Hope there is no day that master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, forgets his mentor and coach Ramakant Achrekar. As, when ever we question about his cricket career the first point that he mentions is about his mentor. And on Teachers day it is but inevitable that the legend will pay tributes to his ardent teacher. One interesting incident how the teacher used to motivate him is nicely quoted in the Wiki on his page. 'after hours of training, if Tendulkar became exhausted, Achrekar would put a one-rupee coin on the top of the stumps, and the bowler who dismissed Tendulkar would get the coin. If Tendulkar passed the whole session without getting dismissed, the coach would give him the coin. Tendulkar now considers the 13 coins he won then as some of his most prized possessions.' What an acute memory Sirji, Tusse great ho!
Should Tendulkar retire! Time and again this is a repeated question and many of us really must have been bored up with writing this and reading it too. But the media and many seniors too pose this question and often say that it is in the interest of the nation. However not denying the the contributions of many who had posed this question, one small reminder is the greatest service to Indian cricket, has been by Sachin Tendulkar, unambiguously the supreme contributor.
The second set of argument is that, yes he has done great but India can not only rely on his earlier laurels and as of now he is turning a burden. One plausible point that needs to be quoted is of the great Oz pacer Glen McGrath. 'Look, to me Sachin Tendulkar is still a wonderful batsman. I saw him bat today for a while and he was middling it pretty well. As a batsman, he has seen it all and if he feels, there are areas to work on, he will do that. And I know you'll ask whether Sachin should retire, and my answer would be 'Leave it to Sachin. He will know when to go'.
Based on this what I infer is that Tendulkar is no short of modu operandi but sometimes is defenseless, which happens to most of us, in the midst. If you have keenly watched the batting display of the master blaster, it speaks. Most of his wickets were taken by new bowlers or debutant(s). For a standard batsman it takes time to settle down and to understand the seam and length, to master the bowler. Over a period of time the bowlers are sure to have butterflies, once the name is pronounced.
Then the third set of people comment on his strokes, especially about the ball he got out. Quite a few complain his eye sight and consistency. After a hundred centuries if this is what he has to listen, it simply means that we are ungrateful or he has not got what he deserves....... another interesting issue out here is that most of us who contemplate over his batting strides have not even touched the willow that blows the ball away over the fence, even for once. Hence how compatible are we to write about this master who has seen the ups and downs in his career. Still if someone wants to criticize the stalwart, it simple means that by controversy we wish to hog limelight............ well not me again.(With inputs from internet-AW AarKay)
