Monday, October 1, 2012

A Cricket Fan Would Love A Sachin Tendulkar Biography

By Kristie Irwin


Any fan of cricket would find a Sachin Tendulkar biography a must read. The man they call 'the little master' has achieved just about everything in the international cricket circle. Only in March 2012, he reached a hundred test centuries. He is the first man to achieve this in the two-hundred year-old sport.

However, his milestones in the middle are not the only fascination about this man. Somehow, he is able to keep calm under any circumstances. After all he has reached almost god-like status in his home country of India. The media there do not leave him alone for one second. Yet, he never seems to be fazed his existence in such a goldfish bowl.

Maybe his calmness comes from the fact that he grew up in this atmosphere. Tendulkar first represented India against huge rivals Pakistan aged just 16. A year after that he scored a century in the tricky climactic conditions of England. He was the second youngest player ever to score a test hundred. Not only that, but aged just 19 he moved to England. Here he became the first non-Yorkshireman in over one hundred years to play for Yorkshire. Cricket fans are fascinated by figures and records; Sachin carries on breaking all of them.

That said, his cricket has not always been on an upward curve. There have been some toughs too, when he has been off form. This seems impossible to avoid, considering the difficulty of the game, plus the huge public expectation he carries. Right from being sixteen he was already India's most hyped sportsmen. On top of that, his home country is home to over a billion people, most of them cricket fans. Throughout this period, he rapidly shouldered a country's sporting aspirations and pundits began to pick wholes in his technique. Given that he built his reputation on flowing strokes of the bat, this must have concerned him greatly.

Still, he climbed out of the doldrums to become a more formidable player and person. Not once did he blame anyone or anything for his troubles and got back to his best. He is seen by commentators as at the same level of Sir Don Bradman, considered the greatest ever batsman. Words like genius are often given to sportsmen nowadays, and many do not reach such dizzy heights. Fewer still do not become known by one name alone, such as Pele, Babe, Tiger and Sachin.

People from Mumbai to Leeds feel honored to say to their friends "I saw him play". Thanks to his achievements, it has become easy to think that he has already retired; but he has not. In fact he is playing just as well today as in the mid-1990's. He stands out in the fast-moving twenty-20 games and the mentally draining five-day test matches alike.

Tendulkar has carefully used his popularity to maximize his earnings through endorsements and his restaurant business. He does, however, dedicate a lot of his time to charity and is ambassador for several organizations. He has been spokesperson for AIDS Awareness, for example.

Millions of cricket lovers will doubtlessly enjoy reading a Sachin Tendulkar biography because of his records and public image. Yet the personal journey is enthralling too. How a teenager was launched into the spotlight and to meet the high expectations and become a legend. Still along the way he has remained down-to-earth.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment