1998 - The Beginning of an Era

1998 - This was the beginning of a period at the top of the batting world, culminating in the Australian tour of India in early 1998, with Tendulkar scoring three consecutive centuries. The focus was on the clash between Sachin Tendulkar, the world's most dominating batsman and Shane Warne,  the world's leading spinner, both at the peak of their careers, clashing in a full-fledged Test series after 7 long years. In the tour opener, Australia faced the then Ranji Champions Mumbai at the Brabourne Stadium in a three-day first class match. Tendulkar made 204* as Shane Warne conceded 111 runs in 16 overs and Australia lost the match within three days (I was there watching from the stands with my friend Viren Rodrigues & Zaheer Khan). 

This was followed by a brilliant 155* in the 1^st test at Chennai, 79 in the 2^nd test at Kolkata and an incredible counter attacking 177 at Bangalore. These were characterized by a premeditated plan to target Australian spinners Shane Warne and Gavin Robertson, to whom he regularly charged down the pitch to drive over the infield. There was also an 89 ball 100 in the Kanpur ODI against Australia.

The Test match success was followed by two of the most incredible back to back innings ever witnessed in the History of ODI in a Triangular tournament in Sharjah – the first in a must-win game to take India to the finals and then again in the finals, both against Australia tormenting Shane Warne once again. These twin knocks are also known as The Desert Storm. The innings in the finals was played on his 25th birthday. Following the series Warne ruefully joked that he was having nightmares about his Indian nemesis.

Tendulkar single-handedly won the ICC 1998 quarterfinal at Dhaka to pave way for India's entry into the semi-finals, when he took four Australian wickets after scoring 141 runs in just 128 balls.

In the historic Test against Pakistan at Chepauk, Chennai in 1999, the first of a two-Test series, Sachin scored 136 in the fourth innings with India chasing 271 for victory. However, he was out when India needed 17 more runs to win, triggering a batting collapse, and India lost the match by 12 runs. The worst was yet to come as Professor Ramesh Tendulkar, Sachin's father, died in the middle of the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup. Tendulkar flew back to India to attend the final rituals of his father, missing the match against Zimbabwe. However, he returned to the World Cup scoring a century (140 not out off 101 balls) in his very next match against Kenya in Bristol. He dedicated this century to his father.

Sachin has an incredible record against the Australian. Like they say that Bradman reserved his best for the Poms & Gavaskar for the Windies, Sachin has tormented the Australians (the best cricket team of my era, no doubt) over the years.

Sachin in Test against the Australian against some of the best bowlers of my Era with the likes of Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee & the Legend – Shane Warne.

M	Runs	HS	Ave	100s	50s
39	3630	241*	55.00	11	16

In fact, as per the Stats the period from 1997-2002 can be called the Golden Era of Sachin Tendulkar, where he played 59 Test, scoring 5705 runs at astonishing Bradmanesque Avg of 65 with 21 Hundreds & 20 Fifties.

The Australians were not spared by The Master in the shorter format as well.

M	Runs	HS	Ave	100s	50s
71	3077	175	44.59	9	15

There is a saying in the Cricketing Circles of Mumbai, that a Mumbai Batsman always reserves his best for the Best Team of their era and Sachin Tendulkar was no exception. He showed his mantle when he took the Baton from Sunil Gavaskar and stood tall in 1989 against the Great Pakistani Attack and then cracked the sleeves of the Aussies & the Proteas (2 of the best teams on his generation).

- Kinnar Solanki

Twitter - @kinny77

The God of Cricket: Sachin Tendulkar

I guess 16-November-2013 will be etched in my memory for ever, along with the Millions in India & Worldwide. I consider it to be the most historic day in World of Cricket. I should have remembered that Good Things always come to an end. I knew the countdown had begun. It wasn’t easy for me to digest the fact that the only player I grew up watching, the only player that made Cricket so important in my Life is not going to play anymore and I will be deprived of all the Entertainment which he has showered on Millions of us who treat him like a God. I did not know how to react even though I knew at the back on my head somewhere that this day will come but I always prayed to God & was being Selfish, “Please No, Let him play forever”. What a story to tell my Kids, Grand-Kids & the younger generation that will be deprived of the Master Class, the Genius at Work –

