Articles on Tendulkar in the Australian media

[SachDan]

The Great man is all set to play his last series down under..let's start keeping track of how the Aussies welcomes their "idol" :--D To begin with, here's an article that appeared in cricinfo during India's last series in Australia

Australian Idol

Back in Melbourne, "Aussie Ana" was adding to her ratings. Twenty-year-old Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, the 2008 Australian Open finalist, endeared herself to sports fans Down Under thanks as much to her knockout good looks as for her tennis skills. A nation that feeds off the deeds of its sportspersons, Australia has always welcomed the talented with open arms. It was the same 16 years ago, when another youngster, the 18-year-old Sachin Tendulkar, arrived on his maiden voyage and returned with two spectacular centuries, leaving behind impressions that still endure in the minds of the natives. Now, nearly two decades on, it is almost as if they have adopted him as one of their own. There have been other visiting champions during this age, such as Brian Lara of the West Indies, but none has attracted quite the sort of rapturous applause that has greeted Tendulkar every time he has walked out onto a cricket ground in Australia during this series. Yes, much of it has to do with this tour probably being his last, but it was much the same in the 2003-04 series, and in 1999-2000. Just what it is about Tendulkar that the Australians so love? The reasons have as much to do with Australia as with the man himself. Bill Lawry, the former Australian captain, points out that Australians have always had time for champions. "We've always enjoyed champions and they could be in any sport." Peter Roebuck, who captained Viv Richards and Ian Botham at Somerset, and enjoys something approaching Tendulkar-like status in cricket writing himself, reckons it has to do with the sentimentality of Australians. "It's a new country, and its people get excited when they see great innings like Tendulkar's." He goes on to stress that the likes of Lara and Shane Warne were "mixed blessings", while Tendulkar is not. Gideon Haigh, historian and cricket writer, agrees that his countrymen admire anyone who does well against them, but presents a unique point. "It is partly a mark of respect, partly a symptom of national narcissism. I think Australians are also fascinated by Tendulkar's status in India. Australian cricketers are hugely popular in their own country, but they do not need protection from their fans in the fashion Tendulkar does. His fame, to us, makes him an emblem of Indian extremity and exoticism." There is also the matter of two ringing endorsements, delivered by Australian greats. When Tendulkar was at his peak in the mid-to-late-1990s, one day Sir Don Bradman called his wife Jessie to the television set and said how he could see himself in the young man he was watching play on the screen. Then Warne, talking about his contests with the Indian, said Tendulkar gave him "nightmares". Mark Taylor, another Australian captain who played against Tendulkar and has been an admirer from the day he first watched him play, thinks the Bradman compliment was a major head-turner. "Suddenly people thought, 'Hold on, you don't have the greatest batsman saying things just like that.'" Taylor also points out that part of the admiration has to do with the sheer amount of runs Tendulkar has made in Australia. Six of Tendulkar's 39 Test centuries have come in Australia, each worth its own photo album. Haigh's personal favourite was the MCG Test of 1999. "The Indian batsmen struggled awfully. [Rahul] Dravid was lifeless, inert," he remembers. "But Tendulkar was so immediately at home that it was almost like the Aussies just gave up trying to get him out and decided to work around him." Haigh calls Tendulkar not just a great batsman but a fascinating batsman: "so correct, so compact, as intricate and exquisitely functioning as a Fabergé egg." Tendulkar came to Australia for the 1991-92 series as a impressionable youngster. His legend was already on the way to being established, thanks to the world record he had set with Vinod Kambli in school cricket. When he arrived in Australia, people wanted to see the young phenomenon. "People loved him then because he seemed to be still a boy but played brilliantly," recollects Mark Ray, a senior Australian journalist. Ray, the author of Cricket Masala, a brilliant photographic travelogue of his various cricketing tours, touches on another aspect of Tendulkar's appeal. "His modesty is a bit old-fashioned these days and appeals to many Australians. We have an image of being tough, very self-confident sportsmen, but most of the public here still prefer the modest champion. He stands out in that regard." Jim Maxwell of ABC Radio believes it's Tendulkar's flawless character that has defined him. "Australians like the humble, the laconic, no-complaining types, which Tendulkar is." Mike Coward, the eminent cricket writer, says: "Humility and civility have followed him all his life." For Coward it is Tendulkar "who has raised awareness about Indo-Australian cricket, given it a profile more than anyone else. He is someone people can relate to." Tendulkar for his part has valued the importance of gaining the respect of the most feared opponents around. Ravi Shastri, a team-mate at the time, recalls how Tendulkar, even on his first Australian tour, wanted to take the fight to the Aussies. "We were at the SCG and the contest was getting heated. Both of us were batting well and the Aussies were shooting sledges from all directions. I told him that I would take care of them while he focused on his batting. He was mentally charged. I still remember him saying, 'Let me get past my 100, then I will give it back', in Marathi. Let me point out again that he said he wanted to get to the century and only then would he distract himself." When asked recently if Australia ever felt like a second home to him, Tendulkar said, laughing: "I only have one home. But it's truly a special feeling to walk in to such a reception, when I don't know if I am batting on zero or on 100." In private conversations with friends Tendulkar has talked about his appreciation for the respect he has been accorded in Australia. He told a senior Indian journalist friend how satisfying it was to score his 39th Test hundred at the Adelaide Oval, the home of Bradman, who would have been close to a hundred years old if he were still alive. Tendulkar wouldn't admit that in the public lest it was mistaken for false modesty, but thereby he adds another layer to his greatness. General Peter Cosgrove, a former head of the Australian Defence Force, delivering the 2008 Sir Donald Bradman oration at the University of Western Australia two weeks ago, said, "Australians are among the most overtly competitive people on the planet. Cricket defines our approach to competition: it has rules and teams, it demands focus and self-confidence. It entails an intense desire and will to win; it needs an abundance of skill, stamina, courage and perseverance." Indeed, these are the qualities Sachin Tendulkar has come to define for Australians among others. And in so doing, he has come to represent an unreachable ideal. Greg Baum, columnist at Melbourne's Age, wrote in Wisden Asia Cricket magazine a few years ago: "Here is a man not susceptible to human failing in any endeavour, a man not so much invincible as invulnerable." He ended his appreciation by calling Tendulkar "the game's secular saint".

