Thank you Sachin–from a fan!

23/12/2012 will be one of the unforgettable day for most of the cricket lovers, it is the day the 'God of Cricket', 'Little Master', 'Master Blaster', ‘The Great’, One and Only Sachin Tendulkar retired from ODI, that's it? it may be for few, but not for most!

I know this day will come, but it came bit soon.

I can't thank Sachin enough (as a humble fan) for his contribution to the great sport called 'Cricket' and the great memories he has given us to cherish through out our lives. I am sure there is going to be plenty of blog posts regarding Sachin's retirement, numbers, achievements and so on. In this post I don't want to go into numbers or his achievement, I wanted to share what Sachin mean to me as a fan and shed my feelings.

 

I can’t remember the day I started watching cricket, the only thing I can remember is, I started watching cricket with my cousin brother Harry Nihal and I started watching cricket Sachin playing and I am still watching cricket for Sachin. I cant forget the days I celebrated Sachin's each runs with my cousin brother, school, college friends and family.

I can’t forget the day that people ask “what is Sachin’s score”, and no interest in knowing team score.

I can’t forget the days people switch off television once Sachin got out!

I can’t forget the days people celebrate Sachin century as their personal achievement.

Well, I am one among those people I mentioned above! I am sure you also belong to that group!

Everyone know how great he is and the great things he has done, the most interesting thing I have learned from Sachin is, his strong attitude to fight critics, his mental strength to overcome obstacles. He is my role model, as for most of us. The lessons I have learnt from him helps me in my day today activities, at work and wherever it is applicable.

When situation demand more from me in life, at work, when I am under severe pressure, I take a silent moment, deep breath and think about this great man. When I think about the pressure Sachin experienced for many years, the criticism he has been facing many years, mine looks like a lost pebble in the beach sand. He also taught me, us. how to answer to the critics and how to react under pressure.  

The above is just one of the examples from a million. He is thoroughly motivating and exciting.

As we have heard so many times, he did hold the nation in his shoulders for the past 23 years, in recent times few percentage of the people didn't give him the respect he deserves, which is really disappointing and disheartening. If I feel this disappointed, just image how much the great man would have been disappointed? cant find a word to describe that.

But now he has retired from ODI career, we wont be able to see him in Indian blue jersey any more, no aggressive pull, no square cure, no classic straight drive, no outstanding cover drive, no upper cut, no paddle sweep, no reverse sweep, no helicopter shot etc, etc and etc!

No more Sachin… Sachin.. Sachin…Sachin.. in cricket grounds..very disappointing..

To be extremely honest with deep sadness, I am happy that Sachin retired from ODI, it is not because more youngsters will be playing, it is truly because he wont be under any more criticism and wont be blamed for the teams defeat.

The only happy news is, he will be still playing Test Cricket, I am sure he is working hard as he was doing for the past 23 years for the challenges ahead.

We, I am, really blessed to watch Sachin batting with the Indian blue jersey. It is a big shame that the next generation wont be able to witness the magic he does with his heavy willow.

One of Ravi Shastri’s famous commentary "today he used his bat like a surgeons blade, precision" 

I am really blessed, because I had the greatest gift of meeting him, taking