Two decades…30000 runs….87 hundreds and the 'champion' remains hungry for more

In November 1989, a boy aged 16; named Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar made his debut for India. Nobody expected that it that would be the birth of one of the greatest cricketers of all time. As the champion completes 20 years; the fans and critics (if there are any left), long for more innings like the desert storm or the more recent 175 against Australia.

Leave aside the 30000 runs that he has scored, leave aside the 87 hundreds that he has notched up, the greatest achievement of Sachin Tendulkar has been that he has been good enough to play for his country for 20 years. He still has the same passion that he had 20 years ago….he was recently quoted saying;   “I care about playing for India, it’s a passion and I have been absolutely honored to play for India so long.”

Harsha Bhogle, recently wrote;

“Its not easy being great… for that you must have an insatiable hunger for runs… every time you step on to the field you must shoulder the weight of expectations… of not only the fans but more importantly your own… in short you need to do a Sachin… over 20 years non stop… not necessarily of Sachinesque level… not everyone can be… but at least there must be something burning inside you that keeps you going… challenging you to run that extra mile… so that when time comes knocking at your door… you have the presence of mind… skill and urge to grab it with both hands…”

There were people four years ago saying that Sachin Tendulkar was not ‘fit’ to be in the Indian team. They said his reflexes had gone. They said he won’t score anymore runs, and yes, people often say this about batsmen once they get past 30.  But, I guess, they didn’t know who they were talking about, it was Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, a 34 year old boy who is still the same as he was at 16….only the passion to play for the country seems to have GROWN.

We all just hope that he goes on and on and on….!!!