It was a misty morning on the 26th of November that I left for the Wankhede stadium with my dad and brother for the final day of the fourth test match between India and England of the 2012 series. All excited to watch the cricketers we hero worshipped all through our lives, The Great Wall of India – Rahul Dravid, The Very Very Special Laxman and of course the God of massively followed religion in India called Cricket – Sachin Tendulkar, play in front of our eyes; eliminating the mediation of the idiot box..LIVE! India were on the verge of losing the test match as it had only 3 wickets remaining with only Gautam Gambhir trying to battle out the lead with the tail enders. Nevertheless, the sheer attraction of watching these legends play in their final days in Indian jerseys pulled us to the stadium. We got inside the stadium at around 8:30 in the morning, an hour before the start of the day’s play. The young volunteers of the stadiums politely guided us to our seats in the Gharware Stand, the perfect location closest to the Indian dressing room that was giving us a breath taking, picturesque view of the gigantic cricket ground. So we sat glued to our seats soaking in the early morning soothing sun, the cozy breeze that blew past the majestic Arabian sea before caressing our faces and of course, not to forget, the splendid “Wankhede Vibe.” The cheers of the all pumped up Barmy Army ( English supporters) outdoing the cheers of the Indian Fans, giant flags of both the nations waving in their full grandeur and the goose bumps of watching our superstars from both the teams walk out from their respective dressing rooms for the practice session. English batsmen Nick Compton and the very handsome captain Cook were knocking deliveries off the young Mumbai players in the nets. Their spin tank in Monty Panesar and Greame Swann gearing up to take the remaining three scalps with minimal target for England to chase and finally win their first test of the series. The Indian camp was at much ease as there wasn’t much it could do in this game, the loss was inevitable and the fact that it was only the 2nd game of a four match series with India already leading with a score of 1-0 made them a little less bothered about the results of this game. But amidst all this ease and non seriousness we saw a little man sweating it out in the Indian nets. It was none other than our very own little master, the legend, the maestro, the ultimate God of Cricket- Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. It was nothing less than dream come true to watch the little master bat live in front of our eyes, didn’t really mattered if it was only in the nets. Our eyes sparkled as he hit his glorious straight drive which was indeed the definition of perfection for his millions of fans, or should I say,“devotees” like us. There was no dimming for the glimmer in our eyes through the course of his batting that day. The day’s play was about to start and the groundsmen were preparing to clear the ground and wind up the nets. But the great man kept signalling a request, similar to that of a kid asking them to let him play some more almost after every ball. His child like enthusiasm even after having spent 22 years in the thirty yard circle and reaching at the pinnacle of the glory smashing every possible/impossible record was an inspiration to draw. Maybe it was this passion for the game that made him stand out from the rest. Yes there are many greats, legends and geniuses who have graced this game but there is only one god and that’s him. It was only his disciple, devotion and absolute humility towards the game that made him perspire and work hard in the nets even when he wasn’t batting anymore in the game and a few more days to come and despite having created history with unparalleled statistics under his belt gave me the lesson of my life- to always remain a student in life, as there is always room for more, more learning, more exploring, more improvement and thus more success! No matter at what level you are in your life..sky is the limit! Written by Karina Michwal, Sports Enthusiast.
The opinions and views expressed in the blog are strictly personal opinion of the author.