Forum subject -- Celebrating Sachin: The Prem Panicker column

Celebrating Sachin:
Syed Arifuddin Hassan: arifhassan@hotmail.com: Sir, your article written in response to Lavakare's is one of the best I have had the pleasure to read. You have done a very good job of defending one of India's greatest players, no, one of the world's best batsmen in this era. The pride that I feel when some foreign commentator talks about Sachin's greatness cannot be diminished by Lavakare's meaningless comparisions.

Celebrating Sachin:
Murugan: murun_g: Great Job Prem, Arvind did you read this. I hope you would have learnt how to write, if not take classes from Prem

Celebrating Sachin:
ariel jackson: jayasoorya@hotmail.com: well done prem, grow brighter and younger! the guy asked for it!

Celebrating Sachin:
Lallu: lallu99: Excellent

Celebrating Sachin:
Trim PErshad: tpershad1@worldnet.att.net: Compliments to Prem for fitting reply to a "sadist" article by Arvind, who I think has written this article more for himself than anyone else. I consider Arvind's article no more than a paper towel.

Celebrating Sachin:
Jose Daniel: jkdaniel7@hotmail.com: Dear Mr Panicker: Wow, that was one of the best article I read in a long long time. What a reply to Arvind. You exceeded my expectations. Keep it up. Sachin Rules. Thanks

Celebrating Sachin:
surya: sprakash73@hotmail.com: It was a fitting article to the previous one where the comparisons were made

Celebrating Sachin:
Rajesh: rkumar@net.com: Prem,Arvind, why r u both using media 2 prove each other's point? There r so many more important (inter)national issues before the country. Y can sit in a room to debate such immaterial issues.

Celebrating Sachin:
Vishwas Seshadri: vshwas@hotmail.com: This column reads out exactly what`s in the mind of Indian cricket fans but I never dreamt that someone would express this feeling so beautifully. Three cheers to Prem!

Celebrating Sachin:
Debu Purkayastha: dpurkayastha@lbs.ac.uk: Bravo !!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Deepak: d.sharma@wcom.com: I like your article related cricket. Could you explain us current team selection for world Cup & How it justifies eachevery team member select? Thanks, Deepak



Celebrating Sachin:
rajesh: rpazhian@vt.edu: i agree with prem..what about the psychological confidence that sachin brings to the rest of the team which statistics dont reveal..sans sachin, the rest of the team is just a bunch of losers..since cricket is religion to most indians and sachin the revered god, i suggest we issue a fatwa on arvind or at the very least deport him and strip him of his indian citizenship..

Celebrating Sachin:
jaminikant@hotmail.com: Jamini: Prem, You are great writer. Its so wrong to compare players of different generations. Sachin is simply the greatest batsman of our time at the best. Other than that it does not have any meaning at all.

Celebrating Sachin:
Sharad: sharad_patel@bet.satyam.com: Cool Work

Celebrating Sachin:
Anshul Jain: anshul@wpi.edu: This is the best article ever on sports by any one on Rediff.3 cheers to sachin!!!!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Muthu: muthube76@yahoo.com: Excellent article.Hats off to Prem Panicker.He has given a fitting reply in his own inimitable style.

Celebrating Sachin:
Mohan: : A great rejoinder! a fitting reply! Keep 'em coming.

Celebrating Sachin:
Jithu: ajithu77@hotmail.com:

Celebrating Sachin:
Ninad: ninad9@hotmail.com: Hi! I'm very much pleased with the article and was real happy to find a perfect answer to the article before this one on Sachin, it was really sad to do that, well Sachin is a player of his own stature and give him the time, he will prove his worth in the coming world cup and then we'll probably again see the praise of Sachin again in the same column by the same author who criticized him. Thanks for writing such and an excellent critical article. Ninad

Celebrating Sachin:
Mallik: mallikarjunam@yahoo.com: It was good. I really enjoyed it.

Celebrating Sachin:
Arnab Basu: abasu_4@hotmail.com: Guys please stop using the net to proove each other wrong.Please keep your biases to yourself.We will much more appreciate your thoughts on cricket and the Indian cricket team as a whole and their prospects in the coming World Cup.

Celebrating Sachin:
Anand Ramakrishnan: anandramakrishnan@stanford.edu: I salute you. If I tried to express my thoughts and feelings it would get too verbose. So I constrain myself to give a remote distance standing ovation. Best Regards, Anand

Celebrating Sachin:
Deep Chakrabarti: sudip@ee.gatech.edu: One of the nicest articles I ever read at the Rediff site. This rightly shows how misleading statistics could be and how unfair it is to compare players from different ages. May be Mr. Arvind Lavakare would learn a thing or two before citing stupid numbers and going back to his favorite pastime - Sachin-bashing!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Bashobi: bgs@hotmail.com: Good job!! Arvind Lavakare deserved the tongue-lashing. There is no way one should compare Bradman, Gavaskar or Sachin or anybody else. Don is the DON, no dispute there. Gavaskar was great at his time. Sachin is great now. In cricket where a team lasts for more than 10 years as a whole, statistical comparisons is not ideal. Such comparisons in soccer, or tennis, or hockey are okay.

Celebrating Sachin:
Balaji: cbalajivk@hotmail.com: Well Said Prem, I salute your pride, a common emotion wihich we all grow along with as INDIAN's and not just as fans of Bradman, Gavasker or Sachin. There is no doubt all the players play the game they love to their best. But there are very few who inivte you to share that love along with them. And those who do it, do it for more than statistics. Because, it is not only improbable, but also impossible to live up to it. I would like to take this oppertunity to quote a present member of the Indian squad, Rahul Dravid "I am not ashamed to be dependent on Tendulkar". A wise mans words of wisdom. It is a common charecter that we find in most people, in our part of the world, the quality of non-admitance. Some how we dont like to recognize, neither are we at ease when recognized. But I dont care about any body else, because like many of us, I have gone to lenghts of offering prayers and Arthi's to my TV, wishing my country good luck. If I were to be a statistician, I would'nt still love the game. I would rather be doing something else. For most of us who are not just fans but fanatics of cricket, we dont care who is greater than who?, but we never miss a chance to take pride of a Tendulkar, Azar, Sunil, Kapil, Ajay, Rahul and infact the whole bunch. Because, once we had accepted cricket as way of life, we had accepted these guys as a part of our family. And we sure are proud about our family members. Vandemataram

Celebrating Sachin:
jimmy: jimpats_3@hotmail.com: I feel that like Marksheets are not the only yardstick to gauge a student similarly stats and scores and and dismissals are no the only yardsticks of evaluate a player. It hinks the mesage from the article should be well taken by all of us. Also mention the quote by Shane Warne one of the most effective spinner that he gets sachin in his dreams is a salute to sachin in itself.

