Sadhi's Blog Time

SACHIN - GOD OF CRICKET

Friday, February 15, 2008










Playing styleTendulkar's batting style has been compared to that of Sir Donald Bradman.Tendulkar is ambidextrous: He bats, bowls, and throws with his right hand, but writes with his left hand. He also practices left-handed throws at the nets on a regular basis. Cricinfo columnist Sambit Bal has described him as the "most wholesome batsman of his time".[9] His batting is based on complete balance and poise while limiting unnecessary movements and flourishes. He is strong in hitting the ball to all parts of the field with a large variety of shots, although columnist Bal believes that Tendulkar's back-foot punch is his signature shot.[9] He appears to show little preference for the slow and low wickets which are typical in India, and has scored many centuries on the hard, bouncy pitches in the Caribbean Islands and Western Australia too.[9] He is known for his unique punch style of hitting the ball over square, a shot which has given him a lot of runs in form of boundaries.Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest batsman of all time, considered Tendulkar to have a batting style similar to his. In his biography, it is stated that "[Sir Donald Bradman] was most taken by Tendulkar's technique, compactness and shot production, and had asked his wife to have a look at [Tendulkar], having felt that Tendulkar played like him. [Bradman's wife], Jessie, agreed that they did appear similar. "Former Australian cricket team coach John Buchanan voiced his opinion that Tendulkar had become susceptible to the short ball early in his innings because of a lack of footwork.[10] Buchanan also believes Tendulkar has a weakness while playing left-arm pace.[10] Since 2004 when he was first affected by a series of injuries, Tendulkar's batting has tended to be less attacking. Explaining this change in his batting style, he has acknowledged that he is batting differently due to that fact that (1) No batsman can bat the same way for the entire length of a long career and (2) He is a senior member of the team now and thus has more responsibility. However, it cannot be denied that his batting became less attractive since 2004 and while a string of his highest scores have come within this time period, the consistency has been lacking. During the early part of his career he was a more attacking batsman and frequently scored centuries at over a run a ball. Ian Chappell, former Australian player, believes "Tendulkar now, is nothing like the player he was when he was a young bloke".[11]While Tendulkar is not a regular bowler, he is adept at bowling medium pace, leg spin, and off spin with equal ease. He often bowls when two batsmen of the opposite team have been batting together for a long period, and he can often be a useful partnership breaker. With his bowling, he has helped secure an Indian victory on more than one occasion.[12] .Early years and personal lifeTendulkar was born in a Saraswat Brahmin family in Mumbai (Bombay). His father, Ramesh Tendulkar, who is a Marathi novelist, named him after his favorite music director, Sachin Dev Burman. Tendulkar's elder brother, Ajit, encouraged him to play cricket. Tendulkar has two other siblings: brother, Nitin, and sister, Savitai.Tendulkar attended Sharadashram Vidyamandir (High School), where he began his cricketing career under the guidance of his coach and mentor, Ramakant Achrekar. During his school days, he attended the MRF pace academy to train as a pace bowler, but fast bowler trainer there, Dennis Lillee, suggested to him to "just focus" on his batting.When Tendulkar was young, he would practice for hours with his coach. He would often get bored of practicing. So his coach would put a one-Rupee-coin on the top of the stumps. The bowler who dismissed Sachin would get the coin. If Sachin passed the whole session without getting dismissed, the coach would give him the coin. Sachin says today that the 13 coins he won then are his most prized possessions.While at school, he was involved in unbroken 664-run partnership in a Harris Shield game in 1988 with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli, who also went on to represent India.[13] The destructive pair reduced one bowler to tears and made the rest of the opposition unwilling to continue the game. Sachin scored over 320 in this innings and scored over a thousand runs in the tournament. This was the record partnership in any form of cricket, until 2006 when it was broken by two under-13 batsmen in a match held at Hyderabad in India. When he was 14 Indian batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar gave him a pair of his used ultra light pads. "It was the greatest source of encouragement for me," he said nearly 20 years later after passing Gavaskar's top world record of 34 Test centuries.In 1995, Sachin Tendulkar married Anjali (born 13 February 1971), the paediatrician daughter of Gujarati industrialist, Anand Mehta. They have two children, Sara (born 12 October 1997), and Arjun (born 23 September 1999).