If Cricket is Religion Sachin is God

So I have been outdone. This book on Sachin articulates all points which any Sachin fan would have had, and is a fitting response to critics like the Chappel brothers, Mr Sanjay Manjerekar and co. Pity Sachin's latest exploits (England and New Zealand series) could not get covered. Well I am sure there will be another edition soon.

A superb book for all die hard fans. And for people who have not converted yet.

Sachin's best

So finally the debate from the doubting Thomases can finally be buried and laid to rest. Sachin produced the knock which his baiters and other losers always felt he could never play.

It was poetic justice that the knock came in Chennai, where possible his best innings was played and the match lost by a nervy lower order. 

He continues his good run of getting runs, lots of runs around the 11th of Dec (my daughter b'day).

Another Gem to the collection

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/indvaus2008/content/current/story/375925.html

From CrickInfo....http://www.cricinfo.com/

India v Australia, 3rd Test, Delhi, 1st day

Tendulkar evokes memories of 1992

Cricinfo staff

October 29, 2008

	Sachin Tendulkar's pick-up over midwicket off Cameron White was a damning verdict on the paucity of Australia's slow-bowling resources in the post-Warne era © Getty Images

At times you could have fooled yourself into thinking that it was the irrepressible teenager of Perth 1992 vintagebatting, and not the 35-year-old veteran who was supposed to be on his last legs. The strokeplay was majestic and the approach worlds removed from the hesitancy that coloured Sachin Tendulkar's innings at times over the past couple of years.

The situation when he walked in was hardly that in which to unleash a fusillade of shots. At 27 for 2, he might even have been reminded of the bad old days, when the batting rode on his shoulders, especially away from home at venues like the MCG and Edgbaston. These days though, the line-up around him is far more robust and the freedom he batted with today was that of a man determined to enjoy a final flourish in the game that he has illuminated for so long. Even when India were under siege in the first session, there was safety in the thought that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Man of the Match in Mohali a week ago, was pencilled in at No.7.

Brett Lee had already been taken off by the time Tendulkar emerged to raucous cheers, but Mitchell Johnson was bowling just as quick in his place. One bouncer whizzed past his helmet at 151 km/hr but if that was meant to intimidate, it had little effect. A couple of balls later, he was on tiptoe and striking the ball through point, much as he had done at the WACA all those years ago.

Johnson tried to tempt him into the sort of airy drive that Rahul Dravid had perished to, but the bait was never nibbled. For 20 balls, Tendulkar was in watchful mode, intent on seeing off the challenge of Australia's premier fast bowlers. Only when Johnson started to err on the short side did he start to open up, first tucking one off the hips past square leg and then lashing one through the fielder at point.

Lee was the culprit on that occasion, and Ricky Ponting turned to him a quarter of an hour before lunch. It was a crucial passage of play. Had Australia picked up a wicket then with the run-rate still well below three, the game might have turned. Instead, Lee was greeted with the most sumptuous of cover-drives. Lee continued to bowl quick and full, but Tendulkar either guided the ball into the off side, or played it straight back. There was no hint that the eyesight or reflexes have faded, no sign of a batsman on the wane.

The contest within a contest continued right after lunch, with Lee charging in as he had to dismiss Virender Sehwag earlier in the morning. Earlier this year, in the CB Series in Australia, Tendulkar had decided to use Lee's pace to bunt the ball over the slip cordon. It was a stroke he unfurled to telling effect in Bloemfontein in 2001, but this was Lee, the quickest bowler in the world, in the quintessential Test match battle of our times, Australia against India.

Such labels clearly meant nothing to him because the third ball after lunch nearly went over third man for six. Once again, he had rocked back, arched his spine like a gymnast and twirled the wrists to devastating effect. The score was still modest, 71 for 2, but a massive statement had been made. The unerringly accurate Stuart Clark was then thumped behind point for four more, before Lee responded the way fast bowlers do. The straight, quick bouncer would have parted Tendulkar's hair if he hadn't been wearing a helmet, but all he did was drop the wrists and sway out of harm's way.

	Sachin Tendulkar's innings ended with a false shot but not before the momentum had shifted inexorably in India's favour© Getty Images

His riposte was far more damaging, a whiplash square of the wicket that got to the ball boys before anyone in the off side cordon had even moved a couple of feet. When Lee subsequently searched for the yorker, Tendulkar drove in classical fashion to the man at midwicket. More than Lee's raw pace, it was Clark's accuracy that troubled him most, with one superb leg-cutter almost kissing the outside edge on its way to Brad Haddin.

There were still moments to drive the bowler to distraction though. There was little wrong with the delivery that Clark bowled to him when he was on 46, but Tendulkar merely waited on it as though it were a loopy leg break and then cut it fine for four. Soon after, the field changed to 7-2, but rather than be tempted into the shot across the line, Tendulkar chose the path of discretion.

Cameron White was initially viewed with similar suspicion, but once a gorgeous on-drive off Clark had loosened the shackles, Ponting's first punt at spin was made to look foolish. When White tossed one up fairly wide, he pounced to drive it past extra-cover, and the pick-up over midwicket that followed was a damning verdict on the paucity of the slow-bowling resources in Australian cricket's post-Warne era.

