Sachin Tendulkar - A Cricketer, A God, A Phenomenon

Master Blaster, Cricketing Genius, The Man of the Century, SRT....

We all have heard about Sachin, we all have watched him slay in his matches while we were growing up and we all have seen him struggle with the ducks as well. Now that there's a documentary about to release on Sachin in a few days, I couldn't stop myself from reliving all the Tendulkar memories.

Sachin : The Synonym for Cricket

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To start with, no match started until Sachin arrived on the field. And the moment he started his innings, people would literally glue their eyes to the screen. Like the recent aunty who was seen praying during the Mumbai Pune IPL Final, the whole nation prayed in front of their TV screens during a LIVE match telecast if there was a third umpire decision pending for Sachin. Cricket was a game before Sachin arrived, after he arrived it became a religion. off course there are and there were many talented and good players, but no one has been able to match the persona this man carries; so having a full fledged documentary released in over 2000 screens across India makes sense even though its a fact that no sports documentary has ever been release before this one.

There are die hard Sachin fans, then there are fans who liked him only when he played well and then there are people like me who are in neither of the category but respect the man for the immense discipline he has shown for the game and his mammoth record breaking talent which he constantly kept reinventing. My earliest memory of Sachin is watching his matches on Sundays while the entire building compressed in 1 or 2 households because Sachin's matches brought everyone together. Uncles discussed where he went wrong and where he stole their hearts, it was a cherry on the cake if India won but even if it didn't & Sachin played well, it would make everyone's day. And quite ironically everyone felt we have lost even if India had won the match but Sachin scored a 0 or a very very low score; that's the emotion this man evokes.

Its very hard to say when the transition from a cricketer to god happened but it was surely felt the most when his retirement gossips started doing the round. Die hard cricket fans almost felt like the game itself was going to be taken off from the sports list on this planet. There are instances where people literally switched off their TV as soon as Sachin got out, just imagine the love & fandom this personality enjoyed; its beyond understanding & any reasoning.

His last Test match, his last ODI, his last IPL match; all his last professional matches were the only ones where his fans felt sad despite the fact that their hero has slammed another great innings.

Sachin has become such a benchmark that even today when a cricket really plays well setting him apart from others, people end up saying " He reminded us of Sachin" or that "He played like Sachin"; and that is one of his biggest achievements as a sportsman apart from his crazy runs and having a stall named after him at a cricket stadium and taking Indian cricket international. From his Tennis Elbow to his gossiped cold war with Sourav Ganguly, Sachin has become a household name and you cannot mention cricket without mentioning Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

I hope the documentary does justice to his persona and entertains the fans, because I am not a die hard Sachin fan and the teaser for the documentary made me teary eyed and gave me goose bumps. Because at the end of the day, no matter what, Sachin will always be Sachin; a cricketing giant who with his boyish looks, cute voice & his trademark MRF bat gave us something to be proud of.