Good Bye Sachin Tendulkar the greatest batsman of all time - Tribute Thread

[Sarkar]

Letter from Sachin Tendulkar to all his fans through out the World: Dear fans, I am saddened as I write this letter. I know I have disappointed you with the series loss against England and my performance isnÃÕ what you have always expected of me. I have always given my best for the team, but the results are not in my favour this time around. People are clamouring for my retirement and I canÃÕ agree more with them. I have not been living up to the standards that I have set for myself through the years and I am indeed answerable to the fans. I apologize to you for my dismal performances, and for failing you time and again. It is a general misconception among people that I have grown complacent and taking things for granted. But I can assure you that I am the same person who made his debut at the age of 16 as an excited teenager. I have been following my routine right from the day I made my debut till today. Nothing has changed, neither the preparation nor the mind-set. Maybe age is finally catching up to me, something I have been trying to fight for the major part of the last five years. I have been training harder to keep myself fit and strong in order to be able to give my best. Cricket has been my calling right from a young age. I still remember the day me and Vinod were playing together in a Harris-Shield trophy match, where we put up a 600 run partnership. The immense enjoyment of being on the field all day long with my best friend was all I could dream about for the next few days. That was the day I decided to play cricket for the rest of my life, for I loved it more than anything; food, chocolates, bicycles- things that a fourteen year old could long for. Years have passed after that and things are not the same anymore. I have matured both as a person and as a player. But the hunger still remains the same. I still want to do well and give my best whenever I walk on the field; something that has been my mantra all through the years. I have achieved so much in cricket- the fame, the money and the compliments came to me on their own. I am proud of my records when I look back at them today. The only thing I almost missed out on was the World Cup; I got there too in the end, with a team as determined as I was, who strove along with me to achieve the glory that I was unable to attain for almost 22 years. But the real struggle was after the World Cup, when I had to suffer through another lean patch, which I am going through even now. People wanted me to go now that I have gotten my wishes fulfilled. They said it was the right time for me to retire, since my dream has been achieved. But I felt I can contribute more to the cause of the Indian team. The team needs some good youngsters to fill the places of seniors when we retire, and someone should be there to guide them, or so we felt. It might be a wrong decision but it was for the greater good. Perhaps we realized our mistake when we heard ÅÕhe seniors are selfish to block the place of talented youngsters! Our only thoughts were about setting the team up for the youngsters and getting the tough tours to England and Australia out of the way, so that the youngsters can have a smoother path into the test team. But we did not consider our own problems, which were the roots of our own destruction. It was a tough time for us after Australia, losing both VVS and Rahul. It brought me back down to earth, and I started contemplating retirement. But I had some solace after the century against Bangladesh, though we were unlucky to lose the match. Two series later, we were facing the same predicament against England at home and it was humiliating to lose the series. It was a nightmare for us, having had to endure the cricket crazy fans reaction. People started talking about my retirement again, claiming that I was selfish and I had to go sooner rather than later. They even said I am choosing my matches for the fear of facing quality opponents. It isnÃÕ true, of course. I am an old man who wants to spend some quality time with my kids. They should know me enough to call me father and I do not want to miss their growing up years. Therefore, I take some time off between series to be with them. I have to admit that I am a bit selfish, for I have been playing the game for the better part of my life. I have not known anything other than cricket. Every day I wake up to take up a bat and I sleep after arranging my kit bags. It has been a penance for the last 25 years and it would be hard for me to just give up everything. Retirement would be equal to death for me, as I have lived cricket all my life. Frankly, I do not know what to do with myself once I retire. Will I be able to secure a job as a TV commentator, a trend that has been catching up with some former players, or would I be a successful coach? Nothing pleases me like playing cricket and I am not sure whether I am made for other things in life. I have watched many players retiring, but I never had to think about how they would have felt while retiring. It was an irrelevant thought a few years back, but now I know how exactly each of them would have felt. I know itÃÔ time for me to go, but as a fellow Indian, I ask this of you dear fans; I am not able to let go of cricket after all these years, and even talking about it makes me feel worse. I just need some time to sort my life out, to decide on what to do with myself once I retire. I am not here for the fame or for the records but for the passion that I had and I have for this game right from the day I picked up a bat. I am making up my mind and I need a little more time to announce my retirement. It is a humble request from a dedicated servant of cricket and I would feel happy if you oblige me. Thank you Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

[JaFanatic]

:((:((

[Lord]

is it real?

