Are We There Yet?

A Japanese couple once asked Jackson Pollack just how did he know that a painting was done. Pollock studied them for a brief moment before saying, “How do you know when you are finished making love?” Sachin Tendulkar’s declaration that he’s retiring from Test cricket might have happened on 10 October 2013 but the sad truth is that he was done with the lovemaking a while ago.

Great is an honorific that is far too easily attached in this day and age but there is little doubt that few deserve such an appellation as rightfully as Sachin Tendulkar. The man has been such an all-pervading part of our conscious that no one knows when he truly went from being one of the eleven to the greatest. Many a times Tendulkar aficionados throw stats like 100^th 100 or 200^th Test or the only ODI double-century to affirm his greatness but how is true greatness really measured? His claim to greatness was clear in 1989 when the then cherubic 16-year old walked out to face the pace battery of Imran Khan and Wasim Akram, along with Waqar Younis, who interestingly debuted in the same test and even bagged SRT’s maiden scalp. The man’s legendary tenacity was more than visible in his very first test series where as a teenager he continued to bat against Waqar Younis even after the pacer’s bouncer bloodied his nose. He read the wily Abdul Qadir better than his more experienced colleagues and smashed the iconic spinner for 27 in a single over. Perhaps he was always destined to be great. Perhaps that was the reason Sunil Gavaskar handed over his batting pads to him. From the instant he took guard for the very first time he went on to become nothing less than the embodiment of a young nation grappling for a fresh identity in four decades since its creation. He infused a certain personality into cricket for almost every single Indian who followed the game and every single boy who picked up a bat since his arrival aspired to be nothing less than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

It’s more than clear that greatness, in cricket at least, is a function of both the presence as well as the absence of statistics. If numbers mattered more than what they represented then no one, not even Tendulkar, could be greater than Don Bradman courtesy his iconic career average of 99.94. If numbers really meant something then the mere mention of the term ‘batsman’ would automatically mean Brain ‘501 & 400 n.o.’ Lara. If numbers were the criteria then Jack Hobbs’ 61,760 first-class runs would silence all arguments. If numbers were really indispensible then a Vivian Richards wouldn’t evoke more fear than any other cricketer, living or dead, in a bowler. If numbers were life and death then the tenacity of a Steve Waugh, Rahul Dravid or V.V.S. Laxman wouldn’t matter. But certain numbers do matter and Tendulkar will probably remain the only player to have ever played 200 tests, the highest run-scorer, and have the maximum number of 100s to his name. Yet, if one looked harder there’s a possibility that he might end his glorious run with an average lower than Vinod Kambli’s 54.20. Of course, 200 tests in front of 17 mean a whole lot different but in a year since one of his more illustrious contemporaries Rahul Dravid hung his boots (at 52.31) Tendulkar’s average has gone down from 54.7 to 53.86.

Once Tendulkar retires millions of Indians across generations would finally come to terms with the fact that life has, indeed, happened while they busily tracked the career of the great Sachin Tendulkar. Funnily enough in the two decades that he wore the Indian colors no two Indians would cite the same moment when they believed he attained greatness. So, just when did Sachin Tendulkar truly become great? To this writer it was a sultry November night in 1993 when India beat South Africa to enter the finals of the Hero Cup. The Proteas needed 6 runs to cross the line and with Brain McMillan looking in command a South African victory was almost a foregone conclusion. The final over resembled a death warrant that none of the full-time bowlers (Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble) were willing to deliver and it was then that Tendulkar practically snatched the ball from Md. Azaruddin’s hands and took on destiny. That night in what was the first day-night match at the Eden Gardens an ice-cool Tendulkar showed millions of Indians that greatness just needed self-belief.

Sachin Tendulkar is different breed of rarity. He is someone who was born great and therefore every step he took would, sadly, be a step down. Today, millions of Indians are trying to imagine cricket without Tendulkar but truth be told he’s been preparing us for this day with lackluster performances in the last year and a half. Lately ten members of every team he has been a part of seem to be hell bent on winning it for Tendulkar than him being the match-winner that he used to be. His greatness inspires everyone who plays along with him but had he not waited so long to quit he’d have been his usual greater self rather than being just one of the eleven.

This article originally appeared in The Asian Age on 15 Oct 2013