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

[ludhianvi]

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?

I stated it was a fantastic knock yet lacked the finishing punch. I am sure Tendulkar himself would have liked to finish it. Anyways, myself has used up the day's quota for arguing.

[Params7]

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....

Oh look the trolls had a baby *pokes with a stick*

[Mr. Wicket]

I stated it was a fantastic knock yet lacked the finishing punch. I am sure Tendulkar himself would have liked to finish it.

Gotta love backhanded compliments. BTW, fantastic start to your argument there, just a shame it lacked a finishing punch (or anything in the middle, or any reasoning). I'm sure some other troll would like to finish it though.

[Shehezaada]

I think what this innings shows is his desire to win and his belief in himself. It's very easy, chasing a big total, to just go out and slam bang, have a good time, hit a quickfire 30/40 and get out. But to keep fighting, even when wickets are down, and bring India so close is just amazing. Who else would have thought they could win the game at 186/4 and only one recognized batsmen left? I think it shows how competitive he is as well. That's a trait that the true geniuses always have....a competitive streak that allows them to perform like this. Michael Jordan had it, so does Sachin Tendulkar.

[Rajiv]

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.

Brilliant, dont mind if I quoted this elswhere

[Anakin]

Superb OP. Agree totally. @the you know whos, get a life. It's fine not to understand crickiet, but I'm sure you can control shameless display of your ignorance and stupidity.

[Nova]

I take back my words...I think it was a knee jerk reaction from me. I am neither a cockroach nor a troll. I don't deny that today's innings was classy, but I was trying to put across a point that the game probably has seen better finishers like Lara, Ponting, Miandad, Richards, but as someone rightly said...it would be hard to find a opener who remains not out till the end.

[Gambit]

Great post Outsider. He truly is the heartbeat of the nation.

[okko321]

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.

truth always hurt huh :giggle:

[Rajiv]

^^ If we pull up the stats, you will be surprised. We know you are troll, and letting you survive to enjoy some more heat Why do u Pakis always fail to cover up

[Cricketics]

Was reading this thread as a guest, and especially logged in to tell you that this is a fantastic post Shwetabh. Really well written. Peace

[DomainK]

truth always hurt huh :giggle:

Trolls are always shameless!

[DeXteR]

This was one of the best innings played against Aussies in this decade. (barring that 175 by gibbs). Some may argue weak Aussie bowling, but guys bowling was not that bad ,its Sachins batting that made it look so. And remember chasing a 350 , 5 batsmen didnt cross double digit mark. and the only other mark above 50 was raina. Sachin did all that was humanly possible , but if he had support like Gibbs in that epic match, India would have won. It was one man show : Tendulkar vs Aussies

[satishg]

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.

I dont think there could be a better tribute to the Master than the above few lines. Simply awesome writeup Shwethab :two_thumbs_up:

[SachDan]

Superb post :hatsoff:

[Anakin]

I take back my words...I think it was a knee jerk reaction from me. I am neither a cockroach nor a troll. I don't deny that today's innings was classy' date=' but I was trying to put across a point that the game probably has seen better finishers like Lara, Ponting, Miandad, Richards, but as someone rightly said...it would be hard to find a opener who remains not out till the end.[/quote'] Actually NO, you are wrong again. But hey, it's alright, didn't expect anything better.

[Gambit]

I take back my words...I think it was a knee jerk reaction from me. I am neither a cockroach nor a troll. I don't deny that today's innings was classy' date=' but I was trying to put across a point that the game probably has seen [b']better finishers like Lara, Ponting, Miandad, Richards, but as someone rightly said...it would be hard to find a opener who remains not out till the end.

Better finishers :cantstop: Please show us instances of Ponting, Richards, Lara and Miandad remaining not out, finishing and winning games during a big (275+) chase. I know you're just a little troll and will probably not respond, so let me educate you. Here are the number of 275+ targets these guys 'finished' while still being there in the middle - Richards - 0 Miandad - 0 Lara - 1 Ponting - 1 :hysterical: I'll be kind to Miandad and Richards and reduce the chases to 250+ since they played in a different era. Here are their numbers - Miandad - 2 Richards - 1 OMG, how right you were! There are literally tons of instances of these guys being not out and winning the game during big chases. NOT. YOU :fail:

[DomainK]

Better finishers :cantstop: Please show us instances of Ponting, Richards, Lara and Miandad remaining not out, finishing and winning games during a big (275+) chase. I know you're just a little troll and will probably not respond, so let me educate you. Here are the number of 275+ targets these guys 'finished' while still being there in the middle - Richards - 0 Miandad - 0 Lara - 1 Ponting - 1 :hysterical: I'll be kind to Miandad and Richards and reduce the chases to 250+ since they played in a different era. Here are their numbers - Miandad - 2 Richards - 1 OMG, how right you were! There are literally tons of instances of these guys being not out and winning the game during big chases. NOT. YOU :fail:

And none of the 4 were openers.

[Guest Gunner]

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.

Shwetabh really well written piece, if I may borrow a much used cricketing phrase "that was a master class". Do you look for words anymore to define your emotions over Sachin's batting? I stopped that sometime ago, nowadays I feel Sachin's batting, I don't try to define it at all. One of my friends said it beautifully about 6 or 7 years ago, "when Sachin bats you feel the entire gamut of emotions". Thank you once again.

[Riley's Girl]

If there is a person who was not filled by wonder at bearing witness to yesterday's innings, then that person is poorer than I am today, for he/she will never be touched by the beauty that is the game of cricket.