Journey

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 19; the nineteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

A journey, a dream of 37 years, living for it almost 22 years and finally he is there to hold the world cup on 2nd April 2011. What a moment it could be?

“I couldn't have asked for anything more than this. Winning the World Cup is the proudest moment of my life. Thanks to my teammates. Without them, nothing would have happened. I could not control my tears of joy” – Sachin Tendulkar.

Most of you know about this journey but as an ardent fan, who dreamt of this moment and waited for this in the past six world cup edition, love to pen down this dream moment.

It all started when his elder brother Ajit encouraged him to play cricket and his cricketing career blossomed under the guidance of his coach Ramakant Achrekar who always challenge Sachin by putting a one rupee coin on the top of the stumps and the one who dismiss Tendulkar would get the coin, if they fail then the coin would go to Sachin. Sachin have won 13 coins and he considers it as the most prized possessions.

It was in 1988 Sachin announced his name to this world by involving in an unbroken 664 runs partnership with Vinod Kambli, Sachin himself scored 326* and reduced the opposition bowler to tears. He made his Test debut on 15th November 1989 vs Pakistan and in the same year, he made his ODI debut too.

His 53 of 18 balls, including an over in which he scored 28 runs of Abdul Quadir was one of his best innings and it was acknowledged by his Captain too and in the 1991-1992 Australian tour, he remained unbeaten on 148 in Sydney Cricket Ground also known as Sachin Cricket Ground. His name flourished throughout the world during the period 1992-1999, his world cup records in 1996 was unbelievable, but the dream of winning the world cup was shattered in an infamous semi-final and in 2003 Aussies tasted them.

Though he had a glorious career made of remarkable moments but due to injuries, his was not in good touch until 2006 but once again, he arose like a phoenix as he hit back his form in second half of the year 2007. From that day until today, he is in his peak of his form. The magical journey includes 18000 ODI runs, 14000 Test runs, 99 International Centuries, the dream of 200* runs in ODI and many more wonderful innings.

Sachinism is more than a religion in India

We say HE IS GOD but what they say about our little master:

"Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it." - Hashim Amla

"To Sachin, the man we all want to be" - Andrew Symonds wrote on an Aussie t-shirt he autographed specially for Sachin.

"We did not lose to a team called India...we lost to a man called Sachin." - Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1997)

"He can play that leg glance with a walking stick also." - Waqar Younis

"There are 2 kinds of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the others." - Andy Flower

"I have seen god, he bats at no.4 for India" - Mathew Hayden

"I want my son to become Sachin Tendulkar." -Brian Lara (WI)

"Do your crime when Sachin is batting, because even God is busy watching his batting." -Australian Fan

Barack Obama - "I don't know about cricket but still I watch cricket to see Sachin play...Not b'coz I love his play its b'coz I want to know the reason why my country's production goes down by 5 percent when he's in batting"...

What else one could wish for other than these wonderful wishes? But his critics always wanted him to retire or tweet a statement, “whenever Sachin scores a century India results as losing side” but how many of you know that out of 48 centuries only 13 went in vain and one of them being 175* against Australia, is it Sachin’s mistake? think.... Or else they would coolly say, "Sachin never performs when chasing", gosh, he has scored centuries 14 times when chasing, the most by any player in this cricketing era. Losing is not in the hands of Sachin, only performing is in his hands and common people don’t blame the master for the worst performance of others.

Even then in world cup after scoring two scintillating centuries, one Vs England, the other against South Africa, he was once again criticized for Team India Losing for which Harsha Bogle replied as

Think about the man himself. He is 37 years of age. He has been playing almost nonstop for 22 years. The way he was running and diving around the field last night would have put 22 year olds to shame. The way he played the best opening quickies in the world was breathtaking. He just keeps getting better, which is by the way humanly impossible. It’s not for nothing that people call him GOD. But still I don’t want to be in those shoes. We struggle in keeping our monotonous lives straight, lives which affect a limited number of people. Imagine what would be the magnitude of the inner struggle for him, pain both mental and physical, tears that have frozen with time, knees and ankles and every other joint in the body that is either bandaged or needs to be attended to every night, eyes that don’t sleep before a big game, bats that have scored 99 international tons and still see expectations from a billion people. And he just converts those expectations into reality. We watch in awe, feel privileged. Well I think it’s time that his team realizes that enough is enough. They have an obligation, not towards their country alone but towards Sachin. They need to win this one for him. Stay assured that he himself will still deliver and leave no stone unturned to make sure India wins this cup.

This is not just a game, and he is not just a sportsman. It’s much more than this. Words fail here...

And as said, the team performed well and Today after Dhoni & his men in blue won the cup in style for Sachin in his home ground where he was a ball boy when India won their first world cup a way back in 1983, and today he lifts the cup in the same ground, and he was lifted by his team mates which when asked to team, they say,

"We wanted it too badly. I'm glad we achieved it. Obviously, it was for the special man here (Sachin Tendulkar) standing next to me. We're all very happy for him," – Zaheer,”

Homage to God

"We wanted to win it for Sachin Tendulkar. This World Cup is for him. It's yet to sink in and I don't know when it will sink in," - Gambhir

"Sachin Tendulkar has carried Indian cricket on his shoulders for 21 years. So it was fitting that we carried him on our shoulders after this win," Virat Kohli

And in post match press conference, Yuvaraj Singh revealed about his “Someone Special”, "Very sorry to disappoint you, guys. It was not for my girlfriend but for Sachin Tendulkar and it is for him"

after enjoying those sweet moments, I sat to pen down about my Little Master’s journey, dream, he is the history, he is the God, he is more than a religion in India, his teammates says, “this time for Sachin” and the nation says, “Sachin! Sachin! Sachin! Sachin!”

I say - What an amazing journey is this little master, you are the God, you are the history and you are Cricket, and you are everything... What more I can say, even my words fail here, sleep well little master, “Your dreams are now reality and it is a memorable journey, Hats off Sachin”

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