Celebrating Sachin:
Akshay Rao: akshayrao@hotmail.com: Wow! what a response.Absolutely incredible,amazing,astounding piece. I always knew what was written in Mr. lakhare's article didn't hold any water etall. This article has nothing but the facts and truth about Sachin,not just because Mr. Panicker has praised Sachin but because he is very exact and sensible in the way he has performed comparisons(if et all it was required).I know sachin is the best. Millions of Indians know it too.By saying that ,I will write a penning piece "Bursting the sachin bubble",Mr. Lakhare had only tried to gain some editorial mileage.I guess he should find better means... Anyway,this article is indeed a marvellous piece of writing That i have ever read at rediff or almost anywhere. Mr. Panicker ,please keep writing!!! regards Akshay.......

Celebrating Sachin:
VKIyer: : great article. you may have seen my criticism of his article in my feedback. you are completely right. nice job. i like ur work.

Celebrating Sachin:
Sundar Rajagopalan: srajagop@nashfinch.com: Prem - Fabulous is all I can Say!

Celebrating Sachin:
Chandrakanth: spring_c@usa.net: Great Job !!! That was really a great piece of column from you. I hope Mr. Arvind will think twice in future ,before he writes any articles regarding these bursting bubbles.

Sachin versus Bradman:
nitin: nitin.bhatt@usa.net: show some respect to the guy , otherwise u'll be hit for a sixer, that's what he does to people who annoy him ;-)

Celebrating Sachin:
thyaga: thyaga@bytekinc.com: Wow! - what an article boss!!

Celebrating Sachin:
sanjit singh: sanjit@clubi.ie: An apt description of sachin the Bubble! But there is no doubt the statistics do have a role and that sachin helps improve India's stats most of the time he bats or bowls!

Celebrating Sachin:
pradeep palaksha: pradeep_p@hotmail.com: this article was awesome prem.keep it up. this guy arvind needed some stuff like this. many cricket smart readers like me have already tried to put sense into this "insane"man but i wonder whether he has read our responses .anyways prem u have showed him where he stands and i just hope he doesnt come up with another bizzare article ,this time probably trying to prove bedi was a faster bowler than srinath

Celebrating Sachin:
keerthik sasidharan: the_EPIDEMICS@hotmail.com: dear mr. panicker,

very lucidly argued. it is great to see levelheadness come about with respects to the game, and with respects to the young and mighty shoulders we seemed to have placed it on. i hope your carefully concocted potion of cynicism and exultation is drunk by many in india and abroad. and i must ,say mr. lavakare was not off the mark when he referred to you as "a bright young cricket correspondent". my regards to you and your whole team. sincerely, keerthik s nair.

ps: this is a quote that i like, and often refer to myself. thought you would also enjoy.

-------------------------------------------- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. --George Bernard Shaw

Celebrating Sachin:
Gopinath: gopi_chari@hotmail.com: This was a very good response. I am very happy that you wrote this. I too agree that all of them are great in their own way.

However, do we need this kind of stuff in this site. It seems more like you do not have any articles left & are just filling pages (Not Prem, but Arvind). I think Rediff should take note of who is writing and what is being written. We do not want this site to become a writers' battle field.

Celebrating Sachin:
Anandam: anandamm@cisunix.unh.edu: Prem... your reply to Arvind Lavakare was a wonderful exercise of caustic wit blended with straight facts. I think his blatantly unfair analysis deserved the treatment it got. I hope you never let such senseless columnists appear on your website again. Great job, Panickerji!

Celebrating Sachin:
raj: raj_A1@verifone.com: This is a fitting reply to that idiot and you gave the reply in such asubtle way that you didn't even mention Gavaskar's selfishness and blah blah.. Anyway I get pretty nasty talking about others.. Regards raj

Celebrating Sachin:
Rajavel: Rajavel.Singaravelu@WCOM.com: Dear Arvind,

I did not read your earlier article, but after reading this one which counters what you said, i think you are one of thise guys who wants to noticed by saying downright stupid things. Feel happy that you are noticed and there has been an article countering yours and could you please stop writing.

Thanks,

Rajavel.

Celebrating Sachin:
mukul kalia: kalia.1@osu.edu: while Arvind is clearly off-base in trying to berate Sachin's achievements for whatever reason, there is SOME credence to the fact that Sachin has not really been a match-saver in the Miandad mould. I don't have the nos.; but regarding your stat of India having won 17 of 21 when Sachin scored a century, very few would be with us batting second. Until those couple of winning knocks against Australia, it was painful to watch how he used to get out after good starts while chasing. The no. of times he took us to victory or atleast sufficiently assured one were far outnumbered by the times he either got out early or couldn't quite finish the job(all this refers to chases).

It also had something to do with his unexplained tentativeness against slow bowlers; esp. off-spinners. he would start curbing his back-lift and start playing low-percentage paddles etc. It was weird because he had the capability to put those bowlers to the sword.

But he has been reversing that trend recently. the landmark of course were those wins against Australia.

Celebrating Sachin:
prashanth: prashantharni@hotmail.com: wow. that was one of the greatest debates that i have ever seen, the article by arvind was bullshit, writemn by a man who obviously jelous of sachins success. this was just what i was thinking of and thanks to prem you guys got to read what i was thinking, threwe cheers to celebrated writers like prem.

