April 22, 1998: 6:45 PM
A 16-year old school kid is sitting on stairs, with a worried look on his face. Seeing this restless kid, his aunt questioned him “Are you thinking about your tenth grade results? Before he can reply, she continued, you’ll come out with flying colors in your board exams!
“No, I ‘m worried if Sachin can get us to the finals of the Coca-Cola cup or not” – replies the kid in a cracking voice.
What happened in the next three hours or what happened in the finals of that tournament were history and no cricketing lover or for that matter no Australian will ever dare to forget the two storms they witnessed. One came from the deserts in Sharjah and the other from “MRF” bat.
Jan 31, 1999
It was too close and yet too far. Chasing 271 runs vs. Akram’s team, hampered by a bad back, Sachin took us too close to winning. It was too close for someone who didn’t show up for the presentation to receive the “Man of the Match” because he was shattered. He scored one hundred and thirty six runs. India lost to Pakistan by 17 runs in Chennai test match.
May 23, 1999
Having lost to Zimbabwe by three runs in the group stage in the absence of Sachin, India got almost knocked off from the group stage.
Sachin returned from his father’s funeral a day before our encounter with Kenya to save us from an early exit in group stage. He scored a hundred and forty painful runs in that match.
There were many matches after that, where he ripped apart the bowlers of the opposition team and won matches for India. The pressure kept on mounting day by day and he kept on delivering what was expected out of him. Sure, he failed in crucial matches but no one should dare to point fingers at him, considering his contribution to a cricket crazy nation. A nation that celebrate victory and mourns each and every defeat.
Mourning was at the peak when India got kicked off in the first round of the 2007 World Cup, which was rated as the worst performance in India's cricketing history. Effigies were burnt, houses were stoned, respect was lost and everyone felt that they just got betrayed by 11 men in blue. What went in that dressing room, and what went between the then coach and the team members was something we wanted to forget, but I/We couldn't.
"Spare a thought of what we've been through" was the very first comment Sachin made two days later. This comment made my mouth shut!!
He hinted at the beginning of the 2007 WC that he is eying to play 2011 as well. We waited for four years to see it happen. Four years was a long wait!! Team has made some serious progress in the last four years. Things have changed, wounds were healed, hopes resurfaced and we are here to see a fairy tale on April 2, 2011.
Whenever I talk about Cricket with a close friend of mine, the conversation has to end with this comment "Dude All I want to see Sachin taking guard in Wankhede Stadium in WC'11 Final". There were probably 1000 such conversations between us and we just had one more when India defeated Pakistan on March 30 in Semi Final.
Now the dream has come true. Sachin will take guard this Saturday.
"What's the population of India" - questions a colleague if mine in a lighter vein. I replied..
"It's a billion and one of them goes by the name Sachin Tendulkar" - the first part of it is something I'm not proud of, but the rest I sure am!!
- By someone who scored 71% (flying colors) in 10th grade board exams and who feels "Life is worth living to see Sachin in action in Final of WC 2011.
