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A Decade of Brilliance

Manjunath:
manjunath@india.hp.com: Hi sachin, I think you are a very good player when you apply yourself. But sometimes I get the feeling that you dont try to give 100% all the times.

kirankumarb@hotmail.com:
: give the stats about the centuries sachin score in One day internationals while batting second???.. and how many of those matches did india win..
and also a statistics about the ODI matches india won in the last 3 yrs batting second and the contributions of sachin. I am sure that you wont find any great contributions from the little master. Its either dravid, ganguly, jadeja or robin singh. Please give the users these statisticss. Kiran

Suresh Babu:
srshb@yahoo.com: Hi, It is ecstacy to see Sachine batting.. The only question about Sachin batting is his temperment. If you analyse the way he got out because of good ball then you know it is less than 20%. I have one suggestion for Sachin to try YOGA seriouly. I'm sure with yoga he can even reduce his back problem. I hope Sachin the batsman will go to another level where no one was there or will be there for a long long time.. Hoping to see Sachin in International cricket for atleast 10 more years.. Best Regards, Suresh.

Harish:
shar555@hotmail.com: He is and will be the greatest cricketer that played the game.

Arun Jambotkar:
arun_jambotkar@hotmail.com: Sachhu has been really a nice cricketer over these years. Yeah, I will refer him as a cricketer as one can not stamp him as only a batsman, bowler or a fielder but an intelligent player totally comitted to Cricket. He is one of those rare persons who sets goals for himself and not satisfied even after achieving them. I can not forget his 3 sixes in a row to abdul kadir at peshavar in the pakistan's tour and the innings he played in Perth against australia.

I will rate his innings of , I guess it was 169 caught brilliantly by adam bachar, at johhanasburg against s. africa and the one with 92 runs against W. Indies at Antigua during his first tenure as a captain.

In One-day, I will rate his innings as BEST innings against NZL in 90 tour when he started playing as an opener where he took first single of that inngs. when he moved from 80 to 81. The other one was one he played at Wankhade during 96 world cup.

The finest moment of his life was during SEMI-FINAL of HERO CUP where he bolwed with tremendous intelligence aginst Brian McMillan and pulled win from jaws of defeat.

I think We , Indians, should feel proud that we got such a intelligent cricketer as such cricketers born once a while. I wish total success to him in his 2nd tenure as a Captain.

Mohan Kulkarni:
kulkarni_mohan@hotmail.com: Best Test innings 1. 169 v/s South Africa at Durban. 2. fighting century against England in Edgbaston in 1996. 3. 179 v/s WI in Nagpur(not sure)
Best One-day innings 1. 84 v/s NZ at Auckland 2. century against AUS in sharjah 3. century against AUS in sharjah-final 4. 1st 100 aginast AUS in sri lanka 5. match-winning against Zimbabwe on the SA tour. 6. century against SL in Kotla

ram:
ram_kt@usa.net: Cricket is our religion and he is our GOD. I never believed in individual brilliance being instrumental in a team's success. but after i have analysed the statistics, i've changed my opinion. yes, he's the best batsman in the world, no two thoughts about it and more importantly, the most valuable indian in the world. Although i do not think highly of him as a captain(i beleive he's biased for his bombay teammates and therefore lacks equanimity of judgement). As a player he gets 9.9999/10 whereas as a captain he deserves 6/10.

ram:
ram_kt@usa.net: Cricket is our religion and he is our GOD. I never believed in individual brilliance being instrumental in a team's success. but after i have analysed the statistics, i've changed my opinion. yes, he's the best batsman in the world, no two thoughts about it and more importantly, the most valuable indian in the world. Although i do not think highly of him as a captain(i beleive he's biased for his bombay teammates and therefore lacks equanimity of judgement). As a player he gets 9.9999/10 whereas as a captain he deserves 6/10.

