He Is Back

Sachin Tendulkar did much more than score 93 runs against SriLanka at Nagpur on Tuesday. He cheered up a whole army of Indian cricket fanswith his batsmanship, lifted the morale of a side that had not tasted anemphatic victory in a while and made me realise that sometimes English, as alanguage, can be a bit restricting.

After a quick trip to Mohali to watch him at the N.K.P. SalveTrophy Challenger series final earlier this month, I had been telling anyone whocared to listen that the little big man of Indian cricket was back from injurywith his reflexes, skill and hunger intact. But what does that or his knock of93 have to do with English language, do I hear you ask?

Even if you did not watch his face closely on TV,you could sense it radiate an aura that had been missing for a while. And it isthis word that causes me to wonder why the language does not have anything thatreflects his state as well as the Urdu term raunaq or the Sanskrit word tejas.

One thing is clear. He has the power to make up fan andcritic alike sit up and take note with his brand of batsmanship. He had a moreyouthful Irfan Pathan blazing away at the other end in a century stand for thesecond wicket and yet, Tendulkar was able to leave his imprint on the minds ofconnoisseur and couch potato alike.

They have always said public memory is short but I amsurprised many have already forgotten that the last of his 38 centuries inone-day international cricket was a knock of 123 off 130 balls against Pakistanin Ahmedabad earlier this year. Perhaps the fact that the remaining five inningsin the series were all single-digit scores contributes to that.

In Nagpur, it was almost as if he batted with theenthusiasm of a greenhorn coupled with the maturity of a master who hasdominated the world stage for many years. For some time now, particularly afterthe World Cup 2003 where he made more runs than any batsman, his approach tobatting seemed to miss the element of joy.

If Brian Lara could make those big scores without losing anyof his wizardry, surely Tendulkar could do the same, we kept wondering.Secretly, I am pleased he has vindicated my belief that he had embraced the percentagegame and could change tack anytime. If he continues to bat with as muchfire, passion and determination as he did, we may yet see him dish outgreat entertainment.

The image of a clinical accumulator was fast overshadowingthe earlier picture of his being an aggressive entertainer. I believe he may nowbe getting ready to wear the entertainer’s mantle again and that can only beterrific news for his fans – and bad news for India’s opposition thisseason.

I have a feeling that deep in his heart, he will like to beremembered not so much for the volume of runs – and he has already made morethan any other international cricketer – as for the manner in which he hasmade them. And when he is enjoying himself so much at the crease – includingplaying the inside out strokes over mid-off – he can only transmit the joy tothose who watch him in action.