God
of Cricket Retires
Times Magazine quoted
in 2011 on Sachin Tendulkar “"When Sachin Tendulkar
travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled
in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had
never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a
world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam. When
Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer
was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an
unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR
was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to "open" the
Nehruvian economy. It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual
on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of
Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never
had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will."
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
is retiring from cricket. This signifies one thing to me, “ My childhood is
over”. I haven’t seen a cricket match without Sachin ever. Sachin is a person
who is bigger than cricket. Cricket is a religion in India and Sachin is the
god.
He debuted at the age of 16. He is a record smasher and
has broken all the records set before in batting. He has been in Cricket for 24
years and has never made the front page for the wrong reasons. He is the
highest earning athelete in India. But he is humble. His life is an inspiration
for every cricketer.
His passion for the game cannot be parallel to anyone
else. He played a world cup match the next day after his father’s funeral. No
one before in cricket has played for so many years and no one can in future.
In the words of Mathew Hayden, an Australian Cricketer “
I have seen God, he bats at No.4 for India”
