Sachin Retirement...

I've Seen God playing Cricket!

For my last blog i'd said i'm writing these words with arrows pinched in my heart, but for this i'll have to say i'm writing it with almost dead senses.
My hero, my role-model, my pride....a reason behind my smile - Sachin Tendulkar has retired from ODI cricket.

I guess 'time' is celebrating joyfully as for past two decades it stood frozen down in front of Sachin. It seems when time was taking toll from every individual on the face of this planet, it excused only one man. We've had legends, we've had champions, but we never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will.

My relation with Sachin is more like a father in disguise. I still remember the first match of his i saw in 2002. It was the Natwest Challenge at Lord's, London. Sachin embarked upon the field and the crowd were on their feet. I promptly shouted, 'hey, that's the guy, whose snap is on my bat ". To which my dad replied, he's 'Sachin.....Sachin Tendulkar'. That was perhaps my impersonal introduction with him. A week later in the test series against England he scored 193 with a partnership of over 300 runs with Rahul Dravid. That was the first century of his i witnessed. 

Since then as i grew younger, my respect and love for Sachin grew. I remember having missed my exams, while in class eight, to watch his batting. Later when my family almost pounced on me for that, i just replied " Sachin's century was undoubtedly more important for me". I never really recollect having missed any of his match till date. Now when he's retired, there'll be plenty i can afford to miss. I've nobody else, whom i regret not watching live. ' If cricket is religion, Sachin is God' - a book by Vijay Santhanam and Shyam Balsubramanian was the first book i've read by myself. I almost did memorized that book and whenever there used to be arguments on Sachin, i use to quote a word or two from the book....that would always suffice.

His records of course have left nobody even nearby, and so has his humbleness and soft spoken voice. People spoke for him, spoke against him, praised him and also criticized him. He stood grounded with his child-like smile.
Sachin is the greatest Cricketer India has ever had. And now that he's retired, he'll be terribly missed.

To the coming generations, i would proudly say, " I was alive when God used to play cricket, i saw him hitting double century, i saw him minting runs, i saw him lifting the world cup!! " 
Some things of course,never change.....Cricket is Still my religion...Sachin is still my god. Miss you a lot Sachin!