11 years later destiny saw these two men once again, eye-to-eye. Brett Lee, by now had more than 300 wickets in his kitty had had gone ahead to become the fourth highest wicket taker for his country signing in his name just behind Dennis Lillee, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. But that day, the 26th of February, 2010, while Sachin Tendulkar in Gwalior blazed off to yet another high – founding the elite, hitherto unheard club of a double ton in an ODI, Brett Lee was the bleak picture of a gladiator fighting a cage fight. In his desperate effort to stay afloat in the cricketing world, Lee had decided to amputate his involvement in the longer version of the game to save his chances at the ODI version. Fortunes had been reversed as the maestro in the Blue jersey number 10 looked towards the heavens above and Lee looked down after the announcement. In the words of noted columnist, Peter Roebuck, “Such are the cruel ironies and sweet pleasures of sport.”
Sachin has been one player who has seen sportsmen emerge as stars and then prove to be mere meteors as they die after a bright flash. And who could be a better example of that other than his own friend Vinod Kambli? Though Tendulkar is one hell of a classy player, it was not as if the world of cricket has not seen class and style before him or will not even after. Vivian Richards was a man whose presence could singlehandedly change the course of a match, but statistics tell us that his deliverables were determined by his mood. Steve Waugh fell as soon as his sport became a job (so did tennis icon Andre Agassi) and lived outside his comfort zone. Douglas Hondo fell to the sad political state of affairs in his country. Ganguly fell to overconfidence, though he returned from resting on his laurels and proved his worth, one last time – a big flicker of a flame before it goes out. Andrew Flintoff and Shane Bond already have hung up half their boots too. There are others in the arena still, most notably, West Indian Brian Lara and Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasurya who are still taken note of but none have the durability and the endurance of the little master.
Even otherwise, Sachin has been a success. Lee’s image received a severe blow with his divorce from Liz Kemp, Tiger Woods’ media partners are scampering for shelter after his infidelity came to light following a traffic accident, Cheryl and Ashley Cole are having their share of “irreconcilable” problems. Sachin has been happily married and thankfully hasn’t felt entitled to bow to temptations till now. And I am sure that everything in his life has been worth the wait - even the double hundred.
It is surely not easy being Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Definitely, if cricket is religion, Sachin is GOD!
