The Phenomenon Called Sachin

Imran Khan put it best when he said that Tendulkar was too proud a cricketer to hang around if he was not meeting the high standards he had set himself over these last two decades. Tendulkar has been the closest thing to perfection in the country since he began playing for the Indian team in 1989. I was going through the thoughts expressed by his teammates and cricketing legends from around the world on his retirement. When a person leaves a field that he has for so long dominated, you expect a volley of praise from different quarters but only in this case whatever words of admiration were used seemed unable to describe the colossus of a cricket phenomenon that Sachin is. Dhoni writes that he was always in awe of the man and at times couldn't make eye contact with him. In the initial days, it was Sachin who was nice enough to break the ice in the slip and initiate a conversation with him. He remembers, "As luck would have it, I benefitted from Tendulkar's presence at the non-striker's end when I got my first Test hundred against Pakistan (in Faisalabad in 2006). We were in a precarious situation and, when I walked in to bat, Shoaib Akhtar was firing on all cylinders. He was so quick that I had no clue to the first couple of balls I faced. Sensing my nervousness, Tendulkar gently walked down the wicket and told me, "Play the way you always play, with a smile on your face, and enjoy the challenge.    
Those inspiring words acted as a tonic for me. Shoaib pitched the next one short and I pulled it for a six over mid-wicket. That gave me a lot of confidence and, from then on, I kept playing my shots, got my first century, and took the team to safety. As a sportsman, and as a captain, I hate to lose. That's something I haven't spoken much about. And I can tell you that even Tendulkar hated to lose. His schoolboy-like enthusiasm for the game even now is something I envy and admire."

Steve Waugh says that what made Sachin especially popular with the Australian crowd were some sporting traits that he shared with them. Waugh says, "Sachin was always a favourite with Australian crowds and had the unreserved respect of Australian cricketers because he possesses many traits that we respect and value among sportsmen. He was fiercely competitive, never backed off from a contest, never gave up but was always fair. His innate decency had always shone through his ruthlessness on the field. Mostly, he’s wanted to dominate the bowler and stamp his supremacy on the opposition."  
What also made Sachin special was how he dealt with the expectation that the hundreds of millions in India and abroad had from him. Imagine the pressure...Imagine scoring a hundred hundreds under that pressure. There is a Russian proverb that says that a hammer breaks the glass but strengthens the metal. Sachin was certainly no glass. Under that humble, kind and modest exterior, there has always been a fighter. Waugh says, "Sachin rarely got into verbal duels, and soon we too realised that sledging him only helped strengthen his concentration and resolve. No wonder then that some of the most talkative Australians went quiet when Sachin was in the middle."  
It is important to remember here that we couldn't have got a gem like Sachin in this country had it not been for the support that he has received from his family. Sachin owes his brother a lot for identifying his talent and encouraging him. Also his coach Ramakant Achrekar deserves a mention here whom Sachin would meet before every big tournament, every big series. “He had slapped Sachin after he went to watch a match at Wankhede instead of playing a match. ‘If you play, the public will clap for you,’ he told him,” Achrekar's daughter recalls, “When he won the Dronacharya award (in 1992), Sachin called up to congratulate him. Since he was on an overseas tour, my father had only this to tell him: ‘forget this award...focus on your game!”
Perhaps the achievement that Sachin would most treasure is winning the World Cup in 2011. Having put almost every feather in his cap, the only feather eluding Sachin was winning the world cup. In 2011, even that was accomplished thanks largely to the young Indian team that was motivated to do it for him. And on the winning night, he was picked up on the backs of his teammates and paraded around on a lap of honor. “He has carried the burden of a nation for 21 years,” said Yuvraj Singh .. “It is time we carried him on our shoulders.”
  One couldn't have said it better.