I was watching Sachin Tendulkar labour his way through to his 37th Test century against Bangladesh at Dhaka today. It was painful to see him struggling to avoid the gentle bouncers of Mashrafe Mortaza and repeatedly failing to read and barely surviving the innocuous left arm spin of veteran Mohammed Rafique. What made it even more excruciating was the realisation that the Tendulkar of old, even at 50% of his self, would have toyed with both these bowlers. In an age of attacking batsmanship, when the one-day run rates of 1980s and early 1990s are the norm in test cricket, when batsmen take audacious liberties with technique and strokeplay, Sachin Tendulkar was content at patting back half volleys and pushing full tosses for singles. For a man with text-book technique and fluid grace, which made Mark Nicholas describe his bat as "an extension of his body and hands", this has been some fall from the pedestal.
If Sydney in 2004 saw Tendulkar abstain from all shots outside the off stump, then today he had obviously made up his mind to duck under anything that was bounced at him. Sunil Gavaskar in the second half of his career had completely avoided certain strokes like the hook and the pull, which were a regular part of his repertoire. When asked about it, Gavaskar once said that he did that since the team was then so dependent on him that he had to cut down all risks. That logic does not extend to Tendulkar and the present Indian batting line-up. Watching him over the past few years, one gets the impression of an obstinate man, unmindful of any advice, who has made up his mind that whatever the circumstances, safeguarding his wicket is the only objective. There have been numerous occasions in the recent past when Sachin's extra cautious approach has been a big drag on the team's scoring rate and victory pursuit. But then I suppose, Tendulkar should know more than anyone else, what he is doing.
Besides his obvious technical excellence, Sachin was blessed with a great eye sight and balance, and extraordinary hand-eye co-ordination. At his pomp, Tendulkar had, as they say, five or six shots for every ball and could conjure up boundaries of even the very good balls. Remarkably, he could play the most unorthodox of shots, requiring exceptional hand-eye co-ordination, with the minimum of risk while making it look aesthetic and technically correct. In this he was unique from any other batsman of his age, including Brain Lara. But these talents decay with time, and decays very fast indeed.
The king has been reduced to a pauper and is eking out his livelihood! It is time for the curtain to come down on the final Act!
3 comments:
Thought you wrote only on governance and economics!
Talking about Tendulkar, I think he should've quit playing at least 3 years ago and not just now. He's been scratching around ever since the end of the previous world cup (I wish I could give you all the stats that I've gone thru).
But, then again, isn't cricket itself dying as a sport?
I am fully in agreement with your assessment about Tendulkar. Maybe after the 2002 series in England, Tendulkar lost his magic. In one dayers, he has shone a few more times, in 2003 World Cup, understandable given the huge number of matches he plays.
About your second comment, I have my reservations. Like any other thing in life itself, the popularity of cricket also moves in cycles, both in India and internationally. There have been similar lows before. Just flashback to 1999-2000, with whitewashes by Australia in Australia and then South Africa in India. And then Australia landed up in India and Laxman and Dravid played that famous partnership, and normalcy was restored. It was widely under circulation in the nineties that cricket in England was on its last legs. All it took for it being pitchforked to the top of the national consciousness was one Ashes victory. In an age of excess analysis and overkill by our media, we all get anchored in the immediate and fail to grasp the issue in its perspective.
My second comment (rather my question in the comment) wasn't about the popularity of cricket in just India. I was pondering over the status of cricket as a sport across the cricket-playing countries (one can't really say across the world for cricket, can one?)...
Cricket-craze (it's NEVER popularity here) in India waxes and wanes with the fortunes of the National Team and that's understandable, given our own passion for the sport and (also) our adeptness (or the lack of it) in other sports. However, this time the lull would last a little longer.
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