Sach - in Cricket...... Sach is Life !!!

It was a regular busy day for me at work & it was already afternoon, when I was helping myself to the first cup of coffee for the day. It was around 2.35pm & the TV screen at the pantry was beaming the cricket ODI between India & South Africa. Pure love for the game, made me stop & watch for a few minutes. It was only the 2nd over of the match & Parnell was steaming into Sachin. A deft jab on the offside & the ball raced to the mid off fence & immediately after that, the next delivery was flicked from outside the offstump to the midwicket boundary. It was sheer class, & exquisite timing. One could only gape with awe & blink!!! I along with others around commented, "looks like a big one from Sachin!!"......
Through the afternoon, Iwas busy at work & could not sneak in to watch the proceedings of the match & probably missed history being created, as Sachin became the first ever to scale 200 runs in an ODI innings in cricket. In the process, he also overtook the previous highest individual score of 194, notched by Saeed Anwar against India..... a record that has been like a sore thumb to millions of Indian cricket lovers over the years.
A double century in ODIs has been myth that has now been broken..... a dream that has finally come true.

Watching the highlights of the game late evening, I saw how the whole stadium & surely the whole cricketing fraternity across the world had become one with the Lord of Cricket....the Truth of Cricket...... The Sach - in Cricket.... Sachin Tendulkar !! Probably in the same pedestal as Don Bradman.... in terms of sheer class, in terms of sheer statistics, in terms of pure magic.

Sachin seems to have hit a purple patch & probably one of the best in his career, now spanning over 20 years. He is playing unbelievable cricket & a quick glance at his batting prowess over the last one year would reveal that. Interestingly this comes in the wake of what the so called cricket experts have been saying about him !!!
The famous Chappell brothers down under(Ian & Greg) had clearly said a couple of years back, " ODIs demand extreme physical fitness & is a game of the youth. Its high time Sachin realises this & retires from ODIs". The Aussies & other such proponents of youth, physical fitness & power, have been tomtoming this theory for quite some time now.
Yes, fitness & youth rules the ODI & the shorter version of the game, but there can never ever be any substitute to class or technical skills & Sachin demonstrated that once again.
While most cricketers have hung their boots way before they reached 37 years of age, Sachin seems to be going on & on. It indeed is a tribute to his tenacious capabilities to last the whole of 50 overs, face just 147 deliveries to reach the 200 mark !!!! The only other batsman in the current generation, who has ever looked likely to scale the 200 mark is our own Virender Sehwag.....only if he lasts the whole of 50 overs or therebaouts !!!!

My direct question to the Chappell brothers & similar cricketing pundits around the world is that, Sachin today, withstood the whole of 50 overs in batting & still came back to field the SA innings, he fought the cramps, but batted without a runner. All this against the formidable Proteas, who are one of the best ODI teams in the world currently. This innings was not a flash in the pan......he has been consistently scoring & scaling over so many years.......do we still have to question his fitness & endurance to withstand the rigors of ODIs???? Or is it pure jealousy at an Indian beating the others hollow????
This is Sachin's 46th ODI hundred, more than 17000 ODI runs, already 47 test centuries along with more than 13000 test runs & still counting........where will this run machine stop!!!!
Did Saurav retire a tad too early??? ....hehehehe...many such questions keep floating in....

May the 'Sach - in Cricket' scale more heights.....as a dreamer, I would like to believe that soon enough, he scales Brian Lara's 400 in tests, wins the upcoming World Cup for us & many more... Arguably the best brand ambassador of the game today, no one could be more deserving than Sachin to achieve this milestone.
The ever smiling childlike face, which displays emotions & passions of a teenager seems sure of decimating any attack ahead & breaking further records........
Way to go Sachin........Life has just about begun......You make us all Indians, realy really proud!!!