Abdul Qadir was perhaps the first big name to face the brunt of a Sachin Tendulkar onslaught and although he was considered a boy wonder with special talent, aged 16 years something, there were more sceptics and cynics than believers, says Sanjay Manjrekar, adding that his 18 ball 53 where Qadir a legendary leg spinner in his own right went for 4 sixes and a boundary in an over at a time when fours and sixes were not par for course signalled the arrival of a prodigious stroke player to the cricket world.
As Sachin becomes part of another T20 campaign, one last time, Sanjay Manjrekar who was in the same Indian team as Sachin for a greater part of the master's first decade of international cricket wonders how good he would have been if T20 had come in the early 90's. "I often think if T20 had come when he was 18 he would have been a great player even in this format."
He recalls the performances in double wicket competitions that would be played in the early days to force home the point. "I have seen him from early days when he was 14. We had single and double wicket competitions and six a side games and he used to smash bowlers to smithereens. Scoring at 8-9 an over was unheard of in those days. I think world cricket is deprived to see that side of Tendulkar. Now being a more aged cricketer he is restrained."
According to Hindustan Times, Sachin Tendulkar is set for his Twenty20 swansong and it's is nostalgia time again. “Thus, the “we want to win it for Tendulkar” chorus from teammates seems to be aimed more at getting personal mileage. And knowing Tendulkar, one can rest assured he doesn’t appreciate it,” says the report, quoting Bishan Singh Bedi. “Nobody can question his greatness. But if youngsters feel they can jump on the Tendulkar bandwagon, and benefit from it, good luck to them. Somewhere down the road, these youngsters need to realise that they need to start winning for themselves. Sachin shouldn’t be an excuse for winning or wanting to win,” Bedi told Hindustan Times.
“All I can tell youngsters is, stop clinging onto Sachin for everything. Carve your own legacy.”
Meanwhile, according to a report in The Hindu, chief selector Sandeep Patil said on Wednesday that he had not discussed the legendary cricketer’s future plans with him for close to a year.
“It’s always a pleasure to meet Sachin, but I have not met him in the last 10 months. I have not called him, and neither has he called me.
“We have not discussed anything. It’s all nonsense,” Patil said when queried about a media report quoting an unnamed selector that he (Patil) had recently met Tendulkar and discussed his future with him.