[Sarkar]

Of course found on this website

[BERGKAMP]

FAKE

[Guest 3stumps]

AWESOME quotes on SACHIN Tendulkar from all Legends Sachin is retiring from One Day format and here is a great collection of quotes on this legend. Enjoy it guys - Y_4knb6Or34 IF YOU ARE TRUE FAN OF Sachin Tendulkar THAN SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS.

[vamos_rafa]

Can't be real. But it does give you goosebumps.

[Lord]

Of course found on this website

which site? seems fake though

[Sarkar]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=510361035664095&set=a.115894151777454.10370.115891808444355&type=1#!/pages/Team-India/115891808444355

[NareshK]

Fake crap.

[BERGKAMP]

Fake crap.

hey come on, i know there are a few people who don't like him but this is a bit harsh on the little man.

[Sachinism]

Looks fake.

[Tridibans_16]

Fake letter.

[ganeshran]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/598402.html

Sachin Tendulkar has retired from one-dayers. Does this mean anything to you? Did you feel numb on Sunday morning? Or maybe it was Saturday night in your part of the world. Did the various stages of your life flash in your head, as they are supposed to in the instant before you die? Do you remember one-dayers 23 years ago? Travel back in time. What do you see? Red leather balls, players in whites and some one-dayers in England with umpires stopping play for tea. What else do you see? Doordarshan - the feed hanging this moment, back live the next, your grainy screen filled with men who sport stubbles and bushy moustaches, the camera facing the batsman one over and the bowler the next, commentators screaming "that's hit up in the air". Gradually the texture changes. Coloured clothing and floodlit games become commonplace, fielding restrictions alter the definitions of a "safe total", Duckworth and Lewis appear, so do Powerplays, Supersubs and Super Overs. Pinch-hitters, a novelty for a few years, lose their sheen. Now everyone must pinch, everyone must hit. Tendulkar has seen it all. Sometimes he has initiated the change, on other occasions he has adapted. A master of the game in the mid '90s, a master in 2011. The one constant in a wildly changing format. He was around when one-dayers were blooming, he was also around when they were allegedly dying. You have been around too. Are you a kid from the '80s? Or the '90s? Or are you a straddler, part of the Tendulkar generation that has one feet in both decades? Ah, you stand on the threshold. You have experienced Doordarshan before leaping to the riches of satellite, you have seen Shah Rukh Khan as a fauji on TV before he soared onto the silver screen, you know of life before the internet but are quick to embrace the wonders of technology, you have watched monochrome but are a child of the colour TV age. What else do you see? Tendulkar in a white helmet, his white shirt unbuttoned to his thorax, blitzing Abdul Qadir in an exhibition game in Peshawar. Until that point cricket is merely a fuzzy idea. Tendulkar gives it shape, adds meaning, wraps it in colourful paper and winds a ribbon around the packing. He makes you understand the game's place in your life, teaches you its significance. You grapple, trying to swerve banana out-swingers with a tennis ball. Standing in front of a mirror, you imagine the opposition needing six off the last over. The stadium is a cauldron. A hundred thousand fill the stands. Can you restrict the batsmen? One morning in 1994, when large parts of India slept, you awake to life and freedom. What a rebellion at Auckland. Eighty-two off 49 balls. A cameo that unshackles the mind. The greatest one-day innings you have seen. Can anyone better this? You are carried along the Tendulkar slipstream. When he is stumped off Mark Waugh, after illuminating the Mumbai sky, you sense the game will slip away. It does. A few days later his hundred against Sri Lanka in Delhi ends in defeat - the first Tendulkar ton in vain. You hope it's an aberration. You wish. You observe his every move. In 1996, when he fires a swinging yorker to dismiss Saqlain in Sharjah and sends him off with an emphatic "f**k off", you blush. Four years later your vocabulary has expanded. When he mouths off Glenn McGrath in the Champions Trophy in Nairobi, you puff your chest, as if vindicated. It's 1998, a time for decisions. Academics or sports? Arts or science? Biology or computers? To