Celebrating Sachin:
Ravishankar: ravisc@hotmail.com: Fantastic Gripping article

Sachin versus Bradman:
nasty: kaynags@hotmail.com: showing somebody down is so easy and so difficult to appreciate on the other hand. sachin has the abilities and has proven that time and again. What you have written is a mean article. constructive critiscm is one thing and saying being mean is another. All the heroes need not perform the same throughout. Even the best machines built like rolls royce does give you the same performance throughout its life and sachin is a human after all. Just to let you know how some body could get mean is illustrated with my question. see if u can answer it. if u claim to be a man(mard) how many times could u come up with a stiffy on demand at all times and at all ages that u have been thru. would u rate yourself as a man? come on man, do u have that unique trait of coming good when it matters the most?? This is the nasty way and prems is the other way. be good and write good and be constructive and not generally balb your mouth just because you got one.

Celebrating Sachin:
Neeraj Nayak: nayak@iastate.edu: Hi! Here is an e-mail which just illustrates your point. Neeraj. TWO ETHICAL QUESTIONS

Q1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis; would you recommend that she have an abortion?

Q2: It is time to elect the world leader, and your vote counts.

Here are the facts about the three leading candidates:

Candidate A Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologers. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.

Candidate B He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whisky every evening.

Candidate C He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and hasn't had any extramarital affairs. Which of these candidates would be your choice?

----------------------------------- Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt Candidate B is Winston Churchill Candidate C is Adolph Hitler

And by the way: Answer to the abortion question - if you said yes, you just killed Beethoven.

Celebrating Sachin:
Hansal Mehta: hansal_mehta@hotmail.com: KUDOS, Prem ! We need many more "bright, young correspondents" like you. We need to get rid of old foggies like Arvind Lavkare ( or whatever) who rely on statistics to simply vent their cynicism. Someone has said that statistics are for asses and according to me they are quoted by ASSHOLES like Arvind "Lavkarja" (in Marathi it means go fast!) I wonder what he was trying to prove with that piece. It only speaks volumes for the "democratic" editorial policy at Rediff that allows such idiots to even vent their frustrations... Actually it's also allowing an idiot like me to vent his frustrations about Lavkere or Levkare or Lavkera or Lakvare or Lekvera or Lakvare or Lakvere or Lavkare (whatever !)

Celebrating Sachin:
Surendra Rajam: srajam@rocketmail.com: Excellent article by Prem. I am not saying so because I am just a fan of Sachin but because this is not the time to talk about history. This is the time to boost the morales of our team.

Celebrating Sachin:
Suraj: sharjani@hotmail.com: GreatJob!!! Prem That was fantastic. Always look forward to your articles,keep up the good work. And no doubt SACHIN IS THE BEST.

Celebrating Sachin:
Subhankar Nayak: nayak@bull.som.yale.edu: Good Article!

Celebrating Sachin:
Shridhar: iyer_shridhar@hotmail.com:

Hi,

I am a great fan of the game and like any other INDIAN have been following it right from the day i knew what the game was all about.

Here are some of my views :

I believe that the "Electric chair" of the Indian team has been the middle order. If you look at how players perished in the Indian cricket scene, you will always notice that it has been the middle order. Be it Bedade or Amre. My simple question is why can't Sachin come in the middle order? As is ur analysis which talks about the success of this glorious batsman in the middle order as compared to that of the current position. Everybody in the country (Almost) feels that this guy can make a lot of diff in the batting if he is there in the middle order even if the top order collapses and we are put to a mammoth task of hitting at a very high run rate of 6 or 7 an over. But to tell u the fact neither he or the Indian think tank would allow such a thing to happen. Why ? I strongly feel this is because of the fact that it is almost impossible to hit at that rate against a reasonably good bowling side. He is one of the best openers in the world and i agree completely. But i think it is worth mentioning Azhar , who has played to a very great extent right from day one and even recently has performed.

who is behind all this? Is Gavaskar advising Sachin? Or is it the media? I have lots of doubts and i would like a person like U to clear my doubts. I read ur mail and it was clearly not biased. I liked ur opinion on statistics and the way people are judged on their capabilities.

I am not a great writer like u and i don't think my language looks publishable. Infact this is the first time i am writing my thoughts.

Waiting in anticipation.

Regards, shri.

Celebrating Sachin:
Raj Mota: raj_mota@hotmail.com: Dear Prem,

Thanks a lot for an amazing article. I do agree with you that statistics can only throw light on certain points but can never conclude anything with certainty. Not in sports. Don is Don, Sunny is Sunny and Sachin is Sachin. They all are great. To compare them is sheer foolishness. That too with statistics!!! God, give me a break.

Raj

Celebrating Sachin:
abhay: abhay_k@earthlink.net: I love this! very true and to the point. good luck Sachin.

Celebrating Sachin:
Vikas Kapoor: vikas.kapoor@comptechassoc.com: Hi Prem,

From a cricket fan, article well written. To enjoy any and all game, you need passion and that was a passionate article.

Celebrating Sachin:
Walvekar: : I like your article very much, not because I like Sachin but because your balanced thoughts and judging the "statistics", the "pride" factor!! Keep it up!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Nagendran: saravana@sch.ge.com: Great reply to an irresponsible person at the improper time. But i feel, sachin has to prove to the world that he is the world master by his scores in this world cup.

Celebrating Sachin:
p.c: : Thank you I also send my opinion in few sentence to Mr.Arvind in the same way as I did when you allowed us to chat during the games. Personally what I do not beleive and it is not possible to compare any player(say Sachin) with another player (say Gavaskar, I am not talking about Bradman since I never have the opportunity to see him playing). If you really want to compare any player with another player then that comparision should be limited to that era. The bowler's Gavasker faced(Lilly, Thomson, Imran, Hadlee, Akram, Holding, Roberts, Garner, Julien, Marshall, Kapil, Bedi, Chandra, Prassana, Venkat, Kadir, Willis.....), toda's batsmen are not seeing any bowler of that capacity( one day game is responsible for that, otherwise Srinath, Donald, Polok,Mustaq, may have show us some thing else!) I also do not beleive these statistical data, since as you have mentioned that it is difficult to beleive that Agarkar is the best bowler. Here is another example, According to statistics, Vengsarkar is a better batsman than Gundappa Vishwanath. I like Vengsarkar, he is one of the front line batsmen India produced, but Viswanath is another great Indian batsman and great cricketer, who plays only cricket. Any way, let us look forward, support our own team, try our best to cheer them up so that we can see another set of champions.

