Thursday, September 6, 2007

Sachin Tendulkar - Natwest Series 2007

For one man who has been criticised by many (including yours truly) for his old age, lost passion, tired body and weakened spirit, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has stood tall in this series with performances to keep his head held high.

In the six matches so far, his scores have been as follows: 17, 99, 8, 55, 71 and 91.

Apart from these individual scores, he is second highest scorer from both sides so far with an impressive average of 57.33 and a strike rate of 88.20!!! If these are not enough, he also missed out on a couple of centuries in the 3 match ODI series against SA played earlier.

His form can be measured by his scores as above, but to watch his spirit, passion and his attitude, one has to watch any one of the last 3 ODIs to see him back to his batting during those glorious days.

Simply Superb Sachin! Go ahead and make the finals on Saturday the crowning glory of your scintillating series so far!

All we can say is - "Lage Raho Sachinbhai"!!!

8 comments:

Cuckoo said...

He always slaps his critiques in his own way. :-)

Anonymous said...

You said it, Ranjeet! He was just awesome throughout the series. Now some channels are unnecessarily after his retirement:-( Had he been born in England and played for England, by now he would have been awarded "SIR Sachin Thendulkar" for such a splendid performance in his cricketing career. What say?

Ranjeet said...

Cuckoo: Yes, he does and the slaps taste sweet! :-)

Abhijit: There is no doubt about it! He is truly one of the greatest ever to play this game and deserves a Sir irrespective of his nationality! We have been lucky to have been born in the era to watch him live!

Anonymous said...

Well mate... our fellow 'Kar' is making runs again..still his old self is to be seen in only in spurts. The incoming delivery still seems to have evaded his eyes and his vision. Perhaps the days of sitting back and enjoying him play are gone forever...indeed there was time when I could say our team might fail (as usual) but Sachin won't. The nervous tension that overwhelms me when he arrives at the crease will go only when our Superhero hangs up his boots.
The other Kar in th team Agarkar...does he play for Mumbai...look of the meaning of 'headless chicken' at dictionary.com. Why is he in the team?? Dravid sucks...his captaincy sucks...to think my mom knowing my luv for the game, named my kid after him! No friend of mine would ask Yuvi to bowl the last over of a crucial match.
-Sanjeev

Ranjeet said...

Sanjeev,

One hopes against the hope that Tendlya will continue to be in form for longer than logic would tell us he would. I agree with your views on Agarkar. But I dont agree with Dravid being pathetic- I would call it high risk asking Yuvraj to bowl the last over and was punished fairly. Now that he has taken the load of captaincy off himself and you will be happuy with it, one wonders the real reasons behind this shocking decision.

Anonymous said...

Ranjeet,
To be honest...i never could digest the fact that Dravid called the batsmen in when Tendlya was close to a landmark in Australia. He declared the innings not because he had any specific plans but because the Pauper of Kolkatta vehemently insisted that he declare! Since then I have seen nothing that can remotely pass as imaginative captaincy on his part...before/during the Chappel era or after it.
All the wickets that I took on my home pitch, all the catches and stops that I made there and all the tennis balls I lofted into Shivanand society and Gujrati Society ...I admit all of that adds up to ectoplasm as compared to what Dravid has achieved in the game...but surely it gives me something that I call cricket common sense. And common sense suggests that asking Yuvi to bowl the last over does not qualify as being imaginative.
As for getting rid of the captaincy... well Dravid is a good analyst of his own batting. He is the only batsman in the world who has gone from strength to strength. He said of the Pauper that he is God on off side...I say look again...it is Dravid who has taken over the mantle of the best off-side player in the world (Colingwood noticed that and did him in on the leg side!!!).
If focus on batting is not a real reason then the movie Chuk De is a pointer as to what could hav happened behind the scenes. Again common sense indicates that our sport admins care tuppence for the game be it hockey or cricket and will do nothing that helps the plans of a good coach or captain.....in Dravid's defence only one thing can be said -
Maybe as a captain he did have some plans (he did work hard to evolve into a super batsman)to transform the team into a winning team, but perhaps he lacked the support from BCCI (read our politicians)


cheers,
Sanjeev

Ranjeet said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ranjeet said...

Hi Sanjeev,

I think Dravid calling Tendlya back was something that none of Tendlya fans would appreciate. However, honestly, none of us know whether he was given a warning of impending declaration or even whether he needed one being with such an experienced mind - basically none of us know what hapenned behind those curtains. It is easy to call Ganguly as the culprit but I am sure that there is more than what meets the eye.

About Dravid and his decision to resign from Captaincy,it is certainly a personal decision and is an outcome of situations surrounding him. Time-willing, I am planning to write a post on the same soon.