Sachin

I am getting old!
And it is not what the gray hair in my beard told me!
No, it wasn't even the mail from my bro on my 25th birthday with a subject line "God! I can't believe I have a 25 year OLD bro!" made me realize this bitter truth!
It was unfortunately someone very near & dear that presented this reality to me. Every now & then life does this to us! Someone who is close to us for years, time & again, breaks our hearts!
Yes, it was cricket!
As I was browsing Internet (of course from office!), I came across the England-South Africa match. It was a very close match & South Africa scored a massive 311 for 7 in 50 overs. In reply England fought really very well, but still fell short by inches - 304 for 8.
Wonderful match. Cricket at its best!
But neither this was the closest match I ever watched nor was it the most tensed match I witnessed. Any Indo-Pak match even when India won by 7 wickets or 10 overs or 70 runs always felt like the closest or the most tensed match! Let's not even talk about the matches won by 2 balls or 1 wicket!
But this match was not about the closeness of the score-line or it wasn't even about the level of cricket.
It was about two hurricane innings that this match produced. Justin Kemp scored 80 runs in 50 balls hitting 4 fours & 7 sixes. And Kevin Pietersen answered strongly by scoring 100 runs from 69 balls hitting 7 fours & 4 sixes.
What amazing innings they played - those would have even made King Richards proud!
And suddenly I thought - who are these guys? Justin Kemp and Kevin Peitersen? I must be getting old! For I am still in the cricketing world where I dream of Sachin Tendulkar dominating the bowling & Brian Lara making the fielders run all over the ground.
How quickly times passed!
It has been long time since Steve Waugh played his last one-day match & Wasim Akram bowled six different deliveries in one over! And it still feels like yesterday...
What a time that was! Steve Waugh, Mark Waugh, Arvinda Desilva, Arjuna Rantungaa, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Carl Hooper, Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Andy Flower, Hansie Cronje, Alan Donald, Jonty Rhodes. We were lucky to see some gem of players. Well, some from the same list are still playing - Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Shane Warne, Muthiah Murlidharan, Glenn Mcgrath, Anil Kumble. But you know that their days are getting shorter, each passing day...
And I thought the young players don't come anywhere near the talent or the spirit of these old warriors.
That thought confirmed that I was old. For that's what my dad always felt about Tendulkars & Laras! They talked about Sobers & Kanhai, Wadekar & Vishwanath. They agree that Brett Lee is fast, but they believe that Thompson was faster & Wesley Hall more dangerous. Shane Warne might be the magician, but the Bedi-Prasanna-Chandra trio was always better. Jonty Rhodes might be the superman, but none can match Eknath Solkar at forward shortleg.
And I see myself doing that.
A young breed of cricketers has already arrived & I still prefer to stay in the past!
Michael Clarke, Andrew Flintoff, Virendra Sehwag, Justin Kemp, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Petersen, Yuveraj Singh, Irfan Pathan - these youngsters are making their marks, winning matches for their countries and I still believe that they lack in technique, temperament and style, just as my dad always felt about some of my idols!And just as he opposed one-day cricket, I am opposing 20-20 cricket! For I think that game just doesn't give time for a good cricketer to show his talent. It is just hit & go culture, where talent can be sidelined for brutal power. Wasn't he complaining the same about one day cricket over test cricket?
Some one said about old sports journalists - "The problem with them is - the best of the game has always happened in past!" However breathtaking moments the present would provide, those are always inch or two shorter than the events in the past!
How ever great bowlers come from the new breed, for me, no body can be as clever & versatile as Wasim, no body can be more athletic than Jonty, nobody can have bigger heart than Steve Waugh & no body can bat better than Sachin's innings against Pakistan in world cup 2003!
And I just sincerely wish that by the time the little master says good-bye to world cricket, I still have in my memory his destructive innings in Sharjah and the world-cup innings against Pakistan. Because I fear that I might just have in my mind today's Sachin who just nudges the ball here and there than thumping it out side the ring.
For many just remember the old Kapil Dev running in tiredly just to reach the 'Highest wicket taker in the history' mark. How many of us remember him bowling the magical out swingers in 83 Worldcup. Everyone remembers Mike Tyson on floor against lowly rated Danny Williams and seemed to have forgotten the same Tyson knocking out Marvis Frazier in 30 seconds.
First impression is important, but last impression stays forever!
And I don't want me to remember Sachin struggling for runs! I don't want myself in pain at convincing the new generation of Cricket lovers that Sachin Tendulkar is far better than Kevin Peitersen & Justin Kemp and is probably the greatest batsman cricket has ever seen.
I read one beautiful poem that instantly reminded me of Sachin -
"The butterfly did not know
that she was a butterfly.
No one told her that.
So she just flew fluently..."
Well, some day Sachin has to forget that he is Sachin Tendulkar so that he will again bat like Sachin Tendulkar...
I know that I am getting old and it doesn't bother me because I anyway made no difference. But it bothers me and saddens me that Sachin Tendulkar is growing old while he is still young for cricket. Because I know that he can still make a lot of difference...I don't know how, but the butterfly must fly again...