Celebrating Sachin:
Mahesh Kulkarni: mahesh_kul@hotmail.com: Hey Prem, That was a god reply to Arvind. Now I think Arvind will infact never go after statistics. For me arguably there is no doubt that all the 3 vis Tendulkar, Gavaskar and Bradman are greats in their own way. Anyway it was interesting debate between you two and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Cheers, Mahesh

Celebrating Sachin:
Prashant Kale: kale@management.wharton.upenn.edu: Prem: An excellent piece of writing!!

Celebrating Sachin:
manish: mtandon@cisco.com: Very very well done. keep it up.

Celebrating Sachin:
Sanjay Patel: spat9710@postoffice.uri.edu: Excellent article. I agree with you. Sometimes people don't know what they are talking about. Sanjay

Celebrating Sachin:
Ajay Sundaram: svishwan@mtu.edu: What an article, Prem?!! A breathtaking repartee!!

Celebrating Sachin:
S.Yoganarasimhan: syn@vsnl.com: Dear Prem, Thanks for the article at a time when we have to fight for the world cup and putting Tendulkar!s capability in proper perspective. Two matches in Sharjah against Australia will be enough for the career of Tendulkar to be remembered for ever. I was also watching TV that day when Tendulkar single handedly demolished Australia and got all the praises from Steve Waugh Australia captain. We want Tendulkar to ignore the earlier article of at all it was shown to him and read the present article and cheer up and get the World CUP for India. Thanks again,

Celebrating Sachin:
kiran: kiranjb@hotmail.com:

Celebrating Sachin:
Badri Narayanan: bad0971@rocketmail.com: IF U Knew that the Arvind's article was his own imagination, why do u waste U'R time and our's by WRITING a article SIMILAR to that BUT TALKING THE OPPOSITE of what he said????

CAN U AVOID WRITING SUCH ARTICLES IN FUTURE????

Regards, Badri

Celebrating Sachin:
Ram Lanka: ramlanka@home.com: panicker, your article was superb.We do get such nagging characters in some sports correspondents,politicians and work places. Critics should file constructive articles rather than ignite such debates. One must learn to appreciate the fact that an Indian is being compared to all time greats ,than dream of bursting a bubble.Arvind, "lavkar"(quickly) come down to earth and support the only Jewel we have, instead of seeking false applause on meaningless articles.

Guest column -- Why India is a favourite for the Cup:
Badri Narayanan: bad0971@rocketmail.com: "India is capable of beating any of these teams convincingly on its day" WHEN WILL THAT DAY COME ???.

Sachin versus Bradman:
Shubho: : Could you take your statistics, Arvind, and stuff it down your you-know-what? Thank you.

Celebrating Sachin:
Sanjib: Banerjees@hotmail.com: One of the best articles on Sachin I have ever read, makes me feel pride still sitting in NY far from my country that we have Sachin with us so a bit of luck & good play from Sachin who knows we will take the CUP again.Very nice written Prem but I think this should not become a pen bashing stage between U & Arvind,It really was a great article.

Celebrating Sachin:
Amit Kachru: amitkachru@hotmail.com: Great article once again but you were too harsh on Arvind. He does have somewhat of a point but he takes it to an extreme. I do think that he is not an exceptionally good Test batsmen, but I do regard him as the best ODI player ever.

Celebrating Sachin:
Kamash : rkamash@hotmail.com : Dear Prem, I think this is one of the best counter articles I have ever read. After reading the article "Bursting the Sachin bubble", I had felt that you really cant satisfy some people no matter whatever good you do in life. Every Indian is proud to have a player like Sachin play for their country and let me remind you that their is no piece of article in the world which that can tarnish the faith and love they have for this greatest crickter of all time. I appreciate and congratulate you on writing the article.

Sachin versus Bradman:
Rajneesh Sharma: rajneeshsharma@hotmail.com: What a stupid article. The writer has tried to play with the statistics. I am surprised that the editor put this on the web site. We all know Gavaskar was never even good one day player, forget being great. I sincirely hope that editor will look at the quality of material and FACTS before putting something on ur web site. Thanx

Celebrating Sachin:
Priya Rajaram: priyarajaram@hotmail.com: That was a wonderful and fitting repartee to a meaningless article. We are fortunate to be in an era and watch Sachin play!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Krishna Tallur: ktallur@earthkink.net: You have reflected the feelings of many. There have been many occasions, when fans felt let down by Sachin but even on thaose days bowlers would have prayed for mercy and would have thanked god.

Celebrating Sachin:
Dennis Raman: bvraman54@hotmail.com: Well written Prem. It's a brilliant attempt to illustrate the point that "No two geniuses can be compared". Also My "Thanks" to Mr.Lavakare for inspiring you to produce an outstanding article.



Celebrating Sachin:
Murali Pallikara: murbai@hotmail.com: The rejoinder was interesting to read. We the hardcore fans of cricket relish this healthy writings. I appreciate the courage of Arvind, for he knew where Sachin stands today in the minds of frantic fans. Yeah, I totally agree to you that comparisons of players of different eras are only futile. Who can tell whether Bradman could maintain the same ave. if he is playing against this many opponents who can master your movements by seeing the vedio clippings. I would like to stress only one point. Greatness is not begged, it is thrust. All the sensible cricket followers knew where "The Great Sachin Belongs!"

Celebrating Sachin:
Arpan Shah: arpan19@yahoo.com: Prem,

Let me tell you. This is one of the best ( I wouldn't feel bad if I said BEST) articles related to Indian cricket and cricketer(s) in the recent times or in my life...

Thanks for some overwhelming words. It makes you feel PROUD as you said..to be an Indian team fan.

