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- A Tribute to Sachin Tendulkar by Bhavya Kumar Vasudevan

 A day when India ended up losing to Pakistan by a mere 12 runs in the 2nd ODI in Rawalpindi, one man will be utterly disappointed. A man who is now the parent of all cricketers. A man with the most experience and a man with the most runs. Sachin Tendulkar, in an attempt to chase an impossible target passed yet another milestone, 13000 runs in One Day International cricket. Miles in front of next in the list, Inzamam with 9607 runs.

14 years ago when Sachin started his International career there was a thought in everyone's mind. Many professionals said that this kid will go far. Today after surpassing the milestone, those same people would be thinking 'not this far'. No one at that time would have thought that one day this kid will surpass 13000 runs. Back in 1989 when Sachin made his debut, there were the likes of Wasim Akram, Imran Khan and Waqar Younis gunning for him. Having had a miserable debut, he suffered a painful blow later in that series to learn what International cricket is all about. At that time he was being tamed by the bowlers, with bouncers flying close to his nose, he survived. The result of that survival can now be seen.

With 37 centuries and 66 half centuries Sachin has been the king of One Day cricket. Scoring those 13000 runs at an average of 45 runs per innings for 14 years is a phenomenal achievement. Only god will be able to tell us how much will he be ending with. Any cricketing pundit will predict above 20000 ODI runs, but then how many pundits predicted in 1989 that he will cross 13000. He has always been a step ahead of everyone. He has always been a master!

This milestone has been such a relishing moment for everybody. Inzamam ul haq, the Pakistan skipper, and his fiercest rival, bestowed accolades on him for the way he has managed himself throughout his career. Yousuf Youhana, was quoted saying that he is the champion of champions. Rashid Latif wrote in a column referring Sachin as the 'Kohinoor' of cricket. After surpassing 12000 runs in Centurion during the World Cup match against Pakistan, he is back adding another milestone to his list exactly one year after against the same opponents on their home turf.

Not much is left to describe this great cricketer. I am still not able to digest the 13000 figure. There have been batsman whose total number of runs in both forms of the game has not reached this mark. It is an incredible achievement by an incredible cricketer.

 

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