Broken Bat

What’s even more influential than commercial Indian cinema? Indian cricket and the national cricket team. Given the flow and ebb of the tides of change in the team, there has been one silent constant in all that cricket jazz, and that’s the one man perhaps even greater than Mr. Bachchan in the manner in which he has carried the hopes and aspirations of millions for almost two decades, and that’s Sachin Tendulkar.

Again, his contribution to cricket is immense. But when contributions start to resemble mere statistics, then something’s changed – either in our perception, or in the quality of the performance itself. The fact is that Sachin has been plagued by bad luck, like Karna from the Indian mythological epic Mahabharat. Karna was a great warrior in the epic, second to none, but events in his life, several not of his making, doomed him and his skills to fail him when he needed them the most. Sachin’s career has been kinda like that too. Some of his performances have been nothing short of astounding. But still, in many of the greatest Indian victories since he’s started playing for India, very few have cast him in extraordinary match-winning performances. In most of these great victories he’s been a failure. It’s usually the others who have put their hands up and taken the team over the finish line. And then there’s the long list of “oh-so-close” games he’s performed superbly in. But somehow, he failed to convert those to wins after taking the team to the edge of victory. Perhaps it’s those several almost-wins, those “could have, should have” moments that breaks Indian cricket’s collective heart.

It’s not like Sachin doesn’t try. He’s still a great bat (not of the blind, flying type) – just look at that his record. But that’s just not enough. He needs to start carrying the team over the finish line, especially on those occasions when we need him the most. And evidently, his current approach of playing with caution is not proving to be very successful! My friend Pranav mentioned to me the example of another great batsman Aravinda De Silva, of Sri Lanka, who in the twilight of his career started to play like he belonged to another planet. He was virtually indestructible. And he played with that reckless abandon that made Viv Richards arguably the best ever player of the game. That puts paid to the idea that batsmen slow down when they get older. Not great ones! Why isn’t Sachin emulating Aravinda? With more and more players around now who can share the responsibility and hopes, he should try playing with that reckless abandon, be the wild-card who plays for the joy of the game and for the simple joy of entertaining millions, even billions. Kinda like the Sachin of 16-17 when he started playing. Not with the fear of failure. But with the lust for victory.

What’s stopping you Sachin? Your endorsements? Your carefully constructed image? Don’t you want the label “the best” attached to your name once again?



Update: (April, 2007)
For Sachin a lot seems to be happening quite in a hurry. Although some people could claim that they'd already spotted it all from a mile away. But you could never be sure. Because some of us hoped things would turn out different.

Anyway, with the World Cup 2007 debacle now having firmly set itself onto the minds of Indian cricket fans, Sachin has serious rethinking ahead of him - if he hasn't started already. The more he denies himself that re-thinking of his priorities, of his physical limitations brought about by years of batting long hours and weilding heavy bats, and of his innumerable endorsements and committments the more cricket fans will be doing that for him. And it's always best to do your own thinking.