[14]Tendulkar sponsors 200 underprivileged children every year through Apnalaya, a Mumbai-based NGO associated with his mother-in-law, Annaben Mehta. He is reluctant to speak about his charitable activities[citation needed], choosing to preserve the sanctity of his personal life despite media interest in him.[citation needed]In commemorating Sachin Tendulkar's feat of equalling Don Bradman's 29 centuries in Test Cricket, automotive giant Ferrari invited Sachin Tendulkar to its paddock in Silverstone on the eve of the British Grand Prix (23 July 2002) to receive a Ferrari 360 Modena from the legendary F1 racer Michael Schumacher.[15] On September 4, 2002 India's then finance minister Jaswant Singh wrote to Sachin telling him that the government will waive custom's duty imposed on the car as a measure to applaud his feat.[16] However the rules at the time stated that the customs duty can be waived only when receiving an automobile as a prize and not as a gift. It is claimed that the proposals to change the law (Customs Act) was put forth in Financial Bill in February 2003 and amended was passed as a law in May 2003. Subsequently the Ferrari was allowed to be brought to India without payment of the customs duty (Rs 1.13 Crores or 120% on the car value of Rs 75 Lakhs).[17] When the move to waive customs duty became public in July 2003, political and social activists protested the waiver[18] and filed PIL in the Delhi High Court. With the controversy snowballing, Sachin offered to pay the customs duty and the tab was finally picked up by Ferrari.[19] Tendulkar has been seen taking his Ferrari 360 Modena for late-night drives in Mumbai.Domestic careerIn 1988/1989, aged just 15, he scored 100 not-out in his first first-class match for Bombay against Gujarat. At 15 years and 232 days he is the youngest cricketer to score a century on his first-class debut.Tendulkar is the only player to score a century in all three of his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debuts.In 1992, at the age of 19, Tendulkar became the first overseas born player to represent Yorkshire (Craig White, although born in Yorkshire was the first player to be signed as an overseas player by Yorkshire. He had to be listed as an overseas player as he had already played for Victoria in Australia). Tendulkar played 16 first-class matches for the county and scored 1070 runs at an average of 46.52[20].Tendulkar has stated his intent on joining the Indian Premier League in 2008. He will probably be playing with the Mumbai-based team, after rumours spread that he would have a part in owning the team.Early careerTendulkar played his first Test match against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989 under the leadership of Kris Srikkanth. According to Cricinfo's Andrew Miller and Martin Williamson, India took an unconventional approach to combatting the Pakistani pace attack by calling up a "baby-faced 16-year-old with one season of first-class cricket to his name".[21] He made just 15 runs, being bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that match, but was impressive in how he handled numerous blows to his body at the hands of the Pakistani pace attack.[21] Tendulkar followed it up with his maiden Test fifty a few days later at Faisalabad. His One Day International (ODI) debut on December 18 was disappointing. He was dismissed without scoring a run, again by Waqar Younis. The series was followed by a tour of New Zealand in which he fell for 88 in the Second Test. His maiden Test century came in the next tour, to England in August 1990 at Old Trafford. Tendulkar further enhanced his development into a world-class batsman during the 1991–1992 tour of Australia that included an unbeaten 148 in Sydney (the first of many battles against Shane Warne who made his debut in the match) and a century on the fast and bouncy track at Perth. He has been Man of the Match 11 times in Test matches and Man of the Series twice, both times in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. The performances earned him respect from Australian cricket fans and players.[22] Merv Hughes famously commented to Allan Border at the time that "This little prick's going to get more runs than you, AB."



