I want to have one..

One of the greatest in the history of cricket...



None other than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. I know mere words and statistics alone cannot describe the greatness of him and his passion towards the game and so this post is just my thoughts and experiences around Sachin. It is an one time opportunity for me to refresh my memories about him before he brings his curtain down soon. The things that I like about him the most and why? and the lessons that I had learnt and need to constantly learn and apply. Firstly it feels good to be in the era of Sachin as we are all privileged to see some wonderful batting and sportsmanship and most importantly the professionalism that he brings to the game of cricket. Needless to say it's because of him, I love the game of cricket a bit more, and I feel it's an honour to write about him all the time.

My first encounter (not in person but TV) with him was probably around 1992 world cup but at that stage I didn't had a close look at him because I was curiously following Ravi Shastri then. It was in year 1994 during the New Zealand land tour where he smashed 80 odd runs in 40 balls I started to watch him closely and it has continued from there (I remember we were having a night study for exams in my classmate's (KTK) home and used to get up early morning to watch the game).

Sachin is definitely an inspiration and positive influence to me right from that time. We used to have plenty of discussions and fights about him during my engineering days. We almost had a whole night discussion when India lost against Srilanka during the 1996 world cup semi final and the kind of game Sachin played throughout that world cup. Excellent memories they are. As students we usually have fights for who is better player question all the time Brian or Sachin? All that feels a bit funny now when they two have a good rapport among them and Brian went on to say if he has a boy he would like him to play like Sachin (that shows his magnanimity and truth as well) and the best of all comments is from Obama when he recently stated that, he understood now why is his country's productivity went down by 5% when Sachin is playing. I will tell Obama that from the hindsight it could look as if it is down but when India wins and Sachin plays well the productivity will be tripled as most of the professionals would get a boost to perform well in their job :)

During my early days I used to see this in the streets of India, whenever he plays the talk will always be around Sachin and those people who do not have TV at their homes they generally assemble outside TV showrooms and will be relishing those moments. Every one of them will be tense as if they are playing against Pakistan. Such is the impact that he had among people. I usually enjoy and feel a bit tense too the moment he comes to crease and with that boyish look when he takes guard and adjusts his abdomen guard, wow I live that moment and my heart pumps very fast when he is at the crease and when India chase a good total. I always think what would be running in his mind when they make a big chase. Plenty of such moments when Ganguly and Sachin used to open for India and I remember those now. He has succeeded many a times and India as well and made all of us happy and sometimes India had lost, that's ok after all it's a game and the better team will win on that day.

Tears oozed out when he played that cover drive against Akram with a dead straight bat and showed elbow to the photographers in that 2003 world cup when the ball screamed to hit the boundary line. I didn't move an inch for the next 3 and half hours. What a game that was, chasing a total of 272 against 4 top class bowlers Akram, Waqar, Shoaib and Saqlain.

On his 24th birthday when he made a century during the sand storm and I was watching alone late in the night when my parents were sleeping. I was crying in joy and when he had back to back centuries against Australia and Steve's comment was apt that we lost against Sachin :)

There was another moment when India played Pakistan in Dhaka in 1998, when India were chasing a total of 315. Azhar was captain then and when the first half was over, while coming back to dressing room he was having a word with Sachin. I was curious what he would have told him. And India is back in the hunt Sachin scored a quick fire 40 odd runs in 26 balls and that changed the complexion of the game. I particularly remember a over from Azhar Mahamood where he had a 7-2 field and the plan was to bowl every delivery around off stump and not giving any easy run. Sachin hit 4 fours in that over alone and every time the ball pierced the field it was a joy to watch and they just couldn't do anything to stop. I had never seen a player like him at that point in time, such a dominating player he was.

I was completely mood off when in 1999 when was adjudged LBW when he ducked and McGrath's delivery hit his shoulders ( I guess that was in Adelaide). It was a harsh decision but he was given out. And in Sydney Melbourne he made a century during that tour of Australia.

In 1999 when Pakistan toured India, Sachin had a severe back ache and with that severe pain he managed to score that famous Chennai century 139 and India went on to loose the game. Normal beings would have been shattered with the way the rest of the 4 players got out and not able to score that 14 odd runs to win the game, after all cricket is a team game. But he is a not a normal man and supported the team and his men all the time. A very team player and encourages other players to play well and give their 100% all the time.

Once I heard Sidhu talked about him and this was his debut game in 1989 against Pakistan when he was hurt by a bouncer from Waqar and blood was coming out from his nose. He didn't do anything other than just to wipe off his blood and took his guard again to face the next delivery. To me that stands out at an young age of 16 that could shaken up anyone. Later in an interview Sachin mentioned after that first game he felt he can't ever play international cricket. But he didn't give up and continued to score two half centuries in the first tour itself and the bowling attack was one of the best in the world Imran, Akram and Waqar. He probably would have felt that ok this is the most that could happen when you don't watch the ball carefully and so let me watch it more closely from the bowler's hands.

He was slightly out of form after 2003 world cup and he struggled in that Australia tour but with vintage heart he scored that 249 241not out in 2004 January. Once again his mental strength and deep concentration leaving the balls outside off stump and curb his instincts to play the outside deliveries. I love his taking guard and stance depending on the match situations, he reads the wicket, bowlers, match situations much earlier than any other players and that is the hall mark of Tendulkar. Most of the other players tend to play their own game and do not adjust most of their strokes or shots based on the wicket or other variables and I love that about Sachin. It's because he wants to do well whatever be the situation is, he wants to give his full.