Roshan Paul:
ropaul@davidson.edu: Mr. Lavakare, Mr. Panicker obviously is trying to still keep up a pretence of having some respect for you. Good for him, i say. Because your article is shocking and almost criminal in its use of statistics. It borders on the ridiculous and no one in his right mind will agree with you. good day. Roshan Paul

Srinivas:
Srinivasaraog@hotmail.com: Thanks Prem. Really I mean it. Thanks for letting Mr Arvind know that he is tolly wrong. Does he know more than Imran Khan, Shane Warne, Martin Crowe who aggreed that Sachin is World's best batsman. I was really sick after seing his comparision of Sachin with Gary Kirsten. One more thing Mr. Arvind should notice is that, when Gavaskar was playing One day Cricket people used to pray for him to get out, where as when Sachin is playing people pray for him not to get out. What a contreat !! Haa !! No one, I repeat No one in Contemporary Cricket enthralled Spectators like Sachin. You can't find fault with Sachin not scoring big scores, because he is team player, unlike some one as Mr. Arvind mentioned in his article who played for their own. we should be proud of Tendulkar as an Indian. Thanks

ksachidanand:
ksachidanand@hotmail.com: Hi,i feel a brilliant player does not neccesarily make a good captain.This is not to challange the dicision of ousting Azhar as captain,he was made to lead the team when he was not worth to find a place in the team.Some of the statergies that sachin applies on the field are just routine he lacks the ability to take some off the track decisions when required as the AUSTRALIAN and SOUTH AFRICANS take.And also when a very good opening batsman like Ramesh was found sachin would do fine in coming in middle order which desperatly requires some stability and allow Ramesh and Ganguly open the innings. BYE SACHIDANAND

Kiran Namballa:
ukbb@hotmail.com: Sachin is the best batsman in the world-no doubt about it.He has had a wonderful career sofar but I personally feel there are a few major shortcomings in it.I hope no one curses me for pointing them out!Please.... Sachin bats well but he never inspires the others the way Brian Lara does.For instance, take the Madras test against Pakistan.He played a brilliant knock but couldn't finish it off,thereby handing India one of the most painful defeats ever. A month later Lara showed how it has to be done-against a better attack and nursing an injury just like Sachin did.I wouldn't like to draw any comparisions but another point is he almost always fails when chasing a big total,say 270 or more.

The only instance he helped our team chase more than 270 was on his birthday at Sharjah, an innings he dedicated to his wife. Another very strange thing is he has managed to score only 1 century as a middle order batsman and that too against Kenya which I believe shouldn't take anything away from a glittering career.I admire Sachin but I believe he is always going to be second to King Richards. In almost all his innings Sachin has a clever ploy-he sees off the main bowlers and attacks the weaker ones.Richards never spared anyone.I cannot think of many instances when Sachin went on a rampage against top class bowlers like Ambrose,Akram,Pollock,and Donald.You can say he destroyed Shane Warne but even Nayan Mongia hit him all over the park!I wish Sachin brings much more important victories for India.Good luck Sachin. Kiran Namballa.

Dinesh:
achari@hotmail.com: Sachin is a Brilliant batsmen but is going in Gavskar way. Gavskar was instrumental in playing mediocore surunayak and sachin is hell bent in bringing Nilesh Kulkarni.

Shielesh Damle:
sdamle@pacific.net.sg: Sachin very well done. Do same work for another ten years

Kiran Namballa:
ukbb@hotmail.com: My selection of Sachin's best performances: One day innings: 1.India vs Australia,the match before the final at Sharjah last year. 2.India vs Australia,1996 world cup league match. 3.India vs Newzealand,1994 Auckland. 4.India vs Westindies,1997 1st onedayer in west indies when he scored 40plus. 5.India vs Pakistan,1992 World Cup.
Test innings: 1.India vs Australia,Perth 1991-92. 2.India vs SouthAfrica,Johansberg 1992-93. 3.India vs Australia,Chennai,1998. 4.India vs England,1990,his 1st test hundred. 5.India vs England,1st test,Edgbaston 1996.
His worst batting performances: Tests: India vs Pakistan,2nd test,Eden gardens,1999. Onedayers: India vs Autralia,world cup 1999 and India vs Pakistan,Independence Cup, Chennai,1997 Best bowling: Hero Cup semifinal,ofcourse. Best catch: Shahid Afridi's catch at Karachi in the final onedayer of friendship series. Best throw: Direct hit from the boundary against Australia in teh Sharjah final last year.

