Sachin and the wise Indian cricket fan!

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Everyone in our country has an opinion about the little master, no matter however little cricket he might have played. The opinion is mostly mindless. Our country is famous for its deep love and knowledge of the game, which however is far from the truth. Love, here, is only passion and knowledge is knowledge alright, but merely statistical. True knowledge and love for a game or any art, arise out of keen involvement in it; one has to dig deep. A dabbler is no student of the game. Real knowledge is the privilege of a keen learner. Rest all is merely superficial. Here, cricket is no different from Maths. Practice and concentration reveals the mysteries in both. Indian cricket fan, however, is just a watcher of mockery, no player himself. Street cricket which he has played often, again for fun, can not give him knowledge that a student must have – of technique and temperament. He is a lover of the sixer and slog. No wonder he prays for the captain to get out; his resolve is beyond the fan’s scope of appreciation. To him the little master, who has a re-modified technique, for reasons the great must have, which means he plays lesser lofted strokes, is out of form and favor. Some ask him to retire. This country’s cricket acumen is over-rated, merely superstition. Indians, first of all, aren’t great lovers of cricket. They only love the game when India plays; and that too one-day cricket. Bring on twenty-twenty, and they’ll forget the one-days too. Once upon a time, Indians loved their test cricket, but now due to the fast paced life and an increasing influence of the west (America, mainly), tests are a passé. Cricket, aided by the media, has now become a joke. It is a show and players, like jokers in a circus, actors in movies, must entertain. Subtlety, traditionally and truly cricket’s real beauty, is not understood by more than a handful. While hitters have always been crowd pullers, resilience and patience of a batsman in adversity were equally admired and more revered. Not anymore, at least in this country. It is therefore stupid to talk about the cricket knowledge of the country. The criticism of a great like him by people who know not a ball from a bat, aided by media, which is as clueless, is ridiculous. A man like him retires when he knows there is no motivation left in him. He’ll not just hang on there; he is too much of a patriot to do that. True, his form is not alright now but the determination in his eyes, on the field tells a lot about his commitment.That other cricketers especially Lara have been in amazing form at the same time is not helping the case against him but he was on a similar peak for more than a decade and I, only as a keen student of the game and nothing more, see no flaw in his batting technique. Low of confidence, he is just unsure of his feet movement. With no aim to criticize, I have an observation to make. due to the most amazing of strokes he masterfully plays, has become a candidate to the leg before wicket lately, early in his innings. With unique nimbleness of eye and foot, he plays the ball outside the off-stump dead square to the wicket on the leg-side. This shot is the toughest to play along with the on-your-toes back-foot cover drive to a rising ball. Both shots, mastered by him, require skill and tremendous practice, but the one to the leg involves a lot more risk. That, a player like him misses the shot a few times, proves how difficult it is, and any of those who criticize him should try playing it. It is perhaps his quest for perfection and never-say-die spirit which causes him to play this shot even though aware of the risk and the number of times he has been dismissed cheaply on missing it. If only he’d play the incoming delivery a lot straighter, in the V, as we all are coached, I am sure he’d get over his demons early on the innings. Early in his career, he always played the incoming ball to mid-on and that is also an extremely handsome shot, as he plays that shot with a high elbow and a straight bat. I am no cricketer, thus my suggestion to a great like the little master to avoid his brilliant stroke to square-leg is an audacious one. Yet, I do so, though with all respect and humility. If he has to play the stroke at all, he must play when the ball has lost its shine, and when it has lost it, is not reversing. Even with his eye in the line of the ball,misses the shot because of the high precision involved. The reason is simple: when he plays in the V, he presents a larger region of the face of the bat to block the ball, but when he wants to play square that bat has to be angled and therefore the area that the bat presents to block the bowl is reduced a lot. When the ball skids on or the wicket is two-paced, and he misses the shot he is plum Leg-Before-wicket as the shot requires a slight movement forward, not a full stride. Bowlers have discovered this anomaly in his play and now feel more confident bowling to him. If only he’d play in the V, surely the bowlers would lose this edge. He may no longer hit his lofted shots, I am sure he has good reasons for that, he can still dominate and massacre the bowlers, which makes him, along with Lara and Sir Viv Richards, the greatest of all.Aussies too have that ability. So let us back the great who has given so much joy to all of us and made Indian cricket so popular. Let us not pass foolish judgments. At least, the media should show a keener eye for the game and not just look for gossip. Any news on him boosts the ratings but the media should be more responsible and principled. he is a great and deserves that respect. I just hope he plays the incoming ball straighter. And yes, uses his feet right away, like he always did, against the spinners.