The God of Cricket: SACHIN TENDULKAR

I was born & bred in Mumbai listening to stories told by my dad about the Cricketing Greats like Vijay Merchant & Hazare, Polly Kaka (Polly Umrigar), Salim Durrani, Sunny G (Sunil Gavaskar), Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards and their greatness and dedication towards the game of Cricket. I was always told stories that how a certain Mumbai Boy named Sunil Gavaskar stood against the might of the Greatest Fast Bowling Attack & hooked them out of the attack. The Marshals, the Holdings, the Garners, the Roberts were all at his mercy, but my Romance with Cricket & my Love for Sachin Tendulkar started on 12-April-1988 during the Harris-Shield Final at Brabourne Stadium (CCI), when as a 7 Year old I was dragged by my Dad to see that Match. Since that day until today, 11-July-2014, no one has inspired me or garnered my attention like “The Child Prodigy”. It was the first time I saw Sachin Tendulkar bat and what an innings that was 346* and I am very thankful to my Dad and owe him big time for taking me to see that match. Post that match, I have seen almost all his innings & even bunked school and travelled all the way to Marine Lines to watch him play his only college match for Kirti College, which was directly after the 1992 World Cup in Australia.

It hasn’t have been easy for me knowing the fact SRT won’t be playing anymore, since cricket has been my life, my solitary love outside of family & friends, but I guess that there is a right time for everything & maybe his body finally won over his Heart & his Mind. But he left behind an aspect of cricket that he defined. There have been & will be comparisons with other greats in Test cricket, but Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will be a chapter in history of World Cricket which everyone will cherish to read.

Sachin played 463 out of 874 ODI’s played till date by India and before Sachin there were only 17 ODI Hundreds scored by India which averages a century every 9.70 games and Sachin changed that number to one every 3.52 games which is the best conversion rate across all ODI playing nations and to speak that first hundred came in his 79^th match. What a Player!

Sachin as per me & many might agree is the best batsman ever to walk the cricket field. His Love for Test Cricket was always evident when he stood the Pace Barrage of Pakistan at the age of 16 (which I consider was the greatest bowling attack of that Era) Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis & the wily Abdul Qadir who amongst them have a total test wicket tally of 1,365. The class was evident even at that tender age of 16, however the selectors were reluctant to send this 16 yr old on the Pakistan Tour, as they thought he will fail and his confidence would suffer, but Late Naren Tamhane Sir remarked the Epic Statement which became the talk of Mumbai & Indian Cricket Folklore, “Gentlemen, Sachin Tendulkar never fails”. I had the privilege to be coached by Tamhane Sir for a small summer camp as a Teenager & I did ask him about this and he replied in Marathi saying, “Kinnar, tyaja mannat phakt Batting ani Mothe Runs hote, tyacha dolyat meeni commitment pahela hota and that’s why I knew Sachin Tendulkar will never fail”.

The English Summer of 1990 & that fabulous maiden test hundred at Old Trafford, Manchester – the wonderful match saving 119* & the Australian Summer of 1992 and one of the best Sachin Hundreds I have ever seen and on the fastest & the bounciest wickets of all time, that 114 at WACA, Perth is until date the most talked about innings in World of Cricket against a dangerous Aussie attack consisting of Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes, Paul Reiffel, Mike Whitney & Tom Moody. What an innings, Class Personified – Master at Work. The Telegraph & BBC have listed 5 greatest of Sachin Innings over his wonderful career:

1.      119 not out, England v India, Old Trafford, 1990

2.      114, Australia v India, Perth, 1992

3.      169, South Africa v India, Cape Town, 1997

4.      155 not out, India v Australia, Chennai, 1998

5.      136 v India v Pakistan, Chennai 1999

I would definitely like to add the 241 not out vs Australia at Sydney, 2004 and his 103 not out vs England at Chennai, 2008 where India successfully chased 387.

His ODI knocks have created much talk across the Cricketing World as to which have been his best & greatest, well below I list what I as a Sachin Fan & Cricket Lover feel were some of his greatest knocks in ODI’s.

1.      90 vs Australia, 1996 – Mumbai

2.      143 vs Australia, 1998 – Sharjah

3.      134 vs Australia, 1998 – Sharjah

4.      141 vs Australia, 1998 - Dhaka

5.      98 vs Pakistan, 2003 – Centurion (World Cup, 2003 and this according to me has been the greatest innings I have seen – Not taking anything away from the 1998 Sachin Sandstorm at Sharjah but this innings was incredible)

6.      117* vs Australia, 2008 – Sydney

7.      91 vs Australia, 2008 – Brisbane

8.      175 vs Australia, 2009 – Hyderabad

9.      200* vs South Africa, 2010 – Gwalior (First Man on Planet to score a Double Hundred in ODI)\

10.  111 vs South Africa, 2011 – Nagpur

My Romance with Cricket & Sachin Tendulkar continued when as a 17 year old I was signed for Sungrace Mafatlal to play in the ‘A’ Division Times Shield by Late Mr. Hemant Waingankar (Kaka I called him) and as the youngest member in the team I was privileged to a Personally Autographed Photograph given to me on behalf of the Master (which till date is my most prized possession). I also had a pleasure to share the dressing room with him during a Times Shield Match vs Air-India at MiG Cricket Ground & that’s the match where my name was mentioned in the Team Sheet with The Great Sachin Tendulkar.