Prashant:
prashant2000@hotmail.com: Lot of brilliant innings has been played by master blaster but the last over of Hero cup semi-final against South Africa was brilliant. In that much pressure when 6 runs are needed in last over and 2 wickets to go, really that was the superb over.

H N SRIHARI:
hns0@orica.com.au: I would prefer to see Sachin concentrate on becoming the greatest cricketer of all times by establishing consistency in his batting. For this he should be relieved of the responsibility of captaincy for the time being.

Kiran Namballa:
ukbb@hotmail.com: Your artical was very interesting.I myself am a fan of Sachin but I also admire other players for different reasons. I would like to point one fault in your reasoning.Has Sachin ever,apart from the Sharjah innings against Australia at Sharjah,played a match winning knock while chasing a total of 270 plus. Its easy to say India won on 17 times out of teh 21 times he hit a century.But one of the measures of how good or bad a batsman is how well he handles pressure while chasing a target.Boycott always says India is a poor run chaser.Does Sachin also fall under this category? I just want to know your thoughts.Doesn't this mean that he let the team down at the most crucial times?Or is there any other definition for crucial time?I very much agree with your point that Sachin need not be compared with Bradman.Rather others should be measured with Sachin as the yardstick.If we go by statistics, then Bradman is just as good as anyone else because almost all the runs he scored were against England! Truly, Kiran Namballa.

Naveen:
iamfromuta@hotmail.com: how much ever u write about sachin i feel like reading. naveen

K K Chandarashekaran:
chandarashekaran@hotmail.com: Sachin, you are consistent and playing a variety of strokes in all soils. But, why is that you never wagged Akram, Donald and Walsh?

Narsing Konduru:
kln724@hotmail.com: Sachin is a brilliant player , but except against Australia he had no good Average batting performance against any other Professional teams. This leads to question about his consistant performance against any professionally managed matches.

Sudesh Amin:
sachus@excite.com: SRT as Harsha mentioned is very close to being already mentioned along with the two other cricketers, Sir Don Bradman and Sir Garfield Sobers. What i personally like about SRT is is his complete dedication to the game. I have never seen him give all but his 100%. He seems to always remember that bowling, fielding and captaincy is as equally important as batting. He is a great inspirer and a wonderful role model. To me the test innings which stands out is the 1991 Perth(WACA) innings wherein he scored a brilliant 50+ on an extremely pacy and bouncy track. My all time favourite ODI knock of SRT is the Mumbai 1996 World cup knock against Shane Warne and the Oz's. The evenly fought battle between SRT and Warne and the way SRT slaughtered the then rising star Glenn Mcgrath is something to remember for a long time. I wish Sachin all the best in his career.

Paari:
paariskrishnan@hotmail.com: These are the tributes to a wonder guy, who individually is brilliant, but India if not the least successful team one of the leat. The main reason for that is the Boy Wonder himself. The recent incidents of avoiding Sunil Joshi and letting him down in front of the media is like blaming a cow and hanging it, the reason being to induce his fellow Maharashtrian Nilesh Kulkarni, funny and sad isn't it. Another incident is that Ajit Agarkar who without the support of Sachin Tendulkar could never make it to the national side, another Maharashtrian. Not long back Vinod Kambli was taken as a royal traveller to the various country, killing the likes of many young and talented where ever they may be from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. These if not the only reasons are the main reasons for the lack of success in Indian cricket. We have to compensate something to gain something, is compensating Sachin Tendulkar, for gaining success to Indian cricket?

chandra:
csrpadala@hotmail.com: This is a good answer and should be and eye opener to Arvind, Otherwise he keeps talking rubbish and Nonsense, and such articles should not be posted in Rediff.

Anish Balakrishnan:
anishb@hotmail.com: It is so very heart warming to realise tha Sachin has completed a decade in international cicket. And what a decade it has been! I remember seeing him walk out to the crease as a short teenager and I remember pitying him. After all, I was a few months older than the guy and I knew that in a similar situation, I would have been shaking with terror. The boy walked and began to play with a maturity that at his age, could only be attributed to genius.

