Yet Another day in History!!!

Sachin Tendular!!! For many it’s just another name but for me it’s one name with which I have grown up being myself. One name which has actually taught me the meaning of Cricket. One name which made me understands the true feeling of sportsmanship. One name which made not only me but almost every Indian to celebrate Cricket as religion. One name which undoubtedly deserve to be called as the living Legend.

Yesterday the Legend added one more diamond to his crown and gave us every reason to cherish for being part of this era, HIS ERA. He climbed one more step ahead to become the most invincible person in this Game by scoring the undefeatable double ton in limited over form of cricket. Something which was only dreamed about, something which was considered as the benchmark. I remember the time when score of 220-230 use to be called as a competitive score and now a single individual the Legend Sachin has done it all alone.

When Sachin scored his 200th run, though I was not watching it live but, I could feel the emotional outburst which must have occur in every Indian’s heart. It was one proud moment for each one of us. If it would have been any other Indian may be Sehwag, Dhoni or Yuvraaj then also we would have been happy, we would have felt proud and we would have celebrated. But when it comes from Sachin it’s something different, something more personal and something which makes us feel this is ours.

Almost every one of my age has grown up watching Sachin redefining the Cricket for them and I am sure each one has this dream hidden in some corner of their heart. And when He… as they say… The GOD of Cricket actually did it... everything became so colourful. Millions of dream came alive at one moment. Responses were flooded from all across the globe. People Twitting, FBing, Partying and Celebrating in every corner of the world. It has to happen because it was Sachin.

Sachin is inside me, inside you and inside every cricket follower. That’s why we call it "Hamara Sachin" :-)

Long live Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!!!!

Gautam Gambhir – Still under appreciated??

Today India created history by winning over New Zealand on their soil after 41 years. This magnificent and obviously deserving victory was resulted because of exuberant performances by almost every individual of the team. It may be the centuries scored by Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Gambhir or may be some world class bowling by Zaheer, Bhaji, Ishant or the perfect leadership of the captain Dhoni. Everybody make sure to chip in at some point or the other and made their presence felt. All and all it was a fabulous team effort which continued the winning streak of this legendary Indian cricket team.

But in this fury of victories and accolades almost everyone has sidelined the most consistent player in the team - Gautam Gambhir. He scored an ample 450 runs with 2 centuries and 1 half century & played the vital role in this commendable victory. I remember, the first significant performance by this chap was during the T20 world cup. He was the highest run getter in the tournament. He scored some 250 odd runs with an average of around 40 with 3 half centuries, which is simply splendid in T20 form of cricket. But he was nowhere in the credit list when it came to sharing the honour of becoming world champs. The 6 on 6 streak of Yuvraaj and the so called majestic captaincy of Dhoni way surpassed the unfathomable performance of Gambhir.

After the T20 WC this chap had no looking back. He proved his mettle in every form of cricket & against almost all the great guns of world cricket. He took no time in converting his image of a splendid T20 player into a world class ODI and Test Player. No matter against whom he was playing he was consistently delivering the same charismatic performance. The teams of Australia, Sri Lanka, England and recently New Zealand all witnessed some world class batting from this gentleman. In the recent series against New Zealand he played a marathon inning of over 10 hrs in Napier test to save India from the almost a sure defeat.

Despite of delivering consistent performance from last couple of year, I somehow feel he is not getting the proper recognition and respect in the team which he is worthy of. He is still treated as the underdog in the team. He himself accepted in an interview that before this series he was not at all confident about his place in Indian team. Though after the Napier match he was called as the second Wall of Indian cricket, but this tag soon got lost in the Dhoni, Bajji song of Indian Media who are unreasonably treated as god of Indian cricket. I mean I simply can’t understand if a player is scoring consistently in all forms of cricket for over 2 years but he is still not confident about his place in the team & cannot grab the attention of Media then who can be sure about it? Is it something like who are good at words and have good rapport with the management can be relaxed about their future? Is our Media biased with the Masala news?? Do media have the sense of making a good thing good and a bad thing bad??

I am sure not everyone will agree to this, but this is how I feel about the kind of attention and recognition Gauti is getting. I just wish he will get the desired credibility and appreciations for the top quality performances which he is producing on every pitch against every country.