Arpan

Celebrating Sachin:
Chummar Mammen Maly: mmchummar@hotmail.com: This article proves that the greatness of any sports person should not be measured using the standard statistical means. Apart from what Prem has mentioned, Sachin plays his game with lot more intensity than any of his contempories Statistics, as a matter of fact reveals only numbers, but not the situation, and character, which is more important for any meaning analysis. If you analyse, why Sachin is greatly appreciated by the youth, it is because the way (read style) in which he approaches and plays the game. Inspite of his young age, he has a matured mind which puts him above the rest.

Celebrating Sachin:
Malay: mtrivedi@eecs.uic.edu: Ooooooooooh! What passion!! Bang on target too. I hope the article by Lavakare was only to reduce the "pressure" on Sachin by public expectation! Is that right tho!?

Celebrating Sachin:
ironic: kohlims@yahoo.com: just what i was waiting for. thank you. i mentioned the same thing my reply to mr arvind's article although i did not have the 'statistics ' to back it. thank you again.

Celebrating Sachin:
Ganesh: Ganesh@mailcity.com: Dear Panicker, I cannot thank you enough for this wonderful article. The other day I was hoping that Sachin would never get to read Mr. Arvind's article. Who, in thier right minds would write such an article about a respected sports player ? that too on his birthday !

If tendulkar had to be compared with others, it should have been with the players of today like lara or steve waugh. Even then , statistics would not be the coirrect yardstick to go by.

Lets hope that Sachin puts an end to all this controversy in teh world cup. regds Ganesh

Celebrating Sachin:
kranti: : True to the core!! I remember my pride yet another time reading this article

Celebrating Sachin:
naveen dhingra: naveendhingra@hotmail.com: Excellent

Celebrating Sachin:
MNReddy: nrmudupu@hotmail.com: Hi Panicker,

I feel very bad on that day by seeing Arvind's Article. It is not time to criticise the smallest mistakes of our Great batsman. I am really thankful to you for this article and telling him(Arvind) the truths who doesn't know much about cricket. Thanks a lot Narsimha Reddy

Celebrating Sachin:
: rrkalvakota@hotmail.com, cholasam@hotmail.com:

Celebrating Sachin:
Raghu: srg7@hotmail.com: This is one of the most passionate and thoughtfully written article. After I read the article by Some Aravind,who ever he is, I thought this must be shit. Has this guy been bribed by some cheap Nth rate idiots to write this article, or has gone nuts....This bugger dosent deserve even to take his name. If not he writes good about Tendulkar, let him not write some unworthy stuff. I bet this ****er can never reach even a single milestone in his life as that achieved by Tendulkar. Hey Mr.Arvind, do be jealous of other's aceivements....Try to apperciate it!!!! Hats off to u Prem.This article, will be the best remembered by everybody, and especially Arvind...

Celebrating Sachin:
Vijay: vmalladi@att.net: Never read such a fantastic article before. I can't agree more than that. We all love your articles. Keep them coming.

Celebrating Sachin:
Nazeer: Nazeer@hotmail.com: Both of you played with words very well. One made Sachin look worse with his words against reality and the other made Sachin look much much ... bertter than what actually he is. He is a human being bound to succeed and fail. No doubt he is better among rest of the indian batsmen at this point.

Celebrating Sachin:
sudip basu: sudipb@calmicro.com: Prem, I think, somehow, you missed the most important contribution of sachin in the Indian team. It is his presence! When he is on one side of the wicket, the other batsman is ten times more confident in facing any bowler in the world. Sachin & Ganguly is one of the best opening pairs. The reason is when ganguly is settling down sachin will keep the scoreboard moving , which will relax the pressure on Ganguly. The opponent bowlers will feel the pressure because they look so ordinary! Even if he does not contribute to the score his presence in the team matters, because then the whole team feels like they can beat the world.

Celebrating Sachin:
harish: harishv@rocketmail.com: Hi Prem, That was really nice & real. I wud like to add only 1 thing -- there are 10 others in the team who are expected to perform (irrespective of Sachin's show)!!

Celebrating Sachin:
ashwin: ashsun@hotmail.com: Congrats! Powerful Article!! Keep it UP!

Sachin versus Bradman:
Anil Jain: ajain456@aol.com: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SACHIN

Celebrating Sachin:
sarathy: : TAKE THAT Arvind!

Celebrating Sachin:
Sumitinder Pal: sumitinder@yahoo.com: Excellent reply to a drunk statistician :)

This article covers all the points (and beyond) that I was discussing with my colleagues.

Thanks for writing this one prem. Sumit

Celebrating Sachin:
retre: erter: I agree that is not not correct to compare sachin with don or sunil, but what you or arvind have done is merely play with the language

Celebrating Sachin:
Vinodh: vinodh@globe.com.my: That was an article which befitted Sachin's batting. If Sachin can do it with bat, Prem can do it with keyboard. Good work Prem! Hope to read more of these fitting replys.

Celebrating Sachin:
Ravi Koulagi: rskoulagi@lucent.com: I 100% agree with Prem. Looks like there is something personal going on here. But anyway it was good article.

Celebrating Sachin:
Sanjay Deshmukh: snehankit@yahoo.com: Great article about Great man written with Great passion. Prem we were rather expecting you to write such a perfect answer for the rubbish Mr. Lavakare put in his column. Thanks. Keep it up. Sachin, as you have pointed our correctly has given us back our passion, our pride. We admire him not only for his greatness in batting or his great cricketing brain but also for his passion for India's wins.



Celebrating Sachin:
SURI: SURI441@YAHOO.COM: WE NEED TO ACCEPT THAT THE DON,THE SUNNY AND THE GREAT SACHIN ARE ALL ALL TIMES' GREATEST TREASURES AND NEED NOT BE BARED THREADBARE TO BOOST INDIVIDUALS' EGO.LETS WISH THE YOUNGEST OF THEM TO EMULATE THE ELDEST OF THEM ALL AND BRING GLORY TO YOU AND ME AND TO THIS WONDERFUL LAND OF OURS.AFTER ALL FIGHTING WITH ONE ANOTHER ON SUCH SILLY STATS IS NOT TASTEFUL TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC,I AM 100% SURE,AS NONE WILL BE WILLING TO DILUTE HIS OR HERS ADMIRATION OF ALL THE THREE HEROS IN THE ARTICLE. I WISH SACHIN DOESN'T SEE SUCH ROTTEN ARTICLES AND I CAN'T PLEAD WITH REDIFFNET NOT TO PUBLISH SUCH TIME WASTED EFFORTS. SURI, MADRAS,STILL WITH THE INDIAN TEAM FOR THE CUP!