He has entertained us with so many beautiful knocks that it is hard to single one performance out. But to me, there is one very vivid memory that is a testimony to the man's genius. I allude to a match against Zimbabwe (India was touring South Africa at the time). Eddo Brandes was the bowler and Tendulkar, of course, was the batsman. As Eddo began his run-up, Sachin moved away to give himself room to free his shoulders. Brandes, of course, saw this and immediately followed him - it was a perfect yorker-length delivery. In a split-second, Sachin took a quick adjusting step and went through with the intended shot. The ball sailed past the bowler for a six that was as straight as an arrow. Is that genius?

Perhaps, the best thing about him is the fact that he is still a very normal person who wears his fame lightly. The man is the perfect sportsman. In a time when the likes of Dennis Rodman, Maradona and Mike Tyson abound, it is refreshing to see someone as mature and humble as Sachin. He truly is India's greatest treasure.

All the best Sachin! I wish you the greatest success in everything you do. A humble fan, Anish Balakrishnn

Pushkar :
mpushkar@usa.net: He is the man I adore the most in my life. He should be called Sir. Sachin Tendulkar.

K Lakshmi prasad:
kothemba@engr.sc.edu: From the very first series that sachin had played I was a great fa of sachin because I was overawed by his age(debut).I was two years younger han him and understood how difficult it is to play(and be) like him and most importantly take such an enormous pressure with a lot of confidence.It is the performance that counts even under such presures. And sachin with his performances has proved that he is the best in the business.One thing I remember about sachin when I was a boy of 14 was sachin coming down the wicket to hit Abdul Qadir.Such hitting is not expected from a boy of sixteen,and that too when the bowler was the best legspinner of his time.I have followed each and every match from that day that sachin played.I see sachin as a role model to this generation,there is none who can give us indians pride(may be along with Paes and Bhupathi..).My favourite cricketing moment was when sachin hit back to back centuries at sharjah against the menacing aussies.what was mind boggling was that sachin himself said that he would get the cup to india and my god ..he did it again in the final.that was one of the greatest batting displays you would ever see.The straight six of Kaspor..was a treat to watch.My best loved anecdote of this great man goes like this....."On hearing that his father had passed away,sachin came out of his hotel room(after his wife broke the news to him on phone)and said to mohanty and ..whoever it is..waiting outside his room to go and sleep early as there is a match tomorrow,and on reaching mumbai airport he said "what happened to the match".And one more cricketing moment about sachin (even though it brings sad feelings, as we lost the test)that i like was when he battled back pain and scored a brilliant century at chennai in a test match againt pakistan last year.sachin came at some 6/2 and went back when there were some 17 runs to score to win the test match with one more day of play.But India lost the test match.He really struggled on the field and i could see on the TV how he motivated himself by talking to himself all the time while facing saqlain and co.it was really a sad day to indian cricket.my rating of tendulkar on a scale of 10 will be 9/10,because i think he has some minor weakness facing the outswinger on the off stump line.i saw him get out so many times in the slip cordon in the initial overs of a one day match.i hope he scores 10/10 as he reach the end of his career.i will end this message with my favourite quote about sachin from Bishan Bedi..that "sachin is the greatest living indian".

Girya:
girya_b@yahoo.com: Good Batsman!! Definitely not great. Has his own moments of glory and moments of agony. Only batsmen in Indian team at present anywhere near his stature: Ganguly and Dravid. Captaincy seems to swing from sublime to ridiculous. By far the best opening batsman in India for LOIs.

Amer Syed:
amersyed@prodigy.net: Tendulkar has played some great innings but his brilliance has yet to get his team a test win abroad. Also he is exhibiting some rather nasty traits as Captain the second time around with his tacit approval of the shabby treatment meted out to Azhar and Mongia and his irresponsible airing of views regarding playing Pakistan.

retish:
retti@goplay.com: whenever I hear about Sachin I just do one thing - Touch wood !

Mohit Goel:
mohitgoel@rediffmail.com: Tendulkar is the best cricketer that I have seen. His excellence is beyond comparision as he carries on his shoulders the burden of an entire nation and 75% of a worthless Indian cricket team. I rate his innings at Sharjah against Australia when his masterful innings helped India reach the finals as the best one day innings by any player and his innings against Pakistan at Chennai in the first test as the best test innings by any player. The innings at Chennai showed that the Indian team is a bunch of jokers who can do nothing without Tendulkar. Keep it up Tendulkar!!

