Sachin magic even if he does not perform or win matches:
he he. I expected this. You are reiterating what I said. There are many innings of Sachin that went unnoticed because the other team members did not perform.
Personal landmarks are all crap. Whats the point that if he scores 100 or 200 and team doesnt win. Agreed.
But many times only he scored and others just did not perform. So India lost and what happened in the end? Sachin branded as selfish. Wonderful argument.
How can he be responsible, if he scores and others dont.
And by 4 or 5 peoples comments in NDTV if you want to say entire nation is against him. Tee hee. Terrific!!!!
If you had seen some matches of this series, you would have known of his commitment. The way he was fielding, bowling or giving suggestions.
And only one series of bangladesh he clicked. You happily ignored the world cup 2003. He didnt perform in the final. But if not for him, we wouldnt have reached the final. Again what is the argument? He played to get the man of series award and not india winning the world cup. correct?
And its funny you are saying abt bigger picture. It is crystal clear. Statistics dont lie. Of the 38 matches sachin has scored a hundred, india has won 25 times.
And 3 matches it lost is there in my memory. One in sharjah. that desert storm match. and one in last year against pakistan while chasing
and one in this series, when he brought india to a good level, but again our bowling let us down
How come he has maximum man of matches, if he had played selfishly??
If you look at things with jaundiced eye, everything will be yellow. And so will sachins selfishness be. So be it. Let him be selfish. History shows how much he has contributed to indian cricket!!!
If you want to call someone as selfish, there were previous mumbaikars(gavaskar, vengsarkar etc etc) call them
25 in 38 ODI's. Even Yuvraj has a record. Out of the 12-13 HALF centuries he has made, India has won 10 times. Ganguly is there too. Talk the real thing. Test Matches. Where is Sachin there ? For that matter Lara.Out of the 34 Test Centuries Tendulkar has made India has gone on to win only on 11 of the occasions.Did you know that out of the 30 centuries Lara has struck, only in 8 of those has West Indies Won ?Did you know that out of the 22 occasions Inzi has made a century , Pakistan has gone on to win on 17 occasions...Lear Sachin from Inzi .. learnn .. perform not in pyjama cricket like the Sharjah, but in the test Arena like Dravid and Inzi.
I read this just like that- I want to say that I was never impressed by Sachin. I do not claim to know anythin about cricket, least of all be an authority on it. But years ago, when I was watching a cricket match [one of the few I've ever glanced at], Dravid happened to be at the crease.
The way that guy wielded the bat, I could see he knew his stuff. A professional. But he was written off by many. I cannot care less for a sport which spares no respect for a guy like him 'cuz they cannot stop idolising a certain other person.
I see a Prabhu K.'s a Sachin fan. With all due respect, its not very surprising, knowing that the guy supports Ferrari as well. Its not talent that impresses some, just records. The very moment Ferrari stop winning C'ships, they'll change loyalty, I expect. I care nothing for the opinions of such turncoats.
Stinker says, "In our desperation to cling on to his past, we have made it difficult for ourselves to accept the reality of his present."
And throughout his article he was clinging to Sachin's earlier records than his present. What a pity!!
I do hope sachin "performs" and gives his fans some thing real to bank on.
Lots of arguments abt Sachin ,his records and the like. You could call me jealous of his fame or whatever. Doesn't matter. Why do we hype Sachin so much then ? Indian team did not fare well when he used to or is scoring hundreds.It is unfortunate. Then let us not hype that India is a one man team. And then expect Sachin to win matches for India single handedly. If we keep hyping India is a one man team of only Sachin then everyone including me is bound to believe that he will win matches for India. And then if he doesn't ,it's a problem, for him, but then he is intact because of his talent.
I think most of this debate is because we hype individual performances so much that we forget what the team's doing. So many debates are caused due to just media hype. Even this article and my response is due to it. But then again, media hype is something we have to live with, forever.
High time, India perfomrs as a team. We need sacrifices.Not cribbing when you are not allowed to score ur double hundred for the sake of a declaration.Think, not of records, but of team. Records will come by themselves.It is great to have a man like Sachin with so many glowing records. But, won' it be saddening even for him that India did not fare well in those matches where he made a century ? That's the perception that has been given. By fate or whatever, he has not performed in any of the finals of tournaments, except for the Sharjah.
Anyways, this debate can go on for ages. People will keep giving a symapthetic look to Sachin and say, he is great, scores hundreds, but no support from team. Its sad, really sad, that Sachin has to bear this flak. But, with great power comes great responsibilty.. right ? Maybe, we should look at him as a normal NORMAL cricketer and not expect too many things. Let's leave him alone. But do we allow that at all ??
I agree with this post but still he is great performer.
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