Sachin Tendulkar - Defying the Odds

[SachinTheGr8st]

Lahore: Jun 4, 2005 “The positions of Jupiter and Mars are not good. I wish I am wrong but this is what the stars tell. Sachin’s career will be over soon.” Said the famous astrologer of Pakistan, Abdullah Shaukat Chowdhry The famous Indian astrologer Bejan Daruwalla said the same. They were right, what followed was some of the most forgettable times for Sachin Tendulkar fans. He struggled with multiple injuries, by the time his tennis elbow got cured, he started having shoulder problem. What followed after this prediction was poor performances by Sachin in both forms of the game for the next two years. [table=head;sort=10]Period |Matches |Runs |Average |Strike Rate |100s/50s Test Matches between Jan 2005 to Dec 2006 |14 |711 |33.85 |47.14 |1/4 ODI Matches between Jan 2005 to Dec 2006 |32 |1040 | 35.86 |77.15 |3/5 [/table] Many factors led to this slump. The major factor was he played under a coach, who asked him to warm the bench if he was not willing to play down the order. India had a forgettable captain who said “YES SIR” to all the coach’s orders. This can be backed by the stats of Sachin when he played under different captains and under Dravid/Chappel. [table=head;sort=7]Captain |Matches |Runs |Average |100s/50s Dravid (2003-2007) |21 |1304 |40.75 |4/6 Dravid (Under Chappel 2005-06) |10 |414 |29.57 |1/1 Azhar (1990-99) |47 |3767 |59.79 |15/15 Ganguly(2000-2005) |42 |3768 |62.80 |11/15 Dhoni(2008-2010) |15 |1549 |73.76 |8/5 [/table] Even in ODIs, his record under Dravid/Chappel is far less, an average of mid 30s with a strike rate of 77. At the end of this phase despite knowing world cup history, (India got eliminated early whenever Sachin played down the order and whenever he opened India went on to play semi-final and the final of previous world cups) he was forced to play down the order. India got eliminated from the world cup, losing even to Bangladesh and the whole of the country pointed fingers at Sachin Tendulkar. The guru Greg questioned the attitude of Sachin, and Sachin was rested for the series against Bangladesh. During this phase every cricket critic crucified him, Kapil Dev: “Tendulkar fails to deliver under pressure” , “He is thought to be backbone of Indian team but many times he has not stood up to the occasion”, “People expect big things, but often it is only disappointment that we are left with”, “Figures say that Sachin has not been able to perform under pressure”, “Sachin has big records to his names, but he has never won matches for India” “Sachin Tendulkar should retire. A player should know when his time is over, like Gavaskar. People asked him, why now? Instead of why not retiring.” Sanjay Manjerekar: “He is an elephant in the room no one wants to talk about” after a lean patch, “He was afraid of failures and getting out”, “He often sits out citing injury” Ian Chappel: “Knowing when to stop is a much more difficult decision for the modern player. When the money was not there, it was much easier to move on.“, “At the moment he looks like a player trying to eke out a career; build on a glittering array of statistics. If he really is playing for that reason and not to help win as many matches as he can for India then he is wasting his time and should retire immediately.” If Tendulkar had found an honest mirror three years ago and asked the question; ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the best batsman of all?‘ It would’ve answered; ‘Brian Charles Lara.’ If he asked that same mirror right now; ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall should I retire?‘ The answer would be; ‘Yes.‘ Sambit Bal: “Watching Tendulkar was embarrassing “, “He had a recovering elbow and a bad back, but none quite explained the crawl that he subjected himself to”, “He looked like a man weighed down by his own doubts” Siddharth Monga: “Tendulkar has been batting in this perplexing, defensive mode more often recently.” Greg Chappel (in his leaked report): “The return of Ganguly and Sachin’s captaincy aspirations, had a destabilising effect on the team, forming groups within the players, and stifling the growth of young cricketers who are trying to make a mark”. “Ganguly, Sachin, Sehwag and Harbajan have serious attitude problems that spoils the team harmony”. An athlete however good would succumb to such pressure. The pressure of a billion people pointing fingers, the injuries, lack of runs, captain/coach working against him, the so called cricket experts advising him to hang his boots and even the planets were against him. Tendulkar who often let just his batting talk, took the onus on himself to set things straight. Greg Chappel accused him of working against the youngsters, but the entire team rallied around him. The players went on to say “We all stay together and with Sachin”, “Give us a foreigner, give us an India, give us anyone but him”, “A coach is supposed to give the players confidence, not create insecurity in the team” “He is manipulative and untrustworthy” “Dravid had bought into Chappell’s ways too much and had not stood up for the players”. Only the collective pressure of the team saved Sehwag and Harbajan from being axed. Chappel was sacked by the Board, Dravid understanding the pressure quit. Sachin refused to take up captaincy and forwarded the name of Dhoni to Sharad Pawar and the board. Dhoni was appointed the captain of team India in ODIs and Kumble in test matches, everything fell in place. Exactly 2 and a half years and the planets shifted, so did Sachin. At the age of 34 with that kind of pressure very few would have expected his career to have a second coming, but then he is destiny’s own child. If at 18 he can play like a 35 year old veteran, at 35 he can still play like the 18 year old. He proved that to the world. What followed was a period of golden run which matched or even exceeded his golden run of 1998-99. [table=head;sort=10]Period |Matches |Runs |Average |Strike Rate |100s/50s ODI Matches from Jan 2007 onwards |68 |3061 |51.01 |90.10 |6/19 Test Matches from Jan 2007 onwards |35 |3247 |60.12 |56.06 |13/14 [/table] He simply proved to the world that he is still the best batsman in both forms of the game. There has been lot of comebacks by players. After a prolonged slump Gooch came back as a better player, Ganguly after being dropped came back and played some useful knocks, and there are numerous examples, but nothing can be as miraculous like this.