GREAT INNINGS AND COMMENTS:






COMPARISION BETWWEN SACHIN AND BRADMAN AND TELL WHO IS THE BEST BATSMAN IN THE WORLD:Paul Moon doesn't pull any punches as he looks at the achievements of the great Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (born 24 April 1973 in Mumbai) is a small man at 5ft 5in but he is a cricketing colossus. Wisden rated Sachin Tendulkar as the second greatest Test Cricket and ODI batsman of all time after the legendary Sir Don Bradman and Sir Viv Richards respectively. The list was later revised to make him best ODI player of all time. I disagree, he is the best ever batsman of all time.
I have the most deepest and sincerest respects for what The Don achieved but you cannot compare those undemanding runs scored against amateurs in the 30's and 40's to Sachin's, scored against the modern era fast bowlers and real spinners.
The Don scored most of his runs against bumbling, clumsy, inept, limited, unfit, sometimes ageing upper class twits with speed on a par with today's club cricketers. There was no Marshall, Ambrose or Walsh. There was no Hadlee, McGrath or Lillee. There was no Akram or Waqar and there certainly was no Warne or Muralitharan to face so how can you measure his runs reasonably? You cannot!
Look at Graeme 'flat pitch bully' Hick's record in county cricket compared to Test cricket and you will understand what I mean. Watching videos of The Don I was struck by the amount of runs scored by the horizontal bat and Wisden noted that he never never truly mastered batting on sticky wickets. Wisden commented, "if there really is a blemish on his amazing record it is the absence of a significant innings on one of those 'sticky dogs' of old"
What you do know is that The Little Master has faced the finest bowlers ever, all over world in and all situations showing his indefinable excellence given only to geniuses. Don Bradman was in awe and confided to his wife that Tendulkar reminded him of himself, he knew who was best! Brian Lara admitted that the Indian was the greatest he had ever seen. "You know genius when you see it and let me tell you, Sachin is pure genius" he said. Shane Warne agreed. Matthew 'king of sledge' Hayden called him a God.
Sachin Tendulkar is the most worshipped cricketer in the world and the biggest cricket icon ever. His batting shows perfect and wonderful balance, economy of movement and precision in stroke-making. His batting is a delight on the eye and senses. He has all the shots in the textbook and has no weaknesses. He has made runs all over the world in all conditions. His century as a 19-year old on a lightning fast pitch at the WACA was considered the greatest innings ever to have been played in Australia.
He holds all the important batting records such as the leading Test century scorer, leading ODI century and half-century scorer, one of only three batsmen to surpass 11,000 runs in test cricket as well as being the first Indian to do so. He also has the most career ODI runs. He has scored 37 centuries and 46 fifties in Test cricket and 41 centuries and 87 fifties in ODIs (See cricinfo.com). The conversion rate of fifties to hundreds is unparalleled. All this after making his Test debut at 16 years old.
Famous for saying 'getting better never stops' has caught up with him. As with all great things there comes a time when the down slope sets in, not always steeply but down nonetheless. There is evidence of this now happening to The Little Master.
He can no longer play like the prince of his youth and it is indisputable that Father Time now has a hold on Tendulkar's genius. He has acknowledged that he is no longer the player he once was. He is playing to the limitations (a relative statement) imposed by the passage of time, the ravages of recent injuries, and nearly two decades carrying the weight of his nation. He is now adapting to new realties especially when bowlers adapt a bodyline strategy, giving him the chance to highlight his bravery. He has gone from artist to warrior whilst keeping himself reserved and modest. His fame, wealth and fortune has not affected his cricket one iota, he still hates to lose and is proudly patriotic!
Has any sportsman had so much of an impact on so many since Muhammad Ali?
Will he score another century on 8 December 2008 when India play Pakistan in the Third Test Match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore? I would not back against it. I will certainly check out the top batsman odds on the day. Current odds for this match show India 2.46 and Pakistan 6.2 with the draw favourite at 2.26 with Betfair.



WHY PEOPLE CALL HIS AS GOD OF CRICKET:












SACHIN FOREVER VIDEOS SEE THIS:












SACHIN 16,000 RUNS:



Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman in the history of one-day cricket to cross the 16,000-run mark, a milestone that could be a distant dream for any other player in the near future., who scored 35 runs against Sri Lanka in the second tri-series ODI at the Gabba on Tuesday, now tallies 16007 runs, which is far more than Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya's aggregate of 12207, second in the list of all-time top scorers.The champion batsman from India achieved the feat when he scored his 28th run during the india innings in his 409th match.Tendulkar seems to stay at the pinnacle for a long time as Jayasuriya and former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq, who is third in the list with 11739 runs, are not anywhere near.Next in the list is another Indian, Sourav Ganguly (11363), but with the selectors shutting the ODI door on him, he also does not appear a likely candidate to achieve the feat. He is followed by Australia captain Ricky Ponting(10835) and Rahul Dravid (10585).Tendulkar, who has scored 11782 runs in Test cricket, is just 172 runs away from displacing legendary Brian Lara and emerging the highest run getter in the longer version of the game as well







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Posted by ramesh at Friday, February 15, 2008

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