The DON's Double Ton !

Source: Cricinfo.com

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, carries the dreams of a billion. It's NOT easy to be Sachin Tendulkar. 20 years in the game, still maturing, still young & still LEARNING - Qualities of a remarkable player. I already wrote about Sachin's Still-Learning ability in one of my previous blogs. I admire him very very much and I am  proud to say that. His recent world record for HIGHEST EVER INDIVIDUAL ODI SCORE meant a lot to the cricketing world. He always proved the impossible - possible. The double hundred mark in ODI remained unticked for a very long time & the man who deserved it - did it in style.

This was choosen in the list of Editor's Choice blog by BlogJunta.com

It was near the 25th over, SRT was not out on 80. I saw it coming. Sachin was solid, staggering, and stand-out. Called up my colleague Karthik and said, He is gonna cross the 'never-reached-before' ODI Double Ton. He spared a smile, said it's too early to decide & continued with work.

I still had that gut feel echoing inside me all the time. Sachin seemed to be at his very best. The shots he played, effortless as it looked. No risks taken. No catches dropped. No near-falls. No Run-out chances. No leading edges. One would be surprised if doing all the above would have been possible throughout the 50 overs. Sehwag, also had the same feeling!

"He had started the innings in a confident mood. As soon as he hit his first boundary, off the third ball of the second over, he walked up to me and said the pitch was full of runs and we only needed to time the ball !"

Sehwag, who the world thought was very much capable of reaching this 200 Mark himself admitted that he wouldn't. He takes too many risks and always play with a 'hell-i-care' attitude. Sachin has the skill to attack as well as snatching the singles safely in the middle overs. These two already had talks about the same. Sehwag exclaimed after the match,

We have had chats about him scoring 200. He thought it was difficult, but I told him only he could do it. Last year in New Zealand, when he retired on 163 I told him he had missed the opportunity, but he said "Agar meri kismat mein hoga toh woh mil jayega [It will eventually happen if I am destined to do it]." He said the same when he got 175 against Australia last year. On Wednesday he said "Woh likha tha, toh mil gaya [I got what was destined]". 

Sachin always beleived in destiny. I watching the match live was also Destiny. I was in office but still thanks to 'Live-streaming' Technology - well provided free of cost by CricketNirvana.com. I could still watch the game live on the Internet. Thank you CricketNirvana.com. If you have missed the moment, here you go.

That said, it's a marvellous moment for the nation to rejoice, remember forever. Thank you very much - Sachin. May you be blessed for what you are and we are looking forward to your next mark - Hundred 100's in both forms of the formidable game :-)