Sachin- a true hero

If there is one match that Sachin Tendulkar cannot forget in his career then it is the one against Pakistan here at the Chepauk in 1999.In that epic match he had played an innings of such breathtaking passion and intensity in the face of Excruciating pain and some sensational bowling from Wasim Akram who was making the ball talk and it was heartbreaking for him to see India embrace defeat from the jaws of victory. He has held himself responsible for that loss as he had played an ill advised stroke of Saqlain Mushtaq when India were on the doorstep of victory.

It is learnt that he was inconsolable after the defeat and spent many a sleepless night thinking about that game, in fact he didn't even turn up for the post match press conference, so distraught was he at the loss . So it must have been a case of old memories coming back to haunt him as he took guard on the final morning of the first test against England at the Chepauk.

There was an eerie sense of similarity to that game here, when he came in the game was on a Knife's edge as was the case against Pakistan almost a decade ago and The situation demanded great application and character since Andrew Flintoff was bowling a fiery spell and a wicket at that stage could well have swung the game decisively the Englishmen's way. Many are convinced including Your's truly that Tendulkar has not won many games for India while batting in the fourth Innings of a Test match, great people love challenges and that spurred him on today.

If there is one thing that critics would have against the little maestro is that he doesn't have a great fourth innings record, that he has not won many games for India in the longer format of the game

and that hurt Tendulkar for he takes great pride in wearing the India cap. It was not a question of records, they were questioning his legacy and that can be a dangerous thing to do when you are talking about someone as big as a Tendulkar, geniuses have a way of pushing the limits just when you think that there is nothing left in the tank they produce a shower. For Sachin making the critics eat humble pie is like taking his swanky red Ferrari Modena out for a long drive.

In fact there is practically nothing left for Sachin to prove to anyone anymore, he has achieved everything in his career, even if he doesn't score another run or play another match for India his place is assured in the pantheon of greats but that is not the way he thinks, he still retains the energy and the drive that he had when he started his career 20 summer's ago, that is no mean achievement considering the amount of wear and tear that he has gone through and the amount of pounding his body has taken.

Right from the time he took strike today he seemed a man on a mission, so transfixed was his mind on the job that he seemed more like a monk carrying out his rituals than a player on the ground. So sure of his footwork was he that he never put a foot wrong, surely this must rank as one of the finest if not the best innings that he has played in Test cricket right up there with the one he made at Perth in 1991-1992

or the one against Pakistan here at Chepauk in 1999, the only difference being both the above mentioned hundreds were in losing causes whilst this one came in a winning cause.

Today's innings was a classic for the true connoisseur, there were no flashy strokes or blistering spells of stroke making that you would have associated with a younger Sachin, for him this was a match he wanted to win at any cost, this was his way of paying tribute for the people who sacrificed their lives for the country in the recent terror attacks in Mumbai and also he wanted to remove the scars of the defeat to Pakistan from his memory permanently, the platform and the setting was perfect for him and he seized it both hands, in the beginning he was rightly watchful against Andrew Flintoff and when the loose stuff came he promptly dispatched it to the boundary and along with Gambhir first and later on with the Flamboyant Yuvraj took India to a famous victory.

Funnily enough this his first hundred in the fourth innings of a Test match that has won a game for India, all the other hundreds have either resulted in a loss or a draw, this was a staggering piece of statistic that was worrying him and he set that right today with an innings of monumental concentration and patience.

In these times of distress and despair when people are losing their jobs to recession and their lives to mindless acts of terrorism they needed a smile to be put back on their faces and a hero to look up to and who better than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar to provide the answer, he has once again lit up the faces of millions of countrymen and provided them a reason to smile albeit temporarily but that is good enough for all of us, for there is no greater joy in this world for an Indian than seeing SRT bat and India win.

This victory should rank as one of the greatest alongside the ones at Perth, Adelaide,Headingley, Joburg and finally the ghost of Chepauk 1999 versus Pakistan have been exorcised forever, Sachin will sleep well tonight and so do we.