I want a 200 rupee note with Sachin's photo on it!

My board exams were about to start. The India South Africa series was going on. On 24^th February as usual when Tendulkar was out to bat I had stopped studying. I never knew that I would be watching the world’s greatest ODI inning.

Only twice before in the history of cricket had a player been in the 190s Saeed Anwar and Charles Coventry had both scored 194. But Anwar played with a runner for the most of his inning and Coventry scored against Bangladesh. Other than the two of them, no one had ever come close to a double century in ODIs.

What was so arduous about a double century that only one man in the history of Cricket could boast of having achieved it? After the inning Sachin said 'I looked to put pressure on the bowlers right from the start of the match’. This meant that he was looking to hit the bowlers from the first ball for four. But haven’t we seen Sehwag and Gilchrist do that regularly? Why can’t they score double centuries then?

‘My state of mind was the same throughout the innings’, said Sachin. Maybe that’s what helped him in not getting carried away. He looked in full flow from the start of the inning. He would go deep inside the crease to fast bowlers luring them to bowl fuller and they obliged. He would walk across the stumps exposing his leg stump knowing fully well that bowlers would target the stumps and he dispatched them to the square-leg boundary. The master had indeed cast a spell on the bowlers making them bowl exactly where he wanted them to.

He started with flowing cover-drives and deft touches off his pads and continued to bat the same way till the end. He did improvise along the way but his lateral thinking didn’t make him play a scoop shot or a switch-hit for he didn’t need these shots. Opening the front leg and clearing off-side, walking across the stumps to hit the balls outside off to leg side or using the crease was enough for him. This tells you about the freedom his impeccable technique gives him. There was indeed no need of slogging. This showed the class of the great man. Even at 36 he played the whole 50 over quota and ran not only his but also other’s runs on his own. Truly remarkable!

His 200* came off just 147 balls. He could have got it in the 48^th over but had to wait to come on strike till the last over of the inning. To have reached such a landmark, with a single in the final over, only serves to underline his class and add to the legacy that already surrounds arguably the finest batsman to have played the game. His innings, the 46th one-day century of his career, was typified by wristy strokes, trademark boundary shots and, above all, stamina as he batted through the entire innings.

After this inning everyone from common people to state governments to politicians to cricketers, filmstars wanted him to be conferred the Bharat Ratna. He was congratulated in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and this was the first time I had seen all the political parties agreeing to something. This is the image of the great man in our country.

Sachin Tendulkar deserves the Bharat Ratna and I hope he gets it.

Indian Cricket's fab 4

After the massive 281* inning by VVS Laxman against the Aussies at Kolkata, the Indian middle order came to be recognized by the fab 4. Tendulkar was by the time the greatest batsman in the world, Dravid had got his famous name, the Wall, then there was the god of offside, Ganguly. This inning by VVS Laxman led to a transformation of his name from Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman to Very Very Special Laxman.

Then there was no stopping the fab 4 in the later years. Team India had the strongest middle order in the world! 1 down came Dravid followed by Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly. So it was inevitable that if the fab 4 failed, India would lose. the 4 of these always played under a lot of pressure, thriving to rise to the hopes of the Indians. When they failed, criticism as usual followed. They also had to face the toughest face of their career, the time when Chappell coached the team. Doing nothing, just creating rifts among the players. His main culprit being Ganguly. He also commented in 2006 or 2007 I guess ,that it was ‘Endulkar’ i.e end of Sachin’s career. Unbelievable comment.

Coming to their individual performances. In tests, Ganguly was always the weakest among the four. in the couple of years before the Chappell saga, Ganguly held onto his place in the team solely because he was the captain and on merit and support from his teammates. Till his retirement, he remained the weakest link among the 4.

Dravid could adjust his batting to any surface, because he batted slowly. But he had a very strong defence and hence was called The Wall. Ironically, his strength in the longer version of the game led to him losing his place from the ODI squad. Even now he walks a thin line with respect to his test slot. His performance in the upcoming Sri Lanka series will decide his future in the team.

The flick of the wrist shot to the spinners, which races away to the boundary line is one of the best shots I have ever seen. Absolutely no slogging, no hard hitting, just lovely elegant drives make him Very Very special. Today, he is not the Laxman who created magic at Eden but his recent form is more than enough to keep his slot safe, especially considering his skills as a slip catcher.

The final call is on the god of cricket , Sachin Tendulkar. Combining the skills, technique, temperament of the other three and adding some extra toppings to it, we get the world’s greatest batsman. For the last 18 yrs, his wicket has been the most priced one for each and every opponent in the world. Strongest of the fab 4 , he has been destroying the world’s best bowling attacks consistently. Even at 37 he is going on and on. I have a whole blog written on him. Just read that and remember Sach is Life!

Now that Ganguly has retired. The fab 4 is broken. Dravid and Laxman will follow. But till there is Sachin Tendulkar in the team, Indian cricket will live and cricket fans will enjoy the game. I cant imagine Sachin Tendulkar retiring nor can a billion Indian fans, all of them want him to play, play and play and succeed.

T20 is not cricket, pollard cannot be called a cricketer

Back to my favourite topic – Cricket . Cricket is the most popular game in india. Every Indian has played cricket atleast once in his/her life. The game has transformed leaps and bounds from the 19^th century till today. From test cricket to 60 over ODI’s to the current 50 over ones to the latest form twenty20 . people have their own opinions on the different forms of the game, but for me test cricket is the best cricket and twenty20 is just shit cricket.

