Imagine the scene where Viv Richards pads up two consecutive balls, leaves the next one outside off stump and then presents a straight bat to the remaining three and explains to all the bewildered fans around that he was being responsible since tea break was only 20 minutes away. Really, I would ask for my money back.
When Richards batted, one could see he was the best and that everyone, including him, knew it. Tendulkar once batted that way. Richards kept the image till the time he left the scene. Tendulkar is fast losing the dynamic image gained over 16 hard and backbreaking years and I just can't understand why it seems such a clever idea to him.
There was a time when even thinking of Tendulkar's batting gave me pins and needles all over; images of flashing square cuts, cover drives on the up and straight drives worth dying for. It didn't matter what the situation was or who the opponent was; Glenn McGrath bowling three consecutive maidens to open his spell in an ODI match and being none for 33 after completing six; that was Tendulkar.
When Sachin Tendulkar retires, he will surely have most, if not all, the batting records in his name. When Tendulkar retires, despite his achievements, when I talk about "The King", it will still be Richards that comes to my mind. That pisses me off because I so want it to be Tendulkar.
The term "King" has such an aura about it; the ruler of the jungle and for some years, Tendulkar did rule world cricket. Forget India's results; forget how many double hundreds he made or didn't; forget how many times he stayed till the finish or didn't; for all these frustrations, one could still go miles or wake till unearthly hours to watch him bat and one didn't really have to be Indian to feel that way; it was a universal feeling. We had someone who was better than the rest and we don't often get that among our country's sportsmen.
Today, Tendulkar still makes the runs; a friend of mine, more statistically inclined than I, told me that Tendulkar's average in the past couple of years has been at par and sometimes over his average during what I call his heydays, approximating to four-five years back. I don't dispute that even if some hotshot gives me statistics to prove my friend wrong; that is not the point of this article. The point is that the Tendulkar of the last few years has looked mortal and more surprising is the fact that this defect - and what else could this be called for a genius who once seemed flawless - seems to be self-inflicted.
A Zimbabwean named Ray Price, an Englishman named Ashley Giles, a West Indian named Pedro Collins, an Australian named Andy Bichel -- all cricketers for whom "honest trier" would be a compliment, succeeded in making the great Tendulkar scratch, nudge pad up and play and miss. The double century he scored in the last Test in Australia -- the one where he left all balls outside off without exception -- had everyone in the commentary box applauding it as a great knock but had me perplexed; really, if SS Das, Mohd. Kaif or Akash Chopra had played it, I would have agreed but Tendulkar?
A friend of mine, a Tendulkar fan to the core, tells me that the double hundred at Sydney was great because it was made by an out-of-form Tendulkar and not many could have shown the discipline he did in that knock. That again showcases a point that I want to make; the Tendulkar of five years back really did not have to show discipline to make his runs; the bowlers ran up, he thwacked them, and the runs added up; it was that simple.
Yes, an Allan Donald express delivery could sometimes cut in and go through bat and pad but that didn't happen very often; and yes, he could sometimes snick it to keeper or slips but again, that didn't happen very often.
Today, all a chappie has to do is roll up his sleeves and keep plugging away outside off and Tendulkar gives him the same respect as he might a McGrath at his best; and that really doesn't work for him. Playing shots he looks like God; showing caution (or shall we say responsibility, seniority or some such rot) leads to play and misses, getting rapped on the pads and all said and done, ending up with the runs sans the vintage Tendulkar stamp. Five years back, a thumping square cut, two drives through the covers, a straight drive and a pull would have bowler checking his watch for the tea break; today they -- and many of them would end up as nobodies in the annals of cricket history -- actually show the impertinence of trying to getting him out. That is the sad part; they actually dare.
This is not a Tendulkar lack-of-run-scoring bash (his record would easily kick my views out of the window) or about his batting in the past couple of series. This is really about his batting in the last four years or so when, in my opinion, he rapidly climbed down the steps of greatness simply because he decided to change his game and cut out most of the shots he became famous for. If he can't bash up the bowlers because his eyesight is failing, I get it. If he can't smash them to pulp because his bad back doesn't permit many of his earlier shots then I admit this article has no merit. However, when a genius says he plays like a defective version of Rahul Dravid of four years back because he has matured with age, I really don't get it.
Why would one change a talent so awesome because he grew up? Five years back, Tendulkar was the team and once he got out, the match was over. At that time, he played blinders, which though enthralling to watch had their element of risk. Today the team has a solid support cast in Dravid, Sehwag, Laxman, Ganguly and Yuvraj (not being specific about ODI or Test here) and almost no passengers, and the guy decides he has to be more responsible? Did I fall asleep in the middle somewhere or am I just plain dumb not to get it?
It is not about the runs, really. Tendulkar has so many that if he decides not to make any more in the next ten matches, his Test average will still be above fifty and his ODI average still well above 40. It is about style; it is about aura; it is about stamping one's authority; things present in the Tendulkar of the past and sadly missing in the Tendulkar of today. Tendulkar's records will be broken some day by another genius but that genius will still be hard pressed to play the two innings that Tendulkar played in Sharjah against the Australians, one of which India lost but Tendulkar still won. He will be hard pressed too to reproduce the magnetism of a man whose 70 plus score would draw more cheers than a hundred from a lesser mortal.
Really, maybe I am naïve but this is what I think -- only idiots care if Tendulkar ever scores a triple century; it really doesn't matter if he scores eleven thousand ODI runs or twelve thousand; or whether he has 41 Test centuries at the time of retirement or 42; Sachin Tendulkar has gone past the stage of measurement through statistics.
Being the best is not about scoring the maximum number of runs or taking the maximum number of wickets. It is the manner in which the runs are scored and the wickets taken that separate the best from the rest. Once Tendulkar was not the highest run getter but he still was the best in many people's minds. Today he is actually the highest run getter in ODIs and fast getting there in Tests and yet, except for the "experts" on television, one can't really be honest and call him the best in the same breath.
In these last five odd years of his career -- and his latest "tennis elbow" injury just showcases how easy it would be for it to end even more prematurely -- I would rather watch a Tendulkar who drives through the covers, square cuts past point and gully, pulls through mid-wicket, and smacks them over long on, long off and deep mid-midwicket for those huge sixes he once knew how to hit. Really, if I ever want to watch nudges to third man or watch brilliant concentration outside off stump, I will switch on the TV when Dravid is playing. What a waste of time and talent if Tendulkar has to do that. What a terrible waste!
Comments, curses and insults can be sent to the author at sriram_ranga@hotmail.com . His blog on cricket can be viewed at http://beerchipsandcricket.blogspot.com .
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