Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.. what can we say about this man? The wink he gave Mohammad Kaif after the match when Kaif congratulated him, said it all. Gentlemen, (and the few ladies who follow cricket), we
have been privileged to watch something unfold from the depths of heaven.. and descend on earth as a cricket innings of the highest class.
Lets ignore Srikanth, Prasad, Kapil, and the others who try to use their limited English and expert opinions to analyse what transpired on March 1, 2003. Their cricketting skills were naturally respected, not so their commenting abilities. Mandira Bedi, what can we say about her?
Apparently, the lady discovered that cricket is a ’’mind game’’, after watching this match. I suppose she will be saying ’’not fair’’ on seeing the sledging that goes on.
I feel sorry for SONY, and for the viewers this ignorant lady forces her comments upon. One cannot blame her. Let us blame the people who put her there. And the other babbling idiots, all of whom, say the same thing (and sometimes, in the same words). I respect Venky Prasad as a bowler, I think he did a small fraction in the 1996 match against pakistan, of what Sachin did this time. But the fellow can’t talk! Get him off! Whats he doing talking to a billion viewers?
On Saturday, Sachin was in the zone. The game began in the 2nd over, when Akhtar came on to bowl. The game was over at the end of that over. That is only a slight exagerration.
Shoaib is a great bowler, or rather, a greatly fast bowler, but is a fool to go around talking about what he would do to Sachin and the others in the days before the match. Not because the Indians would take it personally, but because like Ravi Shastri says, one should never ’’mess with class’’.
Tendulkar was really in ’’the zone’’. There was furious sledging going on, really, I think the height was when Sachin was out after scoring 98, and obscenities trailed him as he walked off. That was pathetic. The Pakistanis, were just as lucky as us to watch the master at his best. They had no business feeling bad that they were at the receiving end. ha ha ha!! What a thought!
Shoaib Akhtar probably will talk less before a match. Wasim and Waqar were demolished. Akhtar tried his faster ones, they disappeared quicker than they arrived. Never again will Shoaib be the same, against the Indians.
In the end, the match was a canter. And there was nothing anyone could do, after the pandemonium created when the fastest bowler in the world was dispatched with majestic ease, over the offside fence.
Sachin Tendulkar, my life is better because of you. Thank you for the honour of seeing you bat like you did on Saturday. Thank god that your father married your mother, thank god that they were feeling romantic, and thank god that they did not use birth control that time. Thank you for saying ’HELL WITH SCHOOL’ and playing cricket.
We have all slept on Saturday night (rather, the wee hours of Sunday morning), having seen a little slice of heaven.