"No player in this planet would have gone through the sort of expectations that Sachin has to shoulder and most importantly delivered his best all the time". Sachin is able to tackle that mental pressure and that alone simply puts him in front of many other top players.

Next, I still see Tendulkar is the only player who has not had any technical weakness at any point in time. Technically he is very compact in making all sort of strokes in the book. He would have been bowled through the gate few times and that shows that he is human and possibly could be out of form (hence it's temporary)

Thirdly, he has shown his adaptability to all sort of conditions, wickets, bowlers and every format of the game. I mean the range is huge from Merv Hughes and McDermott to James Pattinson, which is why I rate him the best amongst all the contemporary players. For instance Lara is an attacking player but generally he is vulnerable in the beginning and has not played many attacking one day games and his T20 is a flop and that holds good even for Punter too.. I see Sachin's greatness from that perspective and to me he is a complete player (batting, bowling and fielding) with his ability to shine in all the departments.

I watch his interviews and his stroke play from many of his innings that is available in Internet when I need a little bit of boost at times. I have enjoyed every bit of his stroke play and what he has done to Indian cricket and to the world cricket. A great ambassador and used to be surprised and amazed with the kind of ovation he gets in most parts of the world outside India. God gifted and most importantly he put that to good use.

Harsha said once many people think Tendulkar is gifted and batting comes fluent / natural to him but the fact is it is because of the tremendous work ethic he showed towards cricket he is able to do what he could do. The sort of net practice that he does but the way he approaches his game and the kind of practice he put himself in and his work ethics. At the age of 12 when we were all playing with friends and watching TV he had spent about 16 hours in the ground playing cricket. It is this sort of dedication and professionalism that has made him what he is today and many of us would wish to to do the same in their walks of life.

Few things that I learnt and want to apply consistently in my life are these,

·         Positive thinking, mental strength and attitude all the time

·         Worry about things that you can control and leave the rest. 

·         Process of winning matters than the actual win itself. In other words, living in the present and not focusing much about past and future.

·         Last but not least, Stay humble all the time and don't let anything to go to your head.

Soon he is going to retire in all forms of cricket (International) after playing consistently for about 24 years. Of course one cannot play at the same level of cricket that he played at the age of 18 or 20. I meant consistently playing cricket at the highest level for 24 years. I would miss him definitely from the Indian team but I can still go on and cherish with all the good memories of him while there are some good young talents coming out. I wish him all the best and thanks for everything he has given to many people like me.

Cheers Sachin !!!

My first cricket article in year 2000

I mentioned some time ago that I had to dig out some of the cricket articles that I wrote were stuck in my old notebook which I can't boot up. It was my first notebook that I bought in year 2000 ( Fujitsu Lifebook). I managed to take out the hard disk and recovered all data but I can't save the notebook though. So this was a match between Australia and  India happened in Nairobi Kenya in 2000.

India Vs Australia 

I was absolutely enthralled by the emphatic win over Aussies at Nairobi on Saturday the 7^th October once again proving the history Right that Indians cannot be beaten on a Festive day. On Saturday, being Dasara in India, Indian players triumphed once again against Aussies which means technically the Green caps has to catch their next flight back home. Ironically, this is true for the second time the first being at Dhaka since the start of the ICC Knock Out tournament.

On Saturday, danger signals came in the form of Sachin Tendulkar as he was in a devastative mood proving a point that given a day he can tear any attack in the world which then perfectly steered up by youngster Yuvaraj to hoist a huge total of 265 runs against the world champions. This gorgeous win has come as a sort of compensation for the bad memories we have had early this year in Australia. Indians had a real tough stint against their umpiring and the media blemishing the images of few Indian players for absurd reasons.

I am not saying all this just because India has won a game today against the world champions. Indian cricket and for that matter the world cricket, is of late surrounded by a thick cloud of match fixing and bribing scandals. But it’s not that everybody does indulge themselves, there are good players indeed who play for their country and who sees the game as their life. We should see to that those players should not be offended by the petty things, for this lovely sport of Cricket won’t be there but for the Genuine players.

If one thing this match is going to teach us all, which is "Every-No-thing is Im-Possible" when you apply yourself, looking at the positive side of the game.

Wishing Indians A Very Good Luck at Nairobi.

Cheers All.

Image added on 27th Oct 2013, courtesy www.sportskeeda.com

What most schools don't teach

Great video to start off the day. One thing i always enjoyed is to see my code working. It makes me think on behalf of computer, sometimes it's simple and other times it's a bit complex. But i always felt when we breakdown to smaller constituents and understand the fundamentals it's not that difficult. I don't do plenty of coding these days but still do among other things. Nevertheless, it feels fantastic when the code actually work and solves a specific business problem :) 

Happy learning and coding ....

Growth and Comfort do not co-exist

You have to keep reinventing yourself and that can happen only when you take risks. I couldn't agree more :)

Here is "Ginni Rometty" the new IBM CEO replacing "Sam Palmisano" on taking risks