The longest version of the game has stayed for hundreds of years. Earlier, it was a dream for a cricketer to play a test match for the country. Today, the current generation players – the stupid asses dream to play in the IPL. All they want is money. They don’t respect the game, they don’t have any self respect or respect for their talent. And even the board especially the BCCI supports them, the reason being obvious again – money. All the hype about the IPL is only for money, nothing else, absolutely nothing else.

A test match takes the real test of a player with regard to his skill, practice, stamina, talent, patience, it is the ultimate test of his playing ability and endurance in the game. Look at the current Indian team, except a few players, none of them stand up to the big stage, be it Suresh Raina or Ravindra Jadeja or Pragyan Ojha or the worst of them all Ashish Nehra… none of them have match winning abilites . The current Indian team sucks. It actually doesn’t matter to me because for me cricket starts and ends with Sachin Tendulkar. But there are a billion other people who want the Indian team to perform well. How can these players perform at the international stage if they are selected from the IPL ? Players like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, Dhoni came into the Indian team only after playing years of first class test cricket, and the results show. All of them are extremely successful in all three formats of the game. Will a Suresh Raina or a Ravindra Jadeja or a Virat Kohli ever play a test match for India?

T20 does not showcase a player’s real talent. Anything can happen in the 20 overs, its all about luck. How good cricketer a player is can be judged only from the real game- test cricket. ODI’s are also good as an entertainment, but twenty20 should be banned. T20 is acting like poison for the other two forms of the game, but I am sure that test cricket will, poison which attracts people. But I am sure that this form wont last for long . Test matches will be back.

Live with it

If i dont like something, my friend says 'live with it'. Well that is the actual condition of the Indians. We are all living with the oppression and victimization of the government and the politicians over us. We just dream of foreign countries and their governments but do nothing for our country. We are people hiding in the shadow and waiting for the sunlight, we don’t have the courage to get out into the real world.

What have we done for our country? Nothing! We cannot blame the politicians for this because we all know they are only after money and power, it is us who have to change. Ganga- is it a holy river or a sewage dump? Does everyone in the country get water even though we have one of the biggest rivers in the world? Do we have good roads? Does the road construction ever end? Is there 24 hr electricity in the country? Is the traffic discipline followed? The answer is NO. And we are living with it. Petrol prices are skyrocketing ,there is inflation in food prices, but we are living with it. Because we don’t care. Indian railways suck, but we still travel in them. Substandard quality roads are built every year, just because the municipal corporation has to spend their money before the financial year end. Its built every year and is washed away by the rain.

Hamare vote karne se kya hoga ? Yahaan ka to system hi kharab hai… What can I do? This is what we think. In our country 65% of illiterates and 75% of slumdwellers vote-and why should’nt they? They are paid for it, they need money to survive. And we just watch and LIVE WITH IT. I know we can do anything for the country, but we don’t want to.

Indian youth is the most intelligent, hardworking and sincere in the world, we have the best doctors, scientists, artists, sportspersons in the world. We have global teaching institutes, we have reached the moon, we have the largest manpower in the world, we have the one of the best armies of the world. We are a nuclear superpower. Reliance ,Tata, Wipro, Infosys are huge multinationals. The new terminal 3 at the IGI airport is surely a wonder of the modern Indian era. We have globally recognized champions like Vishwanathan Anand and Sachin Tendulkar and Saina Nehwal now. But even after having all this we manage to say that INDIA WILL BE A SUPERPOWER TOMORROW. Why tomorrow? Where is today gone? For something to happen tomorrow, we have to start today. There has to be a renaissance and we have to bring it.

You need not be the best to start with, but to become the best you have to start somewhere… it is our generation who has to do it, and lead the country ahead. Do it not for money, but for the self satisfaction that you will get.

BRING A CHANGE AND STOP TO LIVE WITH IT!!

A blog on blogging!

Well I did start off my blog with Sach is life. But this time I'll be writing a blog on blogging!

Perhaps the greatest innovation of the modern world- the internet,has led us to something miraculous…Revolution , I guess! May it be Google or Twitter or Youtube or Facebook or Wikipedia , the internet has it all and gives it all. A new trend has now entered this amazing world - namely blogging.

Blogging can now be stated as a worldwide phenomenon .Kids to adults to old people, from celebrities to their fans -anyone and everyone. Celebs usually join the world of Twitter - 'Twitteratti'. Kids have started earning at an age when perhaps their parents studied, studied and studied and dreamt of earning for the family one day. This is a minor effect of blogging and the internet in today's world.

My friends are into it, my favourite sportspersons are into it, politicians are into it ,relatives are into it so are teachers. Everyone loves to express themselves. Blogging allows you to write with freedom, the freedom of speech is extensively used here. Look at Shashi Tharoor for example or Lalit Modi, these people can turn over big institutions like the parliament or the BCCI , just with their blogs. So simple . Child's play . In fact they also earn a large amount of public support easily. Writing just becomes fun, and that’s what I have started feeling now.

It is true to some extent that to become a famous blogger, you have to already be famous. But blogging can take you a long way. It surely helps spread your ideas and as said in Badmaash Company ‘ Ek bada business paise se nahi , ek badi idea se bada hota hai’. Blogging can surely make you big. Maybe authors can start publishing their books through blogs, it can have pictures, coloured text. smileys and importantly at a very low cost.

I have started blogging just for fun and also to discuss issues of my interest. It always feels good to speak out what you think and what your heart says. Blogging just provides the appropriate platform for this. Writing something good and interesting makes me happy and your comments and remarks are icing on the cake :) . Believe it or not, I have started liking to write.