SACHIN AIN'T GANGULY AND DRAVID

I don’t know since when but I ‘ m pretty sure that it was Him. Since I ‘ m a guy and I ‘ m an Indian, cricket runs in my veins. When you go through our family album, you will find me in a lot of pictures carrying a wooden or a plastic bat. Also in our old house where me and my elder brother grew up, you will always find three vertical lines on the walls or on the doors. Like me, same is the case of a lot of kids. Such has been the impact of a sport in my life and the onus goes to only one individual-SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR

When I was a toddler, my nascent memory with its vague imagination was influenced by a young, curly haired boy who was considered to be a child prodigy. Since I was too young to decipher such things, I would hear the constant ‘kar’ rhyme.A

As time passed I got to know about the ‘man’. It was 1995 that I got to see ‘Him’ face to face for the first time. It was a test match between India and New Zealand that I went to see. We were quite lucky to get seats just beside the pavilion. The stadium was full with crowds waiting with a lot of anticipation. I was not bothered about anything since I was in complete awe to see my Hero. There were other players like Sidhu and Mongia, but my eyes were glued to only one man. He kept on walking in and out of the dressing room, but every time he came out to the balcony my eyes didn’t blink for once. India won the toss and to the euphoria of the crowd elected to bat first. Soon India was two down and then entered the ‘man’. The crowd went berserk with ‘Sachin’ rant. It was a first hand mesmerizing experience. Albeit He was bowled by Cairns for three, the whole experience got imprinted in my memory.

But the defining moment came a year later when India hosted the world cup and He became the leading run scorer amassing 523 runs(a record at that time). The world cup somewhat transformed my metaphysical admiration into some kind of fanatism. Post 1998-99 season, from being a die-hard fan, I became a devotee constantly chanting “om Sachinaye namah”. This is my story and I ‘m sure there are millions having their own stories.

There are many who have dominated the game with either bat or ball or both; then what differentiates Him from the rest? First of all lets discuss what differentiates Him from his Indian contemporaries. The common mob gets hitched to the charisma of various personalities in diversified fields but generally the ‘netas’, ‘abhinetas’ and the cricketers are considered to be the privileged, sacrosanct souls in our country. This is because they are provided with a platform or a medium through which they reach to the maximum audience. In our society creative  people who can inspire, lure or entertain ( I consider netas to be entertainers) are  solely adorned as role models. They are kept as bench marks or reference point for their one upmanship and heroism.

Dissecting the Indian society of the nineties, once can easily comprehend the reason for the emergence of a cricketing god. Post Rajiv Gandhi there was no charismatic leader or a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family dominating the political scene (Vajpayee came in 1998-99). The political scene was turbulent and an unstable government was headed by lesser known leaders ( Deve Gowda, I.K Gujaral,etc ). India had just liberated its economy ad was yet to become a superpower as it is now.(India may not be as big as China, but one cannot afford to ignore India in terms of global value). There was the same old story of corruption, dirty politics, etc. There was nothing to be inspired of, rather it was a case of scornful condemnation.

Coming to the ‘abhinetas’, Mr. Bachchan  had taken a sabbatical from movies; the street vendors, the rickshaw pullers would miss the angry young man. Though Shah Rukh Khan’s lover boy image put an impact on a certain section of audience, it failed to inspire them.

In cricket, Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri had passed their prime and were on the verge of hanging their boots. Also the perpetual defeats at the hands of their arch rivals Pakistan(in Sharjah) and the tag of ‘poor travellers’ had already been bestowed on them.

Then a young boy of sixteen, with his innocent yet charming looks, emerged to the scene. His arrival also coincided with the evolution of television. May be he was sixteen and belonged to a middle class family, thus epitomising the Indian value system, worked in his favour. His skills as a cricketer, his domineering mannerism spelt a magic on the entire nation. The nation stood up to acknowledge the ‘child prodigy’. The timing of his shots was music to the ears of many, in fact it resembled the eloquent speeches of the erstwhile Jyoti Basu. Like the angry young man, he destroyed the opponents with his strokeplay. He won matches for the country single handedly and brought solace to an exploited worker, smile on a young boy’s face and reverence to the elite class. Neither was his popularity confined to a particular section of people nor a particular area, he belonged to every household; he was theirs.