Celebrating Sachin:
Prasad Walawalkar: walapra@charlie.cns.iit.edu: GOOD ONE ! PREM Absolutely right.

Celebrating Sachin:
sreekanth: rao: mr prem panicker

u were very right in telling us about the flambouyant sachin and in u r arguments with mr arvind but c whether it was bradman or gavaskar or sachin for that matter everyone is in their own class i just dont understand the fact that why people dont understand that all these three great cricketer had played or playing according to the needs and with the changes the conclusion here is all these 3 men r 3 different individuals and humans as u said there is no point in comparing each other everybody is a legend in his own times

Celebrating Sachin:
Maulik: mauliks@hotmail.com: HI prem..well all i can say is that if i am proud to be an indian today it is in largely due to sachin and guess the overwhelming respons to arvind's article makes me think that there a lot of like minded guys like you and me around..this was a great article by a great writer, Prem.. may u keep writing more such articles on rediff

Celebrating Sachin:
Sivamani: ksivamani@yahoo.com: Prem!

The content which i thought of when i read that "the pessimistic article". But i couldn't put in words on that day. But you have done it with the best words. Thanks!

Critizing at a good (rather best) batsman of our country at the juncture of prestigious event "the World Cup" is not good.

Eventhough the writer has rights in writing such articles, but he should think of the outcome due to that, in future.

Anyway, Prem! i thankyou once again for writing you would have promoted the mental confidence for Sachin. -Siva

Celebrating Sachin:
Rahul Pandit: rahulpandit@hotmail.com: Prem, That's a good comeback.I am eagerly looking forward to such interesting duels in future. Keep it up Cheers Rahul

Celebrating Sachin:
Sanjeev: sanjeevsk@jump.com: What a crap? Is this guy (Prem Panickar) a professional writer? I don't think so. He has the typical attitude of a person who tries elevate them selves by pulling others down. He is one of those crabs because of whom a lid is not needed on a box full of crabs.

Who made this guy a writer? He writes like a schoolboy pissed with the world. The choice of word can not be describe. This is an absolutely horrendous literature and material. Fabergasting stuff written by so called professional write. How can Rediff permit such a guy to write for them.

Celebrating Sachin:
Shailesh: shails@hotmail.com: The whole article is very personal in tone. Just a bit too impassioned as to depreciate the contributions of Gavaskar, who surely was one of the greatest and gave his best to Indian cricket. I was a great fan of Gavaskar and am a great fan of Tendulkar. But even for a moment, I do not sit down and try to make comparisons; both of them are entirely different batsmen - they both are invaluable but all the same, they belong to entirely different genre.

And Prem, don't talk about 'Whispering Death'. You know where Holding's deep seeded vehemence came from if you read the book thoroughly.

I am a cricket fan too far away from home and your articles are just one of the few ways of keeping in touch with my old passion. So, don't get personal.

Kudos to Tendulkar. Let's all pray for India's victory in the world cup.

Regards, Shailesh

Celebrating Sachin:
Siddharth Bhatia: s3bhatia@engmail.uwaterloo.ca: Prem, great article. But, I think you should have also mentioned the number of one day Man of the Match awards that Sachin has. I believe he has the most and recently overtook Vivian Richards.

Celebrating Sachin:
Deepak Shah: deepak@usq.edu.au: Very passionate article by Prem. But remarkably transparent. Arvind Lavakare seems to be one of many Indians, who believe in "Cutting the tall Poppy". Admittedly there are many things Sachin has to achieve, but he is the best one day batsman India has ever produced (indeed one of the best world has seen). I wonder why that is not good enough for people to take and hope and wish that he produces best for India? Viv Richards was far more dominating batsman and WI team or fans were NEVER ASHAMED AT ADMITTING IT!! It is about time, fans and media apply human criteria to Sachi's performance. HE IS NOT FROM OUTER SPACE, MR. LAVKARE!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Sanjit Singh Dang: sanjitdang@hotmail.com: absolutely brilliantly written. somebody doubting tendulkar's abilities/contribution does not deserve to say a word about cricket.

Celebrating Sachin:
Ravi Sankar: ravis@hpsgns1.sgp.hp.com: Your last paragraph sums up what Sachin is all about to me..or for that matter all Indians of our generation Pride..Pride that he is in our team.. When I was in Australia on a visit, the locals, when they knew i was from india would immediately say we would love to see sachin play in australia..he is good!! Thank you sachin!! for the pride you have given to us and Indian cricket -Ravi

Celebrating Sachin:
Manav: longhorn20@hotmail.com: Hey Prem, why this stupid little game with Lavakre,or whatever?You could do a lot better!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Jagadeesh: jagadeeshn@yahoo.com: Great Prem! It cannot be put better than the way u have put. I did send a mail Aravin but I definitely cannot put it like u did. Sachin rules in the present era of cricket.

Sachin versus Bradman:
Sriram Ramachandran: prama22@hotmail.com: Sachin,

You are the BEST !! Doesn't matter how well you do in England, you are our favourite :)

More than anything else, just have a good time.

Cheers, Sriram

Celebrating Sachin:
Rahul K: rahul.kulkarni@gte.net: A Passionate article, good job prem. I only hope that more Indians in the press or politics or technology or sports, start wearing the "PRIDE" tag. The Irony is "numbers" have become more important to the human race than anything else.

Celebrating Sachin:
Dhiraj: raikhe@ssdi.sony.com.sg: GREAT and simply SUPERB .

A total WHITEWASH of Statistics and even more enthralling 'cos I was not a great guy in Statistics and truly wanted someone to trash what statistics could prove VERY WRONG .

