First take a look at these pictures:
When Virender Sehwag stepped in to bat today, little did he know that inspite of it being a belter of a track, it was not his day. When a person is blessed with a miracle, he seldom gets to share the accolades with others.
That actually did not turn out to be the case as Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan and MS Dhoni would also be hailed for their efforts today.
Today, 24th February 2010, is the day Sachin Tendulkar became the first man to score a double century in all of Limited Overs Internationals. Ever. That’s almost 40 years of cricket. Viv Richards, Gary Kirsten , Saeed Anwar, Sanath Jayasuriya, MS Dhoni, Saurav Ganguly, Matthew Hayden and Charles Coventry could only come close.
There are loads of people claiming that if anyone deserved it, it was Sachin. I disagree. Not because he did not deserve it, just because saying such a thing oozes empathy towards the person in question. Sachin Tendulkar needs, nor wants any empathy, sympathy or any other relevant pathy.
He sets his own targets and goes about achieving them. He attains almost all of them, then hunts for more. 3 and 3 quarter hours on the field batting, and the hunger to be a part of the game was still there, he wanted to field for the remaining 50 overs. He is still fielding.
35 years and 10 months old, this man is not getting any younger. Aptitude wise, and apettite wise, he is not getting any older as well.
From the moment he middled his first ball, I was sure this was one of them special innings. I woke up my roommate when Sachin was on 40, and shouted that he was playing the innings of his lifetime. Just because the innings was not for the cause of chasing a huge total does not undermine the romance in it. Not one bit.
From that point on, it was a treat to find new adjectives to describe his fluid strokeplay, brute power, maraduring instinct, and gazzele like running. Batting on 190, he almost outran MS Dhoni.
The Journey from 194 to 200 was a study in temperament. He knew that he was this close, that us fans were not able to breathe because of the tension. He did not take the Sehwag route. No, that would have been too risky. Instead, he ensured that all our prayers went answered. That is how god functions. In our words, that is how Sachin rolls.
Twice this year, he came close. After the innings against NZ in NZ and against Australia at Hyderabad, all he did was learn from the apparent mistakes. His mistake? He got out.
Batting on 199, he got a gentle half volley 4 feet outside his off stick, and he guided it to third man for his double. For our double. One ball later, Dhoni hit a ball to the boundary and called for a single. Sachin refused.
God created the world in six days, and then he rested.
Sachin scored the 200 in 147 balls, and then he rested.
Amen.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Its been long I have been waiting for such an inning..its such a pleasure to see such marvelous inning from master blaster sachin Tendulkar.
Harsh agrawal´s last blog ..Tendulkar is the Titan of Cricketing mythology
No he shouldn’t rested he need to do it again for me and more times in next 10 years, I requested him and he almost agreed you can check it over here:
Reverse Swing´s last blog ..Sachin Tendulkar! What is next?
Check your inbox regarding the interblogatic IPL battle mate….
loved the following lines,
God created the world in six days, and then he rested.
Sachin scored the 200 in 147 balls, and then he rested.
Christopher Poshin David´s last blog ..Simply Sachin
You know which is the best/worst one I’ve heard yet on the God’s innings – a gent commented elsewhere in defending some of his greats that wasn’t Sachin merely six runs better than Charles Coventry?
SACHIN WO INSAAN HAIN JO FIR KABHI IS DUNIYA mein nahi aayega
aur na hi kabhi aaya tha
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