Lara and Tendulkar - Part One

For all those avid cricket watchers who grew up and spent their formative years in the 90's and early part of this decade, no two other cricketers have had such a tremendous impact on our collective viewing experiences. They have inspired us with their heroics and their often thrilling, match-winning knocks. They have completely different batting styles but both are equally capable of destroying bowling attacks.
Lara's an artist with the willow. His relaxed, languid and very often lazy approach to batting is a treat to the eyes. He weaves his bat like a magic wand. He can play the most unconventional, yet elegant strokes with exaggerated bat swing often mocking field placements. There is no better sight in world cricket than watching Brian Lara in full flow, his nimble footwork , the flick of the wrists resulting in a flurry of boundaries all over the ball park.

Tendulkar is a naturally attacking player. Like a lion waiting to pounce upon his prey, he targets specific bowlers (usually the best bowler of the opposing bowling attack) and unleashes the most exhilirating array of shots usually hit with minumum fuss but with maximum power. How often have we seen Tendulkar hit those shots straight down the ground past the bowler with a straight bat. Or perfectly execute the cut shot past waiting gully and fielders positioned at square? Or his famous slog sweep which he uses most effectively to counter leg spinners coming around the wicket to exploit the rough? Or his delectable late cuts or the paddle sweeps? Tendulkar can play all the shots in the book.
During his magical years (1995-1999) he virtually dominated every bowler in world cricket except perhaps Glenn McGrath, the great Australian opening fast bowler. It was during this period that Tendulkar was at the peak of his physical, athletic ability and supremely confident in his own batting to take on any bowler under any conditions. This was quite evident during the 1996 ICC cricket world cup where Tendulkar emerged as the highest run-scorer and perhaps singlehandedly brought India close to their second world cup finals. Unfortunately, although Tendulkar was enjoying huge personal success ,the Indian cricket team, as a whole ,were progressively moving from bad to..very bad, in light of their disastrous Tour of England(1996)

More disappointments were to follow.Tendulkar was offered the captaincy in 1997 which was well deserved but could've not come at a worse time. He had to lead weak, inexperienced teams who were not quite ready to face the pressures of international cricket save for players like Ganguly, Dravid and VVS laxman, who had showed glimpes of their potential and who along with Tendulkar, would form the back-bone of the re-emergent Indian team in the years to come. The burden of captaincy was increased by the continous lack of professionalism and ineptitude displayed by the selectors by bringing in the below-average (Rathour, W.V.Raman), persisting with the over-the-hill (Azharuddin, Sidhu,Manjrekar) and by not adequately strengthening the bowling rotation - inclusion of Dodda ganesh, Harvinder Singh,David Johnson, N.Hirwani was nobody's idea of progress.
The subsequent, wretched away tours to South Africa and the West Indies thoroughly exposed the inadequacies of the Indian cricket team. Tendulkar was relieved of this burden (thankfully) although his own personal batting form was never effected (posting more than 1000 runs per calendar year) and he promptly went about destroying the visiting Australians at home (1998). His "Controlled Agression" batting took new levels with his now memorable and often discussed exploits at Sharjah.


1999 might've well been the year Tendulkar (reluctantly?) paused and reflected on his game and his revised role for a what would appear to be a string of much needed changes initiated towards the end of the year and beginning of a new millenium. The public outcry for these changes although long over-due was brought about for two primary reasons, in addition to what had been a generally depressing year - The disappointing 1999 World cup campaign in England where India once again failed to create an impact and Tendulkar's performance was moderate at best (Tendulkar's father passed away during the World cup and he missed a game to attend the final rites and returned to score a century against Kenya in the next match) . Once again Tendulkar was offered the role of captaincy but it prove to be equally disastrous as his previous tenure with the absolutely horrifying tour to Australia. India could only manage a solitary win in a series mercilessly dominated by the Aussies. Tendulkar was the only player who could withstand the Australian bowlers but his innings was often cut short by some poor umpiring decisions.
How often have we witnessed the aggression and genius of one player creating a spark within the team inspiring them to greater and bigger things? Sucess feeds more success.But the exact opposite holds true also wherein even the best player can succumb to the continous failures and desperations of a team. Tendulkar seemed personally effected by the team's poor performance and the Australian bowlers cleverly exploited minor chinks in his batting, as he barely contributed in the ODI games which followed. Tendulkar has not been the same batsmen ever since. As the dust settled, fringe players (S.Ramesh, D.Gandhi, H.Kanitkar) were set aside and intense re-evaluations were conducted.

The dawn of a new year ushered in the Era of John Wright-Saurav Ganguly; a time for re-building and discovering new and exciting players, widening the resource pool, emphasis on the team. Tendulkar was content to play the role assigned to him, preferring to step away from the spotlight and carrying the burden of Star Performer. As one grows wiser they start looking at success differently. There is a loss of innocence..or Exuberance of youth as Sidhu would say. Tendulkar has embraced the success of the team. Not that he wasn't committed to team success earlier. But this time he has willingly altered his way of batting to suit the needs of the team,something which he's never done before. Or perhaps this a natural transition. This would include cutting down all "risky" shots (he hardly plays the pull shot) playing percentage cricket, occupation of the crease and compiling runs rather than bludgeoning them.

This new role has gone well with the new look Indian team. They've emerged as a strong, vibrant, intelligent team in world cricket, under the tough leadership of Saurav Ganguly. Their first test was the World-beating Australia's tour to India (2001). In short India beat the visitors 2-1 in one of the best test series ever to be played. And they continued to make rapid strides fiercely challenging England and West Indies at their own backyards.

And exactly four years after the traumatic 1999-2000 season, India powered by an exceptional, all-round team performance hit a winning streak to secure a place in the 2003 ICC World Cup Championships. And when India toured Australia later that year it proved to be a fantastic sequel to the epic 2001 contest with both teams trading blows in a keenly contested series with Australia narrowly escaping a series defeat at home.

But I've gotten carried away by India's success while the emphasis should've been on Tendulkar. Tendulkar's is an integral member of the Indian team, his mature, responsible knocks, building vital partnerships often pulling India out of a spot of bother and into a position of strength. He has now developed other facets of his game and hardly plays a shot in anger. This is quite evident when a bowler bowls one a bit wide of the off-stick and Tendulkar either patiently let's the ball pass harmlessly or taps the ball in the gaps and accumalates singles. So to answer what everybody has been asking- Have we seen the best of Tendulkar? I say no..the best is here. We're witnessing the best of Tendulkar. His performances are finely tuned to team requirements, effective batting in place of glorious batting. He is building a strong legacy.

But every once in a while, when we watch Tendulkar blasting one through the covers, standing tall on his follow-thru', admiring his shot, those who were priveleged to witness those magic years, may not be able to contain a brief smirk, and proudly point out to the un-initated .."That's Vintage Sachin"

And I will think to myself, like that eloquent quote from the movie ElizabethTown - "In that moment I knew success not greatness was the only god the world served. "

-Nav