[Sachin=GOD]

The Great man is all set to play his last series down under..let's start keeping track of how the Aussies welcomes their "idol" :--D .

:headshake:

[deathmonger]

:nervous: same way some guy posted about newspaper articles about tendu in england.

[Jersey #10]

The Great man is all set to play his last series down under..let's start keeping track of how the Aussies welcomes their "idol" :--D

you wish :facepalm:

[SachDan]

Tendulkar's in town ? AN MCG tour group stopped and listened to an informative briefing about the indoor cricket facilities without realising the small man having a private net session below was Sachin Tendulkar, and that was just how he wanted it. The greatest batsman of his generation practised alone in the greatest cricket ground, away from the cameras (banned by Indian cricket board decree) and in quiet broken only by the crack of the ball on his bat. Safe to say it will be the last time he will go unrecognised this summer. The tour will not officially begin until next week when the full Indian squad and its entourage gathers in Canberra, but an advance party of seven, with champion batsmen Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V. V. S. Laxman among them, touched down in Melbourne on Thursday night to get a head start. They vanished behind layers of security, into the team bus and to their hotel just in time to witness the outbreak of Sehwagology that took down one of Tendulkar's many world records. But he has plenty more of those, and the celebration that followed Virender Sehwag's astonishing 219 in Indore, a delicious appetiser to the Border-Gavaskar series, will seem tame if Tendulkar scores his one-hundredth hundred on Boxing Day. Tendulkar seized the earliest start to his Australian preparation of all the Indian players in town, venturing to the MCG yesterday with two support staff while James Pattinson and Peter Siddle, his next opponents, scythed through New Zealand in Hobart.The outdoor nets were under covers so he picked one of the indoor ones designed to replicate pace and bounce, and faced throw-downs for almost two hours. You cannot get near the nets while the Indians are in town without special security clearance, but from behind a distant pillar he could be seen stretching forward with a straight bat to the fuller balls. He was relaxed but serious, fetching his own balls at the end of a batch, and didn't flinch when one ball shot up and hit him on the side of the helmet. No one except a couple of MCG caterers, who flipped out their camera phones, gave him a second glance. For a couple of quiet hours, Sachin Tendulkar was just a batsman batting. All that will change 16 days from now when he begins his fifth Test series in Australia searching for his nation's first ever series win in these parts. Already his presence has created a buzz. ''Tendulkar's in town,'' said the man on the No. 48 tram, and soon enough he will be the focus of the cricket world's gaze again. http://m.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/tendulkars-lonely-pitch-20111209-1onrg.html

[Sid]

:nervous: same way some guy posted about newspaper articles about tendu in england.

It was same guy,who opened this thread. Dan bhai we now who to blame now B->

[Sachin=GOD]

Jim Maxwell of ABC Radio believes it's Tendulkar's flawless character that has defined him. "Australians like the humble, the laconic, no-complaining types,

so thats why they don't like Pwnting :giggle:

[SachDan]

:headshake:

Last series in Australia. You think he'll tour Australia again?

[deathmonger]

if tendulkar plays one more series in oz. he might as well play the wc next month.

[bulbul]

so thats why they don't like Pwnting :giggle:

you find fault in people even if they Praised Sachin or Not :two_thumbs_up:

[Sachin=GOD]

Last series in Australia. You think he'll tour Australia again?

They said it was the last series in 2008 and in 2004 also..........so who knows!!!

