I can still remember, as a kid, when I started learning the rules of the game called cricket, I saw a young, lean, kid moving around with the likes of Kapil Dev on his tour to Pakistan. I was learning the game, and it was nice to see a kid of nearly my height playing for the country – at that age it made me feel that even we could play with the so called “season ball”. Watching the likes of Waquar, Wasim and Imran Khan bowl bouncers to this kid, and the determination of this kid to go on and score a fifty against them, was just a start. There were many more centuries to come later.

People from my generation have actually grown up watching this legend, and I take pride in being a part of the generation which saw this Little Master play. Pardon me for being a sadist, but I feel bad for the generations who will not be able to see this legend play, and there, for sure, will not be any legend like Sachin ever again.

Sachin, who is an icon for many, me included, has never let his fans down. The way he conducts himself on and off the field is the mark of a true sportsman and a thorough gentleman. A politician, who tried to gain some mileage recently by criticizing Sachin’s remark on being an Indian first and then a Maharashtrian, is now trying desperately to salvage some image of whatever is left after the recent election debacle. Like Mathew Hayden once said “I have seen God, he bats at number 4 for India”, we the lesser mortals can only admire this legend play.

One need not go too far into history, Sachin’s recent innings of 175 against Australia was a superb knock. It was, however, sad that India did not win that match; it is disappointing to see such a great innings go waste. To quote my mother, “The other batsmen of India have absolutely no manners to not finish it for Sachin”. Yes, he is loved by all generations.

Another such innings that I remember was against Pakistan in a test match series being played in India, he batted like a true champion. Even though he was in excruciating pain, he tied a waist band and went ahead to fight for his team to win. India lost that match too – by 17 runs.

Sachin has always been a team man, and fought hard for his team. In a triangular-series in Sharjah, playing against Australia, India needed to win the match, and that too with a healthy run rate. Sachin was the batsman the entire nation was pinning their hopes on. The match was interrupted because of a desert storm while Sachin was batting with Azharuddin. For the entire duration of the storm, Sachin could be seen concentrating and focusing on the task ahead, with his helmet on, sitting and waiting to go in to bat as soon as the storm stopped. India did go on to qualify for finals, and went ahead to lift the cup too, thanks to two brilliant centuries by Sachin.

Sachin will be always remembered as a demolishing opening batsman, but he was not always an opening batsman. It was in a series in New Zealand when he first emerged as a great opening batsman. Since then, it’s only Virendra Sehwag who has shown the shades of aggression that Sachin had.

Not only with batting, Sachin has turned out to be a useful bowler (leg break, off break, medium pace, googly) too. The Hero cup final bears testimony to his talent to bowl the crucial final over and win the match for India. He has got enough five-wicket hauls to be counted as a useful all rounder.

His greatness cannot be counted, his commitment to the team cannot be measured. Be it attending his father’s funeral during the World Cup and coming back to play some tremendous knocks for his team, or be it helping India to qualify for the finals, time and again, single handedly in many a series, he has been always the lone man pushing India through on multiple occasions. Once when Sachin was asked to do an advertisement by Prahlad Kakkar which portrayed him to be above the game of cricket, Sachin politely refused. Yes, he is a billionaire, and the most humble one I have known, and he realizes that he is not above the game itself which has given him so much.

I used to believe that here was one great cricketer who deserved to be a part of a World Cup winning team, and we came pretty close to winning one in 2003, but that was it. The current team offers some hope, and hopefully Sachin’s dream of being a part of World Cup winning team comes true. The prayers of a billion fans got out to keep Sachin doing better, and raise the standard of the legend that he already is.

To the Lord himself, and 20 years of great Cricket, I offer my humble salute.