Saturday, March 17, 2012

Sachin Tendulkar's 100th Century

[Continued from the previous post]
Image Courtesy: Google
I still remember the day when I saw Sachin Tendulkar for the first time.

Of course, it was not in person, but in a cricket match in Doordarshan Sports. I was perhaps eight or nine and cricket in India at that time hadn’t reached the insane levels of popularity like we have today.

Image Courtesy: Google
I did not have a big idea about cricket at that time. Sachin was standing on a carpet of brown mud with a bat; his posture was what attracted me. He looked like my He-Man doll with his bat. Then I saw his running between the wickets and knew instantly here was the hero I can adore in ‘real’ life, not like He- Man or The Phantom, or Conan or Hanuman.

Sachin mania has its crucial role on placing cricket as one of the most important commodity in the Indian media psyche. The mass was already in frenzy, and Doordarshan, the official channel in India, which once was the only television channel available inside India (mostly until mid nineties), had reaped its part in this new era of Indian cricket with DD sports, a venture that started off in 1998. Even though, DD Sports had the growing interest in sports in mind, its spinal cord was still the huge market for cricket.

This monopoly was breached by the arrival of private owned television channels, though, Sachin Tendulkar’s name remained as the philosopher’s stone for this new hype in television sports and especially cricket in India.

The Ghost Rider of Indian cricket has done it again. The hundredth international century by Sachin Tendulkar is equal to any other century he scored, in style, in enthusiasm, in thrill, and in nerve jangling suspense. Even though team Indian lost the match with Bangladesh, who played a remarkable game and deserved all the credits, let us not robe the moment off its charm. Sachin is the man, this is the moment.

Rising to occasions, this hero of Indian cricket had achieved a milestone which is a message in itself. “Enjoy your game, Chase your dreams.”

Dreams do come true. 

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