Tendulkar the Terrific – Thanks Wall Street Journal

Sachin Tendulkar, already the greatest batsman ever, did something absolutely amazing on Wednesday, February 24. He scored a double century in a One Day International match against South Africa.

We cannot even comprehend this feat. Double centuries are a rare phenomenon even in Test Cricket which take 5 days to complete a match. One day Cricket was invented to speed up the game by restricting each side to 50 overs or 300 balls bowled. In such a short game, it seemed inconceivable for any one player to ever score 200 runs.

This unbelievable feat was performed by Sachin Tendulkar last week and it was put in perspective by Richard Lord in the Wall Street Journal. We recommend this Tendulkar the Terrific article to every Cricket fan. A few excerpts are below:

Born on April 24, 1973, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar made his international cricket debut just 16 and a half years later. Since then he’s broken most of the international game’s batting records: most Test match runs (13,447), most One Day International runs (17,598, a frightening 4,170 ahead of the next contender), most Test scores of 100 runs or more (47), and the same in One Day Internationals (46).

But his latest achievement was particularly special. Try, for a moment, to think of another sportsman a couple of months short of his 37th birthday, at the very top of his particular game for more than two decades, who still has the ability and, more to the point, the hunger to take that game to heights previously unscaled not just by himself, but by anyone. Then try to digest the fact that, of his 93 international 100s, 10 have come in the past year.

(Photo: WSJ)

Then Richard Lord talks about Sachin, the man and the obvious comparison with another athlete who dominated his game, Tiger Woods.

There’s his integrity—no off-field dalliances, match-fixing allegations or doping indiscretions for this sporting titan. Then there’s his incredible humility; in an era of brash, trash-talking sportsmen-with-attitude, he’s never been heard to utter a single boastful word, nor one denigrating an opponent. His celebration upon reaching the latest landmark was typical: a raised bat, a glance to the heavens, a smile of quiet satisfaction.
From a purely sporting perspective, he’s cricket’s Tiger Woods. Even before his recent off-course indiscretions, however, what Mr. Woods got was admiration and respect; what Mr. Tendulkar gets is love.
Mr. Tendulkar is a beacon of stability in a sport, in a country and in a world that are changing at a pace many find unsettling. He’s an unbroken link to values of hard work, humility and reliability, and for that reason a lot of people find him uniquely reassuring.

Too truly understand the greatness of Sachin’s feat, listen to what Virender Sehwag, the dominating opening batsman, said ” I would like to watch this 200 run innings of Sachin at least 100 times”. Readers might recall that Wisden had honored Sehwag as its Leading Cricketer in the World for 2008.

We concur with Sehwag. We hope to get a DVD of Sachin’s immortal innings. So we can watch this double century of Sachin’s whenever we need some divine inspiration.

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