Living Legend

                 It’s been three days and I was itching to write about it. The festival of colors ‘HOLI’ is approaching and so there is a lot of enthusiasm amongst all the people of India. Also this is the Budget season in India. The Railway and Union budget this week would lay a roadmap as to where our country and its citizens are heading in the next one year.
                 Amidst all these things, we got a very pleasant surprise and enormous happiness when Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, cricket’s greatest son and arguably the greatest batsman ever, rocked the world of cricket and became the first man on the planet to score a double century in One Day International cricket.
                 It all started when Sachin hit a boundary of the third ball of the second over in his own style with a drive through mid-off at the Captain Roop Singh stadium, Gwalior. He was in a great mood and kept timing the ball extremely well throughout the innings. It was a treat to watch him bat, as it always is. But that day is was something more special. He hardly played a bad shot the entire innings and it seemed that it’s the same 16 year old boy as he was 2 decades ago. When he was on 199 and Dhoni kept hitting Steyn and company all around, virtually whole of India was on a standstill. We could not wait to see him on strike and when squeezed the ball past point in the last over of the innings the pleasure was immense. I felt as if I myself have achieved that….
                 In his cricketing career what not he has achieved, over 90 centuries in international cricket and over 30,000 runs. In addition to it records for most 100’s, 90’s, 50’s; a double century and respect of thousands of millions of cricket lovers all over the world. His only 'outstanding' dream as a cricketer probably now is to hold a ‘Cricket World Cup’. If cricket was an individual sport then this dream would have been achieved way back. Since it is not, the next year when India gets into the world cup, the little master would do whatever possible to get his hands on the world cup. If we are able to achieve that, it would be a fitting tribute to a fantastic cricketer and his contribution to Indian cricket.


Cheers
Rohit