meet her or to continue with phone conversations? To buy a copy of Debonair or to take a sneak-peek? These are the burning questions that occupy you. Do they matter? Tendulkar is dismantling Fleming, Warne and Kasprowicz in Sharjah. A desert storm, a birthday hundred and a ballistic Tony Greig. A straight six off Warne when he starts around the wicket. Another straight six off Kasprowicz. "Whaddaplayaa," screeches Greig. It imprints itself in your head. In your inconsequential gully matches you bat with an amped-up ferocity. You nod to tell the bowler you are ready, you hold your pose during the follow-through, you reverse-sweep and attempt straight-bat paddles. You pump your fist when Tendulkar manhandles Henry Olonga in Sharjah. You start college. You are ragged, often with little imagination. Some of the courses don't interest you. Many of your classmates speak about things you have never heard of, in languages you are not fluent in. You are sipping tea in the canteen when someone switches on a television set. India are playing Namibia in the World Cup. You find your bearings. This is a familiar world. Tendulkar is nearing a century. This is your comfort zone. The next 10 days are some of the most joyous of your life. That six off Caddick, those fours of Akram and Shoaib ... you feel you have turned a corner. You hate your job. You begin to care for little other than your pay-cheque. This is not what you expected when you graduated. You assumed this job would be interesting. How wrong you were. Tendulkar is still at it, obsessed with his craft. Despite a lean patch, he says he must go on. He knows no other way. You are engaged, then married. Life gets busier: an apartment, a car, daily chores. Tendulkar is brutalising Brett Lee in Sydney. An uppish cover drive, then a bullet past the bowler. Lee offers an angelic smile, Tendulkar stands still, zen-like, unconcerned about the past or the future, immersed in the present. You switch jobs. You like your new role but your boss sucks. He is a slave-driver. You take sly peeks at a live scorecard tab that is open at your desktop as India chase Australia's 351 at Hyderabad. Tendulkar is flying but there is no TV. You wish you could get back home but what if he gets out when you are on your way? Would you be able to forgive yourself? India lose. You call out sick the next day. You relocate abroad. Cricket matches are on a different time zone. You scavenge illegal internet streams, slap your head when the feed hangs. You are reminded of your days of watching Doordarshan. The sun is yet to rise outside your apartment, and Tendulkar is batting in the 190s against South Africa in Gwalior. Cricinfo is hanging. Cricinfo didn't even exist when Tendulkar started. Your twitter feed is on valium. He has reached 200. You watch every ball of India's World Cup campaign. How could you not? A hundred in Bangalore, a hundred in Nagpur. You suffer palpitations in Mohali. Then the eruption in Mumbai. Kohli raises him aloft and talks of Tendulkar's burden. He speaks for you. He understands how you feel. There are tears everywhere, including on your cheeks. Here's John Steinbeck in Cannery Row: Someone should write an erudite essay on the moral, physical and aesthetic effect of the Model T Ford on the American Nation. Two generations of Americans knew more about the Ford coil than the clitoris, about the planetary system of gears than solar system of of stars ... Most of the babies of the period were conceived in Model T Fords and not a few of them were born in them ... You can apply the same to your generation. To understand us is to take into account the moral, physical and aesthetic effect of Tendulkar. To feel your pain, when he retires from a format he made his own, is to know what it means to grow up with him. You are the lucky ones. Cherish the memories. He was, and will remain, your Model T.

[great siri]

Salute to a true legend.he is to batting what murali is to bowling.u indian fans should be ashamed the way u treated him just because he had a bad last year.inspite of me not being a fan of indian players i admit that this man is an absolute legend and the only indian cricketer against whom i hav never uttered a word.

[Magneto]

The best ODI cricketer I have ever seen :hail: Can I buy/download all his 463 ODIs and 18426 runs from anywhere/anyone? Would have been great to see him in one last ODI series.

