Sachin – 20 years on and still going on sixteen….

Yesterdays 200 in 50 overs against South Africa – one of the top teams in the world – not a Kenya, Bangladesh or Zimbabwe – was a truly master-class performance shutting up hopefully once and for all the detractors in the media and outside. I still remember all the visual media hatchet men on India TV Aaj Tak and assorted channels talking about Sachin should make way for younger players. This, when they were aware that he was battling injury and STILL averaging around 40 in both one dayers and Tests!

The know all commentators on TV – guys who have probably used a cricket bat for washing clothes and nothing else – trying to put down an icon and a person who talks little and only performs! Anyone who does this for a living must be a very small person indeed! This recalls a quote by Malcolm X in 1964 “The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make a criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press”….”If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppresses and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” This statement is truer for the visual media, with commentators pontificating and putting forth their views on what is right and what is wrong on a very gullible and malleable viewer-ship. I distinctly remember arguing with friends that Sachin will play a few more years and that he is responsible enough to decide when he should quit – I used to walk out of discussions which were negative about Sachin and switch news channels denigrating him.

You will notice that people take great pleasure in putting down a person who has reached a peak which others can only dream of. Take Tiger Woods for instance – the jury was out on him so fast because of a personal weakness for the flesh – but does that take away his achievements on the field? With Sachin – he is squeaky clean and has maintained an iconoclastic image for the last twenty years and more. He approaches the game with the same child like enthusiasm today than when he first set out. Players have come and gone but he just continues to climb higher and higher. During Sunil Gavaskars time too, I used to switch of the TV the moment he got out. After watching poetry in motion you do not have the desire to read prose! That’s how it was with me and still is today!

The same people who put him down will now sound paeans to him – sound bites – just waiting to pounce on him the next time he performs at a slightly lesser standard - a standard set so high by him for himself – not a standard imposed on him. He is like Sergei Bubka, Yelena Isinbayeva, Usain Bolt – athletes who keep raising their bar ever higher – as they are competing only against themselves.

The man remains as humble and approachable today as he was at the start of his career – he is a true human being – a Yogi – who is at peace with himself – does not need to prove anything to anybody – he has done it all – need I say more!

Hats off to a living legend and a global icon!