Destined to be greater than the greatest, he came, he saw and he conquered. Sachin Tendulkar stormed the cricketing world at a very tender age and ever since he made his debut against Pakistan in 1989, facing the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan and Abdul Qadir, he has only grown in status with each passing day.

It is true that he plays a game which is played in only 10-12 countries, but his achievements in cricket is insurmountable. This individual has been carrying on the hopes of millions of passionate fans for more than two decades and has been an inspiration for his admirers in every sense. For a player who has achieved unimaginable heights, he is still humble. He still sweats it out on the nets during the practice sessions so that he does not let his team down when required.


The Master Blaster has been honored all round the world and the latest feather in his crown is the Wisden India Outstanding Achievement award which has been bestowed on him for scoring the ton of tons during the Asia Cup in March.

Despite his achievements and the records that he holds in the game, there has always been some voice of discontent which is quite ridiculous to hear when one analyse his records in terms of wins and losses. There have been times when he has been criticized for playing only for records and has also been accused of scoring tons in losing causes. But then people who criticise the batting genius should get their facts right before making a conclusion based on a few matches here and there.

Sachin Tendulkar till now has scored 100 tons -- 51 in Tests and 49 in One-day internationals. People, who criticise tendulkar, should know that out of the 51Test hundreds that he has scored, India has lost only in 11 while out of the 49 ODI hundreds that the Little Mater scored, India has lost only 13 occasions.

One should also keep this in mind that there have been a number of times when Sachin was left fighting a lone battle like in the series against Australia in 1999 where he was the skipper. He scored a truck-load of runs, but India lost all the matches. Same has been the case in the shorter formats. Another thing which is very obvious is that if a person scores so many hundreds, there will be occasions where his team will end up losing the matches because of the underpeformance of his other team members or a supeior display by someone from the rival side. So what a big deal?

Another accusation which Sachin has often faced is that he isn’t a big match player. Surprisingly there are people who believe that. Maybe those critics have not seen him playing in Sharjah or in the VB series in Australia or his innings against England right after the terror attack on Mumbai or even the World Cup that India won. Yes, in all those matches Sachin made match-winning contributions. He did fail in the World Cup final, but isn’t taking the team there enough for his detractors?

Critics claim that he plays for records. But have those records helped only the individual. Haven’t those records made this batting genius accrued to his team’s cause? He is a genius and there is no question on his credibility. He loves playing for his nation and he loves scoring runs for them. Sachin in the award ceremony said that it will get boring if people stop expecting big things from him, but one thing that he skipped is that it will get even more boring if people stop criticizing him, because that gives him the reason to push even harder.

By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News Network