Wanted - The Old Tendulkar ... Post Script

Hi all

I had promised a piece on Tendulkar some days back ... and Rediff did carry it. So in case u missed it, here is the link - http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2004/sep/24guest.htm

I was really amazed by the response to this piece. Ok, since I wrote it, I expect the best from it but still ... 230 emails in my box plus about 2700 hits to my blog in two days. Whew! I bet I wouldn't have gotten 10% of the responses had this been an article about Dravid. Love him or hate him, SRT evokes feelings in all Indians like no one else does.

Just a couple of comments -

• About 95% of the responses told me that they echoed the feelings of the article. About 5% of the responses told me to get my head examined and wondered if I was connected to the ISI network of Pakistan. To all of u, thanx for the responses.
  
• No, comparing his current play with a "defective" Rahul Dravid from four years ago is not meant as an insult to Dravid. Today Dravid is amazing; four years back, he was just plain good. And a "defective" version of that ... well, it just doesn't reflect on Dravid. So guys, relax.
  
• Again, many of you have talked about Tendulkar's services to the game of cricket over 16 years and stuff like that. Well, I have no response to that simply coz I never questioned his services. His batting style of today has nothing to do with his services of the past 16 years. I am the general public ... we want "paisa vasooli" ... we r not getting that.
  
• A lot of you mentioned SRT's play in the World Cup of 2003 to prove that I was talking nonsense. The way I look at it, the reason why I am still hopeful (and the reason why I wasted time writing an article like this) is because the World Cup of 2003 proved that the shackles are self imposed and he can break those shackles when he wants. Seriously, if I doubted his ability today (age / injury etc ... many reasons you guys have given ... and which I agree to partially) I wouldn't have written this article. I am not a journalist ... I get no money for these articles ... so there is no reason to write something for heck sakes of it.
  
• Today when Tendulkar comes into bat, rival skippers don't immediately feel the pressure ... instead they go on the attack ... just pass ur minds back to the series of the last couple of years and u will realize what I am saying. This is Tendulkar ... and they actually try to attack him. Would they have tried that some years back? Would they have dared?
  

There was a comment in the article about "McGrath 3 overs 3 maidens ... and then 6 overs 33 runs" ... When I watched this match, I was with a couple of friends, and after the 6th over, when McGrath was walking away with a bemused look on his face, shaking his head repeatedly, one friend literally rolled on the ground, with tears streaming from his eyes and screaming - "Abe Ramu ... look at his (McGrath's) face ... look at it ... HA HA HA HA" .... that actually captures the essence of what I want to say. That is the Tendulkar I want to see, not the Sydney 241 one.

Anyway, enjoyed the responses to the article. Had to mass reply to handle all the mails and if u haven't got ur reply yet, u will soon.

Cheers

The Chuckster