[vvvslaxman]

My favorite knocks ..(not necessarily his best knocks). for various reasons. 1) His first innings as opener 82(49) 2) Desert storm knocks 3) 98 vs Pakistan in WC 4) 200 vs SA

[sandeep]

He meant more to Indian Cricket than anyone before him, or after.

[Number]

One can be critic of his desire to keep playing for so long, but his failures(rare) can never be blamed on his work ethic. Just read that even a day before he announced his retirement, he got up at 2 o' clock in the night and was doing shadow practice. :hatsoff:

[Chandan]

LINK Thank you, Sachin! G Rajaraman | Monday, December 24, 2012 Sachin TendulkarÃÔ place in the galaxy of cricketers and I must stress that it is not just the limited over galaxy that we are talking about here is above everyone else. Let me quickly recall a few of my own favourites. There were the left-handed Sanath Jayasuriya and Adam Gilchrist who used their bats like a sledge-hammer; There was a Brian Lara who used the willow as a scimitar; There was the workmanlike Michael Bevan who set a high standard as a finisher. There have been other like Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis the best all-rounder to have ever graced the limited-over game who have played many stunning innings. Yet, there has been only one man who has always walked in with the burden of expectation of a whole nation on his shoulders. No one batsman has caused as many television and radio sets to be switched off when he has been dismissed in one-day internationals as Tendulkar has. No one cricketer not even Kallis, I dare say has had such an effect on an entire population as the proud Indian has. Definitely not for as long as he has. Come to think of it, no one cricketer (and perhaps no sportsman) has had such a following as he has, what with India being largely a one-sport following nation. And what is more, his arrival on the scene as a superb one-day cricketer coincided with India opening its market and the onset of cable and satellite TV in the early 1990s. He learnt quickly to come to terms with both the positive and negative spin-offs of being a leader in such a climate of change. Of course, India had won the Prudential Cup as the World Cup was known in 1983 and followed it up with a fabulous victory in the World Championship of Cricket two years later but the Indian team did not quite build on the momentum gained from those conquests. And his presence encouraged so many others to take to the sport with gusto and drove young parents to pressure cricket coaches around the country to help make their teenagers the next Sachin Tendulkar. There were many times in his career where he was the Holy Trinity Creator, Perpertrator and Destroyer all rolled in one. Starting the innings and making the most of the first 15 overs or 10 overs of powerplay in the more contemporary scenario by hitting through the line or over the top, he would create plarforms for his teammates to build on. Since he would not be satisfied with quick starts that were both creative and destructive at once, he would then aim to bat through the innings and perpetrate what he helped create. Small wonder, he has come to be known as God. There really is no need to look at either his statistics or the countless records that he owns in limited-over cricket to justify his place above everyone else in the world of limited-over cricket. For someone to remain seemingly unaffected by the adulation and criticism for close to two decades and focus on his performance while raising the bar for his teammates is a super human effort indeed. He had served only morsels as appetisers during his first 69 innings but he grabbed a chance to open the innings in a game in Auckland and the rest, as the clich goes, is history. I was among those fortunate to watch him craft his maiden century in one-day internationals against Australia at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. It was not the most explosive knocks he would reserve those for much later in his career. Everyone who has followed TendulkarÃÔ career will tell you that his assault on Australia in Sharjah in 1998 was very special. As was his knock against Pakistan in the ICC World Cup quarterfinal in Durban in 2003. As some of my colleagues have pointed out, it is futile exercise to try and pick one innings as either the finest that he played or the most memorable. We must remember him for what he gave all of India enormous joy even as he went about playing the game with pride and dignity. Indeed, there is very good reason and I promise you, it has little to with numbers like 463, 18426, 200, 49, 96 etc for the collective outpouring of emotion in the wake of TendulkarÃÔ decision to retire from one-day international cricket. It is sad that one cannot reach out and feel the electricity in the air in a cricket stadium as the little big man walks in to bat in a one-day international. Yet, in celebrating TendulkarÃÔ magnificence, it must not be forgotten that there are other entertainers who cause waves of excitement when they step out to bat. And, who knows, there may well be someone else coming along to make us gasp in collective disbelief. But while we wait for that, we must say ŵhank you, Sachin, for the entertainment and for the boundless joy that you sparked not only in India but beyond its boundaries. .