Again , a great one . HATS OFF (or even pants off - laughing)

You have done to this column what Sachin has done to Indian cricket

Celebrating Sachin:
Sriram Ramachandran: prama22@hotmail.com: Now!! That is one hec of a reply. Pride, my friend, is what your article oozes.

Healthy debate like this always feels good.

Adios, Sriram

Celebrating Sachin:
Rajendran: rajcsx@hotmail.com: Great shot!I think Arvind doesn't know anything about cricket. Better he can watch football or tennis .He should not watch cricket.Why should he watch blind game as his view????

Celebrating Sachin:
Rajiv: rs9059234@hotmail.com:

Jeez.. are you going to publish a million line screed from Mr Panicker everytime someone suffering from "attention deficit syndrome" disses Tendulkar? I am no expert in psycho-stuff, but I suspect its not very healthy to humiliate Mr Lavakare in this fashion.

Celebrating Sachin:
Anish Balakrishnan: abalakri@sybase.com: I really cannot say anything except this - Hat's off, Mr P Panicker, hat's off! Anish B

Celebrating Sachin:
Anand Rajagopalan: jayanand@pacific.net.sg: Dear Prem, A fitting reply to the thoughtless article by Arvindh. I think right now our team needs only support and confidence from we Indians and not ill thought articles like Arvindh's. A fitting reply indeed.

Celebrating Sachin:
radha: radhaj@hotmail.com: wow,that was a great response.You have put in all that i wanted to myself in response to one of the most rediculous articles ever.Good work. Looking forward to your future articles

Celebrating Sachin:
RAJEEV KHAJURIA: : VERY INTRESTING ARTICLE, AFTER A FULL "COMPUTER SOFTWARE THINKING DAY" KEEP IT UP, AND KEEP WRITING SUCH INTRESTING, WITTY THINGS, RK// SILICON VALLEY, CA USA

Celebrating Sachin:
Arif Kasim: Akasim123@aol.com: Prem Panicker, Your Article Was really great. I really enjoyed it, we need writers like you, not like that stupid Arvind. And lets Kick this Arvind's Ass. YEAH!!!!!

Celebrating Sachin:
ketan panse: ketan_panse@yahoo.com: Great article Prem!Sachin is the one who gives us something to cheer about. I wonder why Arvind has so much prejudice against Sachin. His article just showed that he knows the price of everything but the value of nothing!

Celebrating Sachin:
Chandrasekhar: chand@umr.edu: Hi Prem, I was really impressed the way you described that glorious innings of Sachin in April last year in the Coca Cola cup in Sharjah. The sad part is I could not be an audience to that match. I was wondering whether previous articles of yours are still present or not. If yes, and I am assuming that you certainly would have 'celebrated Sachin' then too, could you please mail me that article. I am just hoping that it exists.. One of your many readers.. Chandrasekhar.

Celebrating Sachin:
Vicky: bvv75@hotmail.com: It is indeed a waste of time to ponder over statistics, just to bring down a man most indians consider brings great or shall i say stupendous pride for his nation.

Celebrating Sachin:
Omkar Sankar: osankar@hotmail.com: Mr. Panicker

I don't know whether you read my opinion to the article about Bradman and Tendulkar, which Mr. Lavakare had written, which I had emailed on the same day the article appeared on the Net.

I had said similar feelings - how we should not use mere statistics to rate the greatness of a batsman - and I am really happy that you have been able to write an article on the same lines on the Net.

I really enjoyed the article you have written - and request you to read my opinion, sent earlier, to Mr. Lavakare's.

Omkar Sankar. USA

Celebrating Sachin:
Divyang: dshah@umr.edu: A fitting reply to the preposterous article by Mr.Lavakare. Great Job !!Prem.

Celebrating Sachin:
Chetan: cmehenda@netscape.net: Hi, This is a really really wonderful reply. I loved every line, word and syllable in it. I especially like the part where you said, they (the Don, Gavaskar and Sachin) are people "who achieved far more than you and I can ever dream of"...This is so true.

I have one more point to make to Mr Lavakare, in the same innings that Mr Lavakare mentioned, in Chennai, when Sachin played that shot against Saqlain, he forgot one simple fact. India made 4 runs before Sachin came to bat, and 2 runs after he departed. Hows that for statistics?

thanks and regards, chetan

Celebrating Sachin:
Vinay Avasthi: vavasthi@iname.com: Some very interesting reading.

Celebrating Sachin:
Sriram: kumar_sriram@hotmail.com: Just that one quote from Jadeja sums up the issue. SACHIN IS A LEGEND.

Celebrating Sachin:
: : I dno't understand why such articles are even entertained

Sachin versus Bradman:
Nandakumar Menon: n_menon@yahoo.com: Mr.Lavakare, Why don't you go fly a kite.

Celebrating Sachin:
Nadakumar Menon: n_menon@yahoo.com: Well said Mr.Panicker. Nobody had asked Mr.Lavakare for his version of the comparison.

Celebrating Sachin:
karthik: karthik_98@hotmail.com: GREAT ARTICLE!!!! snub that was much required :)

Celebrating Sachin:
Ajith Moharir: moharir@angelfire.com: well said prem !! ur article makes a lot of sense

Celebrating Sachin:
BIKRAM: biki05@hotmail.com: Great article Prem! Keep it up!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Mayuresh: mayrya@hotmail.com: Dear Prem, Thank you for echoing our feelings. I mean obviously we didn't have all the statistics you mentioned to back those emotions thus it makes even more of a pleasunt shock for me. Believe me or not I was actually on the verge of discarding you as somebody always cribbing against Indian performance somebody of likes of the Great Bishensing Bedi, who when it was the time to back the team forgetting some of their recent dismal perfomances, would go aginst such an obvious way write something which would really hurt the feelings of the Indian Team mates just to earn should I say, cheap publicity. But thanks to this article of yours, you brought into my mind again the urge to read Prem on Rediff. (Anyhow even in these days when I was on the verge of labeling you I was reading your articles regularly).

