Why Sachin is a gentleman? What makes Sachin so great? If you google these questions, you will be directed to n number of blogs where people have posted a photo of a female fan taking an autograph of M S Dhoni with Sachin sitting to his left and Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik and Yuvraj sitting besides him. And the naughty trio looking at what young men will usually look at but Sachin simply looking away from the girl...
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| (Courtesy: Cricketcountry.com) |
Pretty fine! But that incident doesn't really give you the wholesome idea of how gentlemanly this man is. There are many people not only in India, but in the whole world who live with the notion that 'Sachin Tendulkar is God'. At the same time there are also many who condemn him and pull him down by calling him selfish and not a matchwinner. No wonder with the recent form with which this genius is playing, he has reduced the latter bunch to a mere handful now. But apart from being lauded by millions around the world, the mystery still remains that what makes him such a gentleman and such a down to earth soul.
Yesterday I saw the last league game of the CWC world cup 2011 where India played the West Indies. Sachin was on the brink of his 100th century in international career. The stage was set for him and everyone were hopeful as always that he will easily do it this time against a side which had not even fielded its best bowlers. But the jampacked Chepauk stadium in Chennai witnessed one of the most beautiful moment in the history of cricket in recent times. On the very last ball of the first over bowled by Ravi Rampaul, Sachin was beaten by an in-swinger. No wonder the Sachin hungry opposition went up in unison to appeal for a caught behind. But Umpire Steve Davis wasn't convinced and he turned down the appeal to a huge sigh from the 40000 odd crowd, only to be followed by a deafening silence seconds later. But then what happened was a pure gentlemanly gesture from the master blaster. He didnt even look towards the Umpire, convinced that he had indeed nicked the ball, he gracefully headed off towards the pavilion.
Sachin today has reached such dizzying heights in his career but yet his feet are firmly planted on the ground. Any other person in his shoes would have gone astray with the kind of fame, money and the divine status that he enjoys in this country. But I guess coming from a family with such beautiful middle class values has prevented him from getting all these into his head.
I dont know why people compare him with Ponting. Sachin is far away from him, may it be the career highlights or even the character or the sportsmanship. It wasn't a surprise that this came a day after Ponting stood his ground despite knowing that he had nicked the ball in a match against Pakistan. More so, he had the shameless guts to admit that he was completely aware of the nick and he stood there because the umpire didn't raise the finger. Needless to say he deserved the undignified exit that came minutes later after he was given out by the referral umpire.
Yes there will be cynics who will say that Sachin did this deliberately, or that it was an inconspicuous game so it didnt matter to him so he walked out. But then living in a country grappled with loads of dishonesty and corruption, one man stands out as a blissful sight of sheer passion and commitment towards his dream, inspiring millions of mortals like me...
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