My Most Prized Possession 

The Love for Sachin has been a childhood folklore for me & my closest friend Kevin Vessoaker and I believe that both of us are the craziest SRT fans. We recorded every 100 of his and watched it over & over again whenever we got the time, specially Sachin Sandstorm, which we must have watched more times than Shahrukh Khan must have said “kkkkkk Kiran” in Darr.

I will share a very funny incident involving my friend Kevin & how crazy Cricket Fans we could be. I was playing for National Cricket Club vs MCA Colts in Maharashtra Police Shield at Wankhede Stadium and as defending champions we had the privilege of the Home Dressing Room (used by the Team India & Mumbai). It was a Saturday Evening and my friends Kevin & Viren had come to see the match. After the end of days play, they helped me & Wasim Jaffer with few Knocking sessions in the nets until it was time to go home. I went for a shower & when I came out I see Kevin peeing in the Urinal Pod and kept shifting from one Pod to another and I was a bit shocked to see that & asked,”Bro what you up to?” and I get a reply, “Kinny, I don’t know which Pod Sachin must have peed in, so I’m gonna pee in all the Urinal Pods so that I know I peed in the same Pod that Sachin did”. That’s how crazy Sachin Tendulkar Fans we are.

I haven’t watched much Cricket post Sachin’s Retirement but my Sachin Tendulkar Love Affair now continues with the Sachin Tendulkar Book Collection. The first book of my Sachin Collection was ‘Sachin Tendulkar: Masterful written by Peter Murray & Ashish Shukla was gifted to me by my Girlfriend in 2002 and I still cherish that book with Love, as that started my Love for SRT Books. I have 28 in total as of today with the latest edition being his autobiography ‘Playing it My Way’, along with my Sachin Tendulkar Scrap Book which is now 23 years old and handled with utmost care.

There are so many more to pen. I was only a young cricketer when I started watching you play and that is why I miss you so much. It’s like the Boyhood of dreams is over for me. Just as the child in you never grew up, so does my habit to be enlightened by your greatness and your persona. You are a great habit - Sachin, which I don’t want to let go off.

You did well not only for yourself but for Millions like me & for the Game of Cricket. There never was another Sachin Tendulkar & there never will be another Sachin Tendulkar.

One Last Time - #SRT200

Youngest Recipient of Bharat Ratna

Sachin Tendulkar - Compared with other Greats of the Game 

“Cricket will always be defined as an illusion caused due to the deficiency of Sachin Tendulkar.” – Kinnar Solanki

“Ambidextrous, Dexterous, Deft, Gifted, Flamboyant, Flair, Genius….Sachin Tendulkar – the reason to introduce these words in the Dictionary.” – Kinnar Solanki

“Seeing Sachin in action, reminds me that I’m lost in a dream, but I’m only dreaming that I’m Lost.” – Kinnar Solanki

“He Came, He Played & He Conquered.”

“Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their TV sets and switch off their lives." ‪#‎Respect - Sachin Tendulkar

"Sachin, the man we all want to be." - Andrew Symonds

"I have seen god. He bats at no.4 for India." - Matthew Hayden

"Commit all your sins when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the lord is watching!"

"There are two kind of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the others." - Andy Flower

“I see myself when I see Sachin batting.” – Late Sir Donald George “Don” Bradman

“He is a Genius, I’m a mere Mortal.” – Brain Charles Lara

“Cricketers like Sachin come once in a lifetime and I am privileged he played in my time.” – Wasim Akram

“I didn’t see Don but to me, in all my years associated with the game, I haven’t seen a better batsman than Sachin Tendulkar. He is 99.99% perfect & I would pay to see him bat.” – Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards

“I had to remind Gary Kirsten often that he was in the covers to field against Sachin Tendulkar, not to applaud him.” – Late Hansie Cronje

SRT200 - Special Edition Gold Coins

-Kinnar Solanki

Twitter: @kinny77