When the best keeps getting better.......

[The Outsider]

Think about how a language develops - the brain perceives something novel and seeks to narrate and inform others of this. That's the birth of vocabulary. Great writers and thinkers often see things differently from the average person. They express this different thought in a unique manner. That's the birth of literature. There would be no need for our vocabulary to have the word "love" if the emotion did not exist. Our literature would not have poetry if prose was expressing all our mind wanted to. Think of all the adjectives that have described Tendulkar for 20 years - they could fill up a rudimentary lexicon. Think of all the attempts authors of varying caliber have made to describe Tendulkar holding a bat and striking a cricket ball for 2 decades - they could form a small library. The challenge Tendulkar presents is that every time you think about the latest masterpiece he has crafted and describe it to the best of your ability, the task becomes harder the next time. Superb, astonishing, crafty, awesome, genius..............champion, fantastic, phenomenal. Till when can you recycle these words? It's not that his innings or career has to be described in words. Watching him bat and play an innings like he did today is a privilege in itself. There are so many emotions that go through the heart in an innings like today that it just seems right to pen a few down. Be it the consecutive sixes off Hauritz after skipping down the track which tingles a thrill in the body, the edged boundary through the vacant slip cordon which leaves one gasping, or the despondency induced by his dismissal where somewhere in the heart of hearts one knows that the team are going to fluff another work of genius like using a Picasso for firewood. Many watched the innings today, many others will watch the highlights, many more will continue to watch it on youtube down the years and no doubt there will be a host of articles written about one of the greatest ODI innings ever over the next few days. Any attempt by me to describe the innings or the match will be inadequate in the face of videos and many more capable writers than me writing about it, so I will not walk down that path of futility. However, what this 175 chasing 350 with wickets tumbling around showed once again was that even though one can show through numbers and stats that there are better batsman than Tendulkar, one does not need these crutches to experience the greatness of Tendulkar as a batsman. His numbers would still stand up against the best, but since when was sports played by numbers. It's played in a cauldron where a split second means the difference between failure and success and where the tangible difficulties and pressure would be white papered out when the numbers and words are typed on paper. It's the emotion which one goes through with every passing minute during an innings like today's which makes Tendulkar stand out from the crowd and sends people searching for the thesaurus every time the best gets better in order to put words to the emotions of having experienced rare sporting brilliance.

[Nova]

Think of how he would have played till the end and we would have won the match. Indeed one of the infamous adjectives Tendulkar's critics give him is Chokedulkar...in the sense that today's knock was good but not great enough to win the match. That's the difference between great players and match winners. I rest my case.

[DomainK]

Excellent write up....as always. But this one makes me so emotional after a day of so many emotions.

[jf1gp_1]

That's the difference between great players and match winners. I rest my case.

so what you are saying is on the basis of current performance you would pick afridi over sachin ?

[Nova]

so what you are saying is on the basis of current performance you would pick afridi over sachin ?

No I will still pick Sachin. That was just rhetoric.

[satishg]

Think of how he would have played till the end and we would have won the match. Indeed one of the infamous adjectives Tendulkar's critics give him is Chokedulkar...in the sense that today's knock was good but not great enough to win the match. That's the difference between great players and match winners. I rest my case.

During the 3rd test between Australia and England in the 2005 Ashes, Ricky Ponting was the 9th batsman to get out and Australia still had 4 more overs to play it out inorder to secure a draw. Brett Lee did it for Australia so by your logic does that make Lee a greater match-saver than Ponting with this match as the context.

[satishg]

anyway the point is he gave everything for us today and if still we couldnt win then it is not the great man's fault, we need to question the other batsmen in the team. So please enough of this if he stayed till the end if he did this that stuff, you wont get to see a better innings than what we witnessed today. People should start appreciating the man's genius atleast in the end of his career.

[kabira]

well he got out it was simple task run a ball with 3 overs of power play left.

[Online]

where somewhere in the heart of hearts one knows that the team are going to fluff another work of genius like using a Picasso for firewood.

brilliant, too good! :hatsoff:

[DomainK]

Think of how he would have played till the end and we would have won the match. Indeed one of the infamous adjectives Tendulkar's critics give him is Chokedulkar...in the sense that today's knock was good but not great enough to win the match. That's the difference between great players and match winners. I rest my case.

No need to rest anything, you don't have a case. Can you just remind me the last ODI opener who always remained not out with every big score? You are just a sadist who has to find negatives in everything.

[Online]

No need to rest anything, you don't have a case. Can you just remind me the last ODI opener who always remained not out with every big score? You are just a sadist who has to find negatives in everything.

Mashallah, spot on....Nice to see sensible people exist! :two_thumbs_up:

[triam]

Think of how he would have played till the end and we would have won the match. Indeed one of the infamous adjectives Tendulkar's critics give him is Chokedulkar...in the sense that today's knock was good but not great enough to win the match. That's the difference between great players and match winners. I rest my case.

dude, define match winner and give statistical instances of how many times that has happened or who you consider as match winners.

[Online]

dude' date=' define match winner and give statistical instances of how many times that has happened or who you consider as match winners.[/quote'] don't feed the troll such cockroaches feed on attention and will do anything to gain attention

[Sooda]

Nice one Outsider, Dhondy-esque even hehe :hatsoff:

[okko321]

well i look at sachin as a very good cricateer a cricateer soo good dat now he only need 20 or 30 matches to reach his next thousand...but i also agree wit tdigi dat sachin is not a match winner like inzi lara ponting n msd....

[kabira]

well i look at sachin as a very good cricateer a cricateer soo good dat now he only need 20 or 30 matches to reach his next thousand...but i also agree wit tdigi dat sachin is not a match winner like inzi lara ponting n msd....

is that rhetoric/ troll?? do you have stats to back that up? IF not STFU. We will present stats after stats and throw at your face so that you face becomes as big as your arrse.

[Deleted_User_1]

well i look at sachin as a very good cricateer a cricateer soo good dat now he only need 20 or 30 matches to reach his next thousand...but i also agree wit tdigi dat sachin is not a match winner like inzi lara ponting n msd....

Well, SRT is a "cricateer" :hysterical: and you are a moron of the highest order.......

[fineleg]

Absolutely brilliant knock by Tendulkar. Indian Bowlers, Fielders and the other batsmen (except one other) let him down. Very unfortunate. But masterclass innings against Aus.

[graphic23]

Absolutely brilliant knock by Tendulkar. Indian Bowlers, Fielders and the other batsmen (except one other) let him down. Very unfortunate. But masterclass innings against Aus.

fineleg! :hail:

[Mr. Wicket]

Damn, we've got fineleg posting really true, fair and appreciative posts on a great innings, and ludh trolling the boards calling him a choker. Who'd have expected this a year ago?