The history of Indian cricket has been re-written since the day that Sachin Tendulkar begun to play. And that is exactly twenty years back down memory lane. We have had great players like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, the famous spin trio, Md. Azharuddin and many more and several winning moments since the 1983 World Cup victory. But it will not be an exaggeration to state that the winning confidence in Team India has taken concrete shape as the master blaster has gone from one achievement to the next.


Newspapers and TV channels this entire November have been busy tracking the successes of Sachin Tendulkar with numerous assessments of his calibre and even more features on his entire career. This article is a late entry on the scene really. When it comes to talking about unadulterated greatness, there is profusion and loss of words at the same time. The fact is, when everybody is in agreement, there is no need of debate. Sachin Tendulkar has been a complete man for all these years. I don't say a 'cricketer' because he has elevated the game beyond known realms of perfection, I don't say 'entertainer' because his passion for the game has led him beyond known boundaries of commitment.


Sachin Tendulkar has had his injuries, but no injury has been able to take away even an iota of that famous self-assurance that has always managed to bounce back with better performances. He has had his bad patches and his loss of form but never long enough for anybody to even dare think that Sachin Tendulkar may be written off. Can anybody even begin to imagine how many cricket careers Tendulkar has seen in his playing time? Seniors who have been forced to respect him as an equal and subsequently as a superior, contemporaries who have been induced to perform better as they were playing with him and juniors who have started playing cricket with him as inspiration. Even opponents, in his case at least, have never grudged admiration and respect in spite of deriving maximum satisfaction when he has walked off the field.


And Sachin Tendulkar has always been a true Indian.

Today morning, the papers have reported that Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna has launched a scathing attack on Sachin Tendulkar, a day after he celebrated 20 glorious years in international cricket. Sachin had recently made a comment somewhere saying that he was proud to be a Maharashtrian and he was proud of Mumbai but he was an Indian first. On its editorial page, Saamna has asked Sachin Tendulkar to concentrate on his game of cricket. The editorial, which supposedly reflects the views of Bal Thackeray said, "There was no reason for Sachin to make this comment. Sachin has got 'run out' on the 'pitch of Marathi mindspace'. Sachin is the badshah of cricket and he should stick to cricket. He should mind his game and not comment on these things."


Protests have started pouring in from all corners even as Tendulkar himself is playing the first test against Sri Lanka. We are at a loss of words again. It is ironical that it is possible in our country to be criticised for nurturing a feeling of patriotism after having spent an entire career in making the country proud. We take a break. Please write in your comments in this matter.