After Johnson and Watson tied him down for a while, it all ended with a false stroke, but by then the momentum had shifted inexorably in India's favour, with Gautam Gambhir trading circumspection for aggression. Tendulkar has scored nine hundreds against Australia, and as a result half-centuries don't really linger too long in the memory. This little gem though should have a special place in the collection, right up alongside the one in Adelaide , when he launched into Glenn McGrath after the previous evening's monastic denial, and the minor masterpiece in Mumbai , when he and Laxman batted sublimely on a minefield to transform a match that had been within Australia's grasp. Even for the masters, centuries aren't everything.

Sachin at the Top

It's a record no one will be able to match. Sachin is not sitting on four world records, highest 100's in ODI's and Test as well as the runs in both these forms of cricket. As Harsha Bhogle pointed out, the irreverent generation next wants to hasten his end and not enjoy the batting of possibly the greatest of all cricketers who ever has played the game.

Sachin's views on the grip flip

Amongst all the views around KP's grip switch, Sachin's seemed to be the most logical. I think a few people had spoken about the LBW decisions and laws, Sachin had a good point around the leg side rule (you can't have two behind the square leg).

One rarely finds Sachin speaking on any issue. So his comments have been a welcome change.

The true Icon

Shaun Pollock has a telling comment during yesterday's game from the dug out. He mentioned that all other icons had been given a hard time when they played at other venues and Sachin was the only exception. Sachin is truely the Icon !

Sachin Tendulkar Diary

Sachin Tendulkar : Diary of Events

Oct 23rd, 2008

My guess is that Gilly won't be welcome to India, post his comments calling Sachin dishonest and a poor loser (personally who would want to shake hands with the Aussies the way they play at times, esp when pushed to a corner as they were in the Sydney test last year).

Gilly is now in damage control mode, he called up an apologized to Sachin. A makerting strategy for his new book (True Colours) ? . I think he should be bothered for his IPL career also.

Oct 17th, 2008

Crosses Lara and then 12,000. A pleasurable innings of 88, the hundred eludes him.

Oct 11th, 2008

At the nets in Bangalore. Sachin gets a 13 and a match saving 49 before he gifts his wicket to White.

Dec 27th, 2006
Another solid show by Sachin. Can he continue this run tomorrow ? There was a specatular cover drive of Shaun Pollock and few more sweetly times throught the off side today.

Dec16th,2o06

Sachin looked great out in the middle, with those piecrcing off side strokes. His last 2 hundreds were around the same time and he looked good to make it 36.

I think this is a kind of wicket in which no batter will think he is in. Will get confirmed when SA bats.

Sep 15th,2006

Vintage Sachin ; God is back ; When the Going Gets Tough Sachin Gets Going; I guess the headlines will keep coming. This piece from Dileep Premchandran sums it up well

A senior correspondent who had watched him since he was a precocious teenager likened his batting to Zakir Hussain's tabla-playing. "Even if he's playing on a cupboard door, he can still make beautiful music. And Tendulkar's the same, no matter what the conditions." After this particular epic, you could only nod in awestruck agreement.

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/dlfcup/content/current/story/259587.html

March 23rd

One of Sachin's worst series comes to an end. The media seems to be in a frenzy and hurry to write him off. The Booing epsisode of Mumbai has blown out of proportion too.

So what's wrong with Sachin if anything ? He looked solid in the 2nd innings in Nagpur and in the 2nd innings inMumbai (till his tame dismissal). Gavaskar feels it's the ability to concentrate which has diminished but will come back. I subscribe to that since his ODI form looks good ; and requires a shorter duration for concentrating.

There was this article in Cricinfo (magazine) that in the 3rd Pak ODI : Sachin made Dravid look like a novice : the way he judeged the length and swing. Dravid was all at sea in that match. Boycott has also been writing that his timing and footwork look fine (unlike Ganguly and Laxman). So there is no erosion of ability.

Feb13th,

Sachin plays one of his greatest knocks . With the series tied at 1-1 and India chasing an imposing 290 to win under seaming conditions (to start with atleast), Sachin came up with a classy knock. How good the knock was can be judged from the fact that Imran (normally a reluctant Sachin admirer) could not praise him enough. He missed a hundred but considering that the last three hundreds against Pak saw India losing maybe it was a good omen that he was dismissed in the 90's.

Dec 10th

Hundred 35 comes. Sachin's play from 50 to 100 was a treat to watch : three boundaries of Murli and a huge 6 to boot. Got a bad descision in the second innings.

Dec 6th

Sachins 5th / 15th and 25th hundreds have been at Chennai. Numbers suggest strongly that his 35th also should be there ...

4th Oct,

Naseer Hussain declares no World XI is complete without Sachin (agree 100%)

3rd Oct
Sachin blasts the media. Guess the media is slowly specializing in generating 'masala' news out of nothing and no where. Sachin had reportedly said he felt some jaring pain in his elbow which was part of the recovery process. The media promptly forgot the recovery part and sensationlized it as Sachin feels pain in the elbow.