K K Chandarashekaran:
chandarashekaran@hotmail.com: It's a Great coverage! I am a lover of Ian Chappell's writing, in recent past I see Harsha freaking out in both writing his sports columns and public interviews. I enjoyed reading this article which is very well done by rediff, a guy like Sachin deserves this "Jewel in the Crown" treatment and that's how Australian press praised him in his early days. Thanks Rediff, K K Chandarashekaran. P.S: Initially, I was over enthu and thought it is a text box to post questions to Sachin and posted one, I am sorry about that!

Mihir:
p_mihir@hotmail.com: Dear Sachin, I'm a great admirer of your cricketing prowess.I would appeal you to be more consistent.

padmakshan:
padmaksh@rediffmail.com: good luck sachin!thanx for all the entertainment offered by u!go to aus. and smash every1 there. thanx for dropping azhar!!!

Gang:
gangofgopi@egroups.com: Sachin's 10 yrs of cricket

naresh nayak:
nareshn@vsnl.net.in: Sachin is the man of the decade in terms of sports and skills.

naresh nayak:
nareshn@vsnl.net.in: Sachin is the man of the decade in terms of sports and skills. He may heal many a weak person through happiness.

sudarshankumar:
sudarshan@inf.com: more than a cricketer, he is a mentor on determination and ethical values.he is a brand by himself.great guy

Abu:
abu@rediffmail.com: What you do, you do the best. Sachin has always prooved this.

Soumen:
Soumenb@hotmail.com: Prem, Your article was wonderful.I always read you aticle .I will give you one feedback .I don't find any other sports jounalist going to such details and having such a clear understanding of the game .Also , your columns don't seem to have any bias towards anybody.You shuld be doing justice if some day you are chosen advisor to the Indian Cricket Team. KEEP IT UP, MAN

N K Prasad:
nkprasad@rediffmail.com: 1)I like Tendulkar for his Humble and geniune human values (based on the knowledge collected from lot of articles from magazines & papers)along with his Cricketing achievements. 2)my favourite cricketing moment from his life is --- His century in 1997-98 SA tour in the Second test 3)He is an Excellent cricketer but as a captain he has to be more enterprising for his tactics have not been enterprising and not brought good results in the interest of Indian Cricket.

Shashi Kant:
s.kant@usa.net: I still remember the moment in the one day match against Kenya, when he just after making the century looked upward to the sky as if he is paying tribute to his recently expired father. That moment, to me, was full of thousand emotions, not just for his father but for his country, that could not be explained in words. And that moment he appeared like a true soldier.

Bhargav:
mumbai57@hotmail.com: Hi Sachin, Well congrats for completing your 10yrs for representing India but i think it would have been the best if u would have performed better in last onedays against NZ Any Way All the best Bhargav

Ritesh:
kriteshk@usa.net: What more can be said about God? as quick as Jackie Chan, as pleasant as Vivaldi, a one-man war machine that can destroy any attack... comparisons are not for him... Sachin is Sachin....the best

nageswararao:
krishna_mamidi@usa.net: i just want to ask a question.it is because myself and one of my friend has a confusion of SACHIN TENDULKAR scoring a century against SOUTH AFRICA. My request is please send me the details like when the match(date)? in which ground it is played? and which year he scored the century? what is the score of the particular innings when sachin scored his heighest against SOUTH AFRICA? i once again request you to send the details above asked. not only that i just want to know that who is going to answer these questions.

deepti:
d_jagirdar@yahoo.com: ALL THE BEST TO YOU SACHIN CONGRATS!

Prakash:
pr_akash50@hotmail.com: Man made for Cricket .. India's gifted boon for boom in cricketing era .. Tendulkar the number one .. sooner,the number one in captaincy too ..

amitabha:
amitabh@motorola.com: I think this write up is merely to write the other side of tendulkar, the reason the author himself is not too convinced about what he has written. But this is true that Tendulkar has faded and in Test he is still behind Gavaskar by a confident distance.

sidarth:
sidoo@apexmail.com: The Golden Boy of Indian Cricket now he is 26 and has 24 centuries by the end of this year he will create a new record that only batsman in world to make no of centuries = his age.

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