A tribute to our little master

Our very own Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has added another accomplishment to his chequered career. By achieving what nobody has ever managed to in the history of the game, Sachin has made it certain that his name is etched in the annals of the game, as one of the greatest players ever to have played the game. The feat is all the more glamorous when one realizes the fact that the next man on the list of players with the highest number of test centuries is Ricky Ponting who is still a good 11 centuries behind. (Kallis scored 2 centuries in the 3^rd test to move to the second place with 40 centuries). Given the gloomy state of ponting’s career as a consequence of the dismal series loss to England, only Jack Kallis posts a realistic chance of overhauling the master.

Anybody who has played Test cricket is well aware of the hardships involved in scoring a test hundred. To score 50 test centuries is no mean feat. Sachin has so far played 177 test matches and scored 51 test centuries. A quick back of the envelope calculation revels that he scores a century about every 3.5 matches which is close to a century every series in addition to the numerous half-centuries he has scored.

The biggest reason why Sachin has been able to achieve such great deeds is the passion with which he plays the game. Sachin’s innate ability to adjust his game according to the state of the game, faster than anybody else playing the game today, speaks volumes about his genius. However, Sachin is not just pure genius; whatever he has achieved till date is not only due to his natural talent. There have many players who have been extremely talented but have frittered away thier talent, they haven’t been able to achieve anything anywhere close to what Sachin has surpassed. He has a tremendous work ethic and follows it religiously. He never flinches to put in the hard yards; the discipline and the way he carries himself both on and off the field are traits worth emulating by all budding cricketers. He is probably the only modern day player to have played two decades of cricket and his passion has been the sole reason.

There have been reports of Sachin’s name being recommended for the Bharat Ratna. Personally I feel that he is the most qualified person to whom the award can be conferred upon. Sachin has achieved glorious triumphs for our country in the realm of Cricket and has kept our flag flying high for close to two decades. Conferring the Bharat Ratna would be a great recognition of his services to this nation.