“Who is Sachin Tendulkar? ” The light was ebbing, and Wasim Akram couldn’t distinguish the bum’s face…

Sounds somewhat familiar? This is probably how Ayn Rand would have started Atlas Shrugged, if she would have chosen to write about cricket instead of capitalism.

My most powerful memory of Sachin Tendulkar is from the Australia vs. India match of 1998, played in Sharjah. I remember waking up at 6 O’ clock in the morning, Thursday 23 April 1998. I was a nine year old then, an age when a child discovers his hero. I read the headline on the newspaper. Sachin had made 143 runs against Australia, in a wild, nerve-wreaking match. India had lost, but Sachin won many fans, I of course was one of them. What a way to discover a hero!

Sachin Tendulkar has been the most important thing that ever happened to Indian cricket. He made cricket popular to the young generation of Indians in 90’s, who also saw the advent of media revolution in India, which was accompanied with the opening of the economy. India, an underachiever in almost any other sport, had a sport and a sportsman to be proud of. He was also a hope behind a feeling that maybe someday we can have a Sachin Tendulkar in many other sports.

Often when Tendulkar faltered, he did that in style! While almost everyone is aware of his record of a hundred 100s, not many know that he also holds the record for highest number of dismissals in the 90s, a total of 28 times, across all forms of international cricket. This led some people to prompt that Nervous Nineties, should instead be called Tendulkar Nineties.

So, who is Sachin Tendulkar?

For me, he is not God. He has the grace, charm and might that reminds of a King. His towering records, which may be a record in itself, his massive fan following, and his mortal moments in cricket- his injuries and the long dry spell of bad form- which even led the spectators to boo at him once, yet he came back like a warrior! Sachin Tendulkar for me is not a God, but he is the King, probably the only one that was left in cricket today.

While his retirement from cricket will not stop the motor of cricket, he has many a times been the motor of Team India. There were periods in Indian cricket when Team India was a one man army, when his wicket was all that the opponents needed to start a premature celebration. His presence in the dressing room alone was enough to boost the team’s morale.

Is he a destroyer or a liberator? He is both- destroyer of the joie de vivre of many Shane Warnes, and liberator of millions of Indian fans who have sworn not to watch cricket from today. He is nothing like Ayn Rand’s John Galt. He is a legend in his own right.