It is the great wall of India that matters

I felt very bad to see Sachin being glorified as the savior of the first test by the media though I am an ardent fan of the maestro. The credit should have been given to someone who always stayed away from the limelight, the Mr Cool-Rahul Dravid, who single-handedly fenced India to escape defeat quite a lot of times

Dravid, the one who saved a reeling India in the first innings with the company of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in an effort to offer Lanka a formidable first innings score to chase is really the one who deserved the applause. Unfortunately, things went otherwise. This note is not to take anything away from the master’s innings, but just to pop up the real catalyst that gave wings to India’s dream of escaping a defeat.

Dravid, who played several innings of this sort, had faced the same destiny of walking off the ramp in the past. Sachin who completed his century only did his part of the job in a dead pitch, and this also remains as a concern for the curators. Why this sort of a pitch was prepared for the test match? Is it for the sake of killing time or to offer net practice for the batsmen to pad in the game that follows? Let us share this cup of tea.

Sachin completes rhythmic twenty years

Writing this tribute to the master delayed a bit. I know not how to express those masterly strokes through words as I find my thesaurus empty with almost every words being used.

Depicting little master’s scintillating performances is more than a hard nut to crack, but let me say it loud - none will ever conquer those heights he conquered in any form of the game. With twenty years not out, this little genius is still blessed with the same shots, same timing, elegant pedal sweeps and leg glances.

It is not proper to draw a chart of his scoring statistics here . It may appeal absurd as it is already done by the media around the world within this short period of time. This note is just to invite the attention of some critics who may say – “Sachin may be a genius ….oops he is not a match winner.”

Sachin only failed as a captain but I think it is the ‘Bengal Tiger’ who made a fitting comment on this topic. Ganguly pointed out that Sachin got a new team to lead and got only limited time to groom the team.

But let me say Sachin lacked aggression as a captain and was not manipulative in that role. How one could think of little master teaching things to political but not oriented a panel of selectors.

It is the aesthetic realm to which his batting would take a true cricket lover that makes the maestro the God of Indian cricket. Forget how many matches he lead India to Victory. With having two shots in his armor for the same delivery, Sachin is more than a devil to any top class bowler and among the scared is the once-aggressive bowler Henry Olonga and Shane Warne.

Two exclusive shots with divine signature:

I would like to call to them ‘green shots’ as they flow through the natural swing of his bat with ease and grace. (All conventional shots he plays have a ‘sachinish’ flow when the ball kisses his fatty bat.)

Pedal sweep: a shot coined in master’s shot-language- laboratory with which he often spun the spinner’s brain. Among the sufferers were the world class spinner Shane Warne.


Upper cut : Master developed this shot for the nasty bouncers as an alternative for the hook shots he partially removed from his armor when spondylosis struck his career. He also proved this shot effective for bouncers not in the reach of a hook.


This is not the beginning or an end but only a sparkling milestone. There are more episodes of great cricket to come from the master.

( the content has been modified )

Embers

Cry intruded my deaf years
making me think of those tears.
Disgrace embarks my faithless soul
Once in a blue moon I used to play this role.

Love that infant, Love.
In the tyranny of your sweat, once he embraced love.
His may be a faithless soul, with disgrace his belonging.
For once being loved, pattered, and for what else?

Those eyes are like embers
Those arms once carried rippling sorrows
Here, I pay for the poison I have injected.
Cry dear cry. Laugh dear laugh.

How one dares to strip that soul!

Don’t ever look for a blanket
or vomit the offspring of his thought
floods always devastate!