[Magneto]

NOT LAST

[SachDan]

The gods must be crazy, Sachin Tendulkar to make history down under MILLIONS of cricket fans are waiting for Ricky Ponting's next ton, wondering if he can complete a circle and score the next where he scored his last. Close to home, down in Hobart. Almost a billion are waiting for Sachin Tendulkar's next. Equally frustrated that it has taken so long to come. Awaiting to explode when it does. Feelings mixed, that it may occur down under. It might be appropriate to complete the circle in Australia as it was a century in Perth, back when the curly-haried teen looked more like a member of the Jackson Five than the other member of cricket's Holy Duo, that really announced to the world how special Sachin was and is. When the time comes it will be, for the subcontinent at least, one of those "where were you when" moments. For Australians it will be one of those mixed moments. Perhaps one of those times when those of us who have never experienced the disturbing thrill of sadomasochism can understand it in the balance found between hating the way he hurts Australian teams and loving the artistry of how he goes about it. Tendulkar has been rested from the one-day series against West Indies in India and is winging his way to Australia today. He will compete in two pedestrian warm-up games in Canberra, the first beginning next Thursday. Since March 12, the little master has been stranded on 99. One single solitary international century away from 100 hundreds. He was cruising to the landmark. A born-again late 30-something, he had peeled off 100s at will and so India figured the next was around the corner. Fireworks were purchased. Bang Lassis placed on ice. Public holidays gazetted and garlands woven. The fireworks are now past their use-by date, the ice melted, the yoghurt spoiled, the gazettes gazumped and the garlands wilted. That last, frustrating, 100 has proved as difficult to find as Ponting's next. Tendulkar has 51 Test 100s. That's right 51. And a meagre 48 ODI centuries, including the first 200 which he scored last year. It seems impossible that he hasn't got to the 100 since March. As improbable as Tolstoy developing writer's block. Remember when Australia encountered him in October last year and he was in the rudest of hundred health? You may recall the 214 he subjected Ponting's men to in Bangalore, you may not have known he had passed three figures in four of seven Tests in that period, four in consecutive Tests. He has come close since March. Tendulkar scored 91 against England at The Oval against England and 94 in Mumbai when 100 gold coins were on offer should he pass the mark. The local association suggested he would be "showered" with them. Head injury specialists hoped he would be wearing a helmet. Those that know him knew he would be embarrassed by such a vulgar display and assumed he would find some form of alchemy that allowed the gold coins to be turned into good karma. That Tendulkar will score a 100 in Australia is a given. It's what he does. In 1992, when he was just old enough to drive a car but a long way short of being able to afford anything more than a second-hand Camry, Tendulkar arrived in Australia the veteran of a dozen Tests. He scored a century at the SCG that January. Future India coach Greg Chappell said at the time "you are seeing this afternoon the emergence of one of the shining stars of the 90s for world cricket, this young man is a very talented player". This game was back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth and dressing-rooms. Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor were the openers in that match. Allan Border captained, Merv Hughes and Craig McDermott bowled and a blond leg-spinner with cheeks so chubby it seemed they would never need, or be capable of, a lift, was playing his first Test. That 148 was one thing, but it was the century at the WACA that really had the old dogs up on their hind legs. Perth is as foreign to an Indian as the Punjab is to a Portsea private school boy but the teenager was terrific. At one point a huffing and puffing Merv Hughes, who was getting quite a pasting, said to Border "this little *****'s going to get more runs than you, AB". It was this assessment that got him a job as an Australian selector. Sachin's double-century at the SCG in 2004 was as notable for what it didn't contain as what it did. That is, there was not one shot through the covers. The drive was causing him to sin so he cut it off, left it in the dressing-room and fashioned a double effectively with one hand tied behind his back. It was not his prettiest or his best, but it is celebrated in a small shrine at Tendulkar's restaurant in Mumbai where I have seen small boys stand before the lucky socks, match pass and shoe with a hole cut in it for his sore toe, as if they were worshippers in a temple. In 1996, the other half of The Holy Batting Duo, Don Bradman, called his wife into the lounge so see Sachin batting on the television. He felt he was watching a boy who was as close to himself as any he had seen. Lady B agreed. At some stage this summer you can be sure fathers will call their children and wives to the loungeroom or the stands to witness history being made. And far away, if you listen closely, a roar will rise on the subcontinent. Prepare yourself; he is about to land.

[SachDan]

:nervous: same way some guy posted about newspaper articles about tendu in england.

It was same guy,who opened this thread. Dan bhai we now who to blame now

English media didn't disappoint, did they? :--D

[Sachin=GOD]

At one point a huffing and puffing Merv Hughes, who was getting quite a pasting, said to Border "this little *****'s going to get more runs than you, AB". It was this assessment that got him a job as an Australian selector.

:hatsoff:

[cowboysfan]

:nervous: same way some guy posted about newspaper articles about tendu in england.

the op cant help himself.

[SachDan]

the op cant help himself.

True that :hatsoff:

[Ram]

Say what you want about the aussies otherwise, but there seems to have genuine respect and admiration for Sachin. During our last tour there, he got a standing ovation from pretty much every venue there.

[pensionplan]

Add VVS and RD to the list as well of the cricketers well respected down under along with Tendulkar.

[Bradman99]

There is nothing not to like about Tendulkar, that's why. Champion player, but also very modest and respectful. That's why Aussies all love him.