Cricket comes to a standstill

It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will. When Sachin Tendulkar travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race an F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, (and) Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam. When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to 'open' the Nehruvian economy. - Time Magazine Cricket came to a standstill today! Sachin Tendulkar has often had that affect on the masses - He went about doing the impossible on the field answering billions of prayers, more often than not, to save India from humiliation. Take them to victory where others would have seen no chance. Bat against the mightiest of attacks and reduce them to pulp. He defied logic almost every time he wielded the willow. Defied competition to stay on top for nearly 23 years. He got only better with age and has put his name on any record that is worth putting your name on before time eventually caught up. There may be innumerable debates over who the greatest batsman in Tests is - Sachin definitely features in that list, and for countless fans he IS the greatest batsman in Tests. But there can hardly be any doubt about his ODI credentials. The 39 year old has breath-taking figures in the 50 over format and terrorized bowlers and opposition skippers alike with his tremendous ability. Growing up, there was no better sight in cricket than to watch Sachin Tendulkar stride out with his opening partner to an overwhelming response and conjure magic with an astonishing straight drive and a nod of his head, as if to approve of the shot he has just played. Like Siddharth Vaidyanathan sums up in his tweet: "Blue shirt, flag on helmet, head still, bat ready, high elbow, front-foot punch, down the ground .... silence, madness, four." I may have started to enjoy the five day version later, but there is just so much nostalgia while watching Sachin play at his best in colours - India colours, not Mumbai Indians colours. Sachin defined cricket for countless cricket followers. Followers, including the many who currently feature in the Indian team. There was a time I used to tell my brother not to worry about the result as long as Sachin's there at the crease. India need 20 off the last ball? Sachin will get us there! That's the kind of expectations the Little Master had set in me. It was impossible, yes! But, impossible was for the weak, for humans. Sachin, for me, was from a different planet altogether. 200 in an ODI? Impossible? Not for Sachin! India's progress in Sharjah, 1998? Impossible? Not for Sachin! For a player to be at the top of his game for 23 years? Impossible? Not for Sachin! Sachin Tendulkar can make 'making the impossible happen' look like just another day in the office with probably the same ease that Rajinikanth pulls of what the world thinks can ever be done. The little man from Bombay probably has a world record or world records when it comes to batting, and churned out unforgettable performances by the dozens. More than 18 thousand runs, 49 hundreds, close to a 100 fifties and more than 150 wickets in a glorious career spread over 20 years is no mean feat, but for this diminutive right hander even scaling the greatest of peaks was not enough. That was how he was built. A career of such longevity would've been impossible without inviolable determination, a passion to excel and the hunger to give it everything you've got every time, all the time. For Sachin, impossible was just the next challenge to take up. Impossible was where no one ever had been and where he was to reach soon. He had failed miserably in recent times and without the likes of Sourav Ganguly or Rahul Dravid to bail team India out and eventually, time and age became the only factors he could not defy. But none of his recent troubles takes away the kind of memories he has left us with. Thanks for the memories. The greatest ODI batsman. Ever!