The likes of Arvind Lokare or Bedi are just impossible to digest as to what exactly they achieve by doing this, Bedi on the dawing moments of the most coveted cup and Arvind on the eve of our favourite batsman's birthday.

Any how I would remember this article of yours for years to come, believe me.

Regards, Mayuresh

Sachin versus Bradman:
Nikhil Deo: nikhil_deo@hotmail.com: laughable!!! Ridiculous!!!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Saurabh Atre: Saurabh_Atre@bigfoot.com: Brilliant article,Prem.

Celebrating Sachin:
Khurs Khan: kjkhan1@yahoo.com: This is ridiculous. Prem has been using his column to blast Arvind. I thought they were grown up men. Let them keep their fights to themselves. We just want good reporting without dumb comments thrown between.

Celebrating Sachin:
Avinash Verma: avinashverma@yahoo.com: Boy, is that what i wanted to say when i read Lavakare's article? Or maybe i wanted to blast the old man even more.Mr. Panicker,u've made my day by writing such a fantastic article. I'm going to treasure it.For my kids.

Celebrating Sachin:
John Mathew: jmathew@oeb.harvard.edu: Dear Prem,

What a telling response! How perfectly worded. How incredibly true! Thank you so much. Vive Sachin!

Sincerely yours,

John

Celebrating Sachin:
RAJIV SHAH: RSHAH22263@AOL.COM: Hi Prem, I am Rajiv Shah form New York. I read your colum everyday. I like your style of reprting. It is one of the best and nutreal reporting I have ever read in my young life. Please tell that lavakere guy don't try to be "Amichand" the guy who allowed British people in india for business and sold india for nothing. I have a tape of that sharjaha's league matach. I can send it to you so u can saw him what is "the greate Tendulkar" is made of or I can send it to him.

Celebrating Sachin:
aflatoon: aussie_marauder@yahoo.com: three cheers for prem panicker.your entire article embodies the feelings of most indian and sachin supporters .i think arvind lavakare should stick with his political columns and leave the cricket writing up to you .keep up the good work.

Celebrating Sachin:
ravi: radhechand@hotmail.com: A really true picture of this "Great Son of India"

Keep it up Panicker!! When you reply you make others PANIC !!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Chintan Desai: chintan@rediffmail.com: Good show, Prem! Way to go! These self-imposed critics needed a dose or two rather badly. And your article has been nothing less spectacular and effective than Tendulkar's straight six off Kasprowicz.

Celebrating Sachin:
Mok: : A point well made might as well include bradman failure to bat spin nothing has been said about this.

Celebrating Sachin:
Paul Kagoo: paulkagoo@hotmail.com: BRAVO!

Celebrating Sachin:
Aniruddha Raje: araje@aol.com: You guys can go on and on proving or disproving Sachin's abilities and inabilities. I personally do not care whether he is the best batsman in the world today but what I do feel sad about is that even with the wonderful talents that he has he is yet to emulate Inzamam's breathtaking knocks in the 1992 World Cup Semi finals and finals. He has not yet reached a stage where opposing teams have had to resort to illegal tactics (like BodyLine) just to get him out. We fool ourselves by saying that we have the greatest batsman in the world but it is Afridi and Saeed Anwar who showed us what it takes to win a TEST match with the bat. Sachin is definitely a great batsman but certainly not the best that ever played. Why, even Kapil at the age of 24 won the World Cup for India with the bat/ball and that amazing catch in the fnals. India definetly depends on Sachin to win matches but that doesn't mean that he is our only match winner. Anyway that is my own personal view. Aniruddha Raje

Celebrating Sachin:
Atul Garg: gargatul@usa.net: Prem Congratulations on such a great article. My heart feels sorry for journalists liks Arvind who have to revolt against anything which gives Indians Pride to be in Limelight. Maybe they want to be called "Great Critics". I doubt if anything from India ever fascinated them!

Celebrating Sachin:
Rajan Kumar: rajan@sb.com.au: Great article Prem. Keep it up.

Celebrating Sachin:
Ravi: : God job Prem Panicker. A well written rejoinder to a thoughtless,ridiculous article from a mentally ill person.

Celebrating Sachin:
Ramani: ramani_ranjan@yahoo.com: If Pakistan has a "Arvind Lavakare", they donot have a Imran/Saqlin... If WI has a "Arvind Lavakare", they donot have a Lara If "Arvind Lavakare", long before there does not exist any Bradman...

Celebrating Sachin:
Rohit Srinivasan: rohitjs@poboxes.com: Just brilliant! Both the articles from you and Mr lavakere were out of this world!

Celebrating Sachin:
SANTOSH PAWAR: santi@mcbl.iisc.ernet.in: Dear PREM PANICKER, I don't have words to describe your article. SUPERB and just GREAT. You are a terrific writer, PREM. And its very nice to see this article as a fitting and hard-hitting reply to Arvind Lavakare's earlier article where he was trying to give an eye-wash to the readers, using statistics, that Tendulkar is no big gun...... And the kind of response the readers have given to "that" article should give some sense to Arvind Lavakare, not to try any of these cheap gimmicks again. KUDOS to you PREM for answering the Arvind's article by statistics. True, like you said, stats can be used either ways, to promote or demote a player. When the whole world says and beleives that Sachin Tendulkar was born for Cricket and is the best thing to have happened to Cricket in recent times, some journalists come up with something senseless just to sound different from the rest all. That is all that can be said about Arvind's article. I am sure ARVIND LAVAKARE'S BUBBLE MIGHT HAVE BURST seeing the readers' response and PREM's superb reply. So Arvind should not try to sound different in future, 'coz he just sounds idiotic then. SACHIN IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE BEST BATSMAN IN THE WORLD TODAY AND WE, AS INDIANS, ARE PROUD OF HIM, AS MUCH AS HE IS PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN. Arvind can just stick to writing Political articles in future and not even venture near Cricket ever. Thanks Prem for a Great article from you. Keep it up....

Celebrating Sachin:
Ananth: mailananth@yahoo.com: It was a peice of wise an sportive criticism I really appreciate it. I think aravinds article was like holding a rabits leg and arguing that it has ony thre legs Ananth

Previous Forum