It requires a Sachin to have a comeback, and be the best batsman in every form of the game. He is the only batsman to average more than 50 in both forms of the game during this period (Test average of 60 and ODI average of 51 at a strike rate of 90). No batsman has ever dominated both forms of the game like what Sachin has done over the last three seasons.

The same critics who blasted Sachin before came out with totally different opinions Kapil Dev: “Sachin has touched several milestones during his 20-year career in the international cricket. He certainly deserves the Bharat Ratna. We will be very happy if he gets the highest honour of the country, Even if Sachin would have got a duck in this innings, still I would say that he deserves the honour. No decision should be taken on the basis of performance in one match, but I am keeping in mind his overall contribution.” Ian Chappell: It’s not just the number of runs he’s scored in this prolific period (although four Test centuries in six innings is pretty impressive); rather it’s the manner of his run-gathering. In his scintillating 175 against Australia and the double-century that demolished South Africa, it was his dominance that stood out. Both innings rattled along at much better than a run-a-ball,s and when he is regularly punching drives off the back foot you know Tendulkar is master of all he surveys. Sanjay Manjerekar: “A man in his 20th year of cricket getting a double hundred is a special moment. In the end he was running those singles and doubles for the partner at the other end, unlike Saeed Anwar who ran his last 90 runs with a runner. “It shows Tendulkar’s commitment. Truly, this was a once-in-a-lifetime innings.” Sambit Bal: “Tendulkar transcends every format, to watch the master in Chennai was to be reminded of how he unites India, and also of how his batting has remained pure”. “Sachin was a happy reminder of the things we adore about cricket”. Sidharth Monga: “Nobody plays solos better than Sachin, for two decades he has carried Indian dreams on his shoulders”. While the critics ate back their words, the other blemish which people often said about Sachin is that he has slowed down and is not suited for T20s. John Buchannan went on records saying that this game is not for Sachin and he cannot succeed in this form of the game which requires fresh legs and aggressive batsmanship. Sachin went on to become the leading run scorer of any IPL tournament, with excellent average and strike rate. Such is the fickle minded critics and the audience that they wanted Sachin to play the world T20 (from which he retired), despite calling him a misfit a couple of seasons ago. When he is playing people wanted him to retire and when he has retired from a particular format, people and the critics want him to comeback. There was no one like Sachin and there will be no one like him in the future. He is the Greatest Cricketer to walk on this planet. Period. LINK

[Roshanrocks]

:canabis: nice one

[Jersey #10]

:hail:

[Rajan]

i may have thought about some of these points, discussed with friends too. but never could write it down so well. :two_thumbs_up:

[SachinTheGr8st]

i didnt write this article i read it in cric age so it was worth posting here still shows that Sach is the greatest cricketer in the world

[Online]

:hail::hail::hail::hail::hail::hail:

[King Tendulkar]

What a great post!

[Ram]

Guru Greg seems to have had an extremely destabilizing effect on our team.. But all our players are pucca gentlemen and you’ll probably never hear them talk about it.. (except for maybe the odd snippet when Sehwag said Chappell would talk to a player in confidentiality and then immediately leak the contents of that meeting to others..) Zaheer Khan has spoken fleetingly about Greg and so has Irfan, but If only someone wrote a book chronicling the internal struggles of our team during that time…

[Online]

nballa is an attention ho we don't get why he stoops so low he poses like a hyderabadi but we all know he's a paki

[DomainK]

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the best batsman of all?" Time for all the evil jealous and whinning queens to ask the question again and still get the same answer they always got.

[Temujin Khaghan]

first i started to read it normally... then after the 1st parah, i put on MJ's Beat it in full volume and read the rest of it... :) Sachin is our national treasure. :)

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[imran666]

sachin is from out of this world ...he never gets old ...we will never see a player like him again .. :hatsoff:

[THX_1138]

i love how some hack of a astrologer claimed to predict the career of such a resilient athlete from the fracking fictional position of stars. next time you see a jhotshi or something, slap the shyte out of him/her.

[littlemaster1982]

Excellent article :hatsoff:

i love how some hack of a astrologer claimed to predict the career of such a resilient athlete from the fracking fictional position of stars. next time you see a jhotshi or something, slap the shyte out of him/her.

:hysterical:

[Roshanrocks]

heyyyyyyyy i remember when sachin was going through his horrible phase there was a live cricket discussion on TV... Sachin tendulkar's name came up and his poor form was a the focus of the topic... the debate organiser then asked Bejan Daruwalla who was on Tv screen what the stars held for Sachin... I clearly remember his words.. because his words made my eyes misty... he said tendulkar will have a bad phase for 2~3 years.. and when he comes out of it... he will perform better than he ever did... and he said this with feeling... with emotion... ~~~~~~~~~~ i remembered this when i saw THX's article... i hope i can find some video or an article on this.... Bejan Daruwalla... BELIEVED.. Tendulkar will be back and play better than ever before :isalute: i cl