The effect of a boy on the entire nation was unprecedented, never witnessed before. Mine was no exception. I would often pray to God “hey bhagwan..mujhe exam main pass kar ya na kar…par sachin ko hundred dilade”

One then wonders, when there are several icons of the game like Ponting, Lara, Dravid, Ganguly, Kallis,etc what differentiates cricketing God from cricketing icons. A careful introspection would give you the answer.

SACHIN VS GANGULY

Ganguly made his ODI debut in 1992. though he was in the test team in that tour, he made his test debut only in the year 1995. he belonged to a zamindar family and rumours of his hotheadedness was making rounds in the cricketing circle.. Subsequently along with Sachin and Dravid he became the backbone of Indian batting and he became a great captain.

Though he proved his fearless leadership mettle with distinction, he was somewhat ubiquitous and a pseudo dictator during his reign as captain. The runs dried up from his bat and he got indulged in ugly spats with the then coach Chappell. His inability to score runs and a myriad controversial incidents brought the inevitable indignation on Ganguly and the conversion of  iconic status  into Godly status was halted.

SACHIN VS DRAVID

The impregnable WALL of Indian cricket, the run scoring machine, was arguably India’s best batsman from 2002-2006 in all forms of the game. He was more respected than loved for his impeccable work ethics.

But when Sachin dominated the bowlers and tore apart every bowling attack, Dravid became an accumulator. He had the technique but lacked the flair, flamboyance and genius of Sachin. When fans craved for boundaries, he exhibited his defence technique exemplarily. Though later he improved his ODI and 20-20 skills, the first impression imprinted in the minds of the people rendered him to be a ‘mortal’ and hence he failed to achieve the ‘Godly status’

SACHIN VS PONTING

The three cricketers of this generation who can be clubbed as immortals are Sachin, Lara and Ponting. Kallis with all his achievements (with both bat and ball) falls short of this status. The common trait among these cricketers is that they dominated the bowling attack with their stroke play, converting the good deliveries into scoring opportunities.

But I would like to point out that within this superset, there is a subset comprising of Sachin and Lara only. It is a well known fact that Ponting has iconic status in his country and all over the world, he was never a one man army. He led Australia to numerous victories, winning the world cup twice but the success of the team was not entirely his. With the presence of players like Warne and Mcgrath, the accolades had to be shared and the people had options to look up to for success and inspiration. The ‘one man army’ cult status tacitly plays a major role in the elevation of Sachin and Lara. In the nineties, Sachin meant India and India meant Sachin. People would switch off their TV when got out. Such was the clout of this GOD and thus had greater influence over the people than Ponting.

SACHIN VS DHONI

Many would be sceptical regarding the comparison between Sachin and Dhoni. Let me clear the air. The comparison is not regarding batting or captaincy; in fact it solely pivots around the cult status that both these gentlemen have acquired.

Dhoni after conquering the ICC championship trilogy, has ostensibly earmarked a cult status for himself. Both of them have a number of similarities-both are from middle class families, both are non controversial personalities, both are ‘head on the shoulder’ guys. Dhoni with his achievements (seen it all..done it all) has definitely questioned the omnipresence and omnipotence of Sachin in Indian cricket. Both belong to different eras-while one is a batting legend, the other is ‘captain cool’.

While Sachin brought smile to the not so aspirational Indian, Dhoni belongs to the era when India is a ‘superpower’ and the aspirational youth is hungry and impatient. Their wants are different from that of the nineties to be able to satisfy such quantum of demands will be the biggest challenge for Dhoni. Besides today the people have role models in the form of ‘netas’ and ‘abhinetas’. Hence it will be interesting to see whether the iconic status of Dhoni is eternal or ephemeral. But he is yet to acquire the Godly status of Sachin for sure.

As we all know that there is one God or one God with multiple names. But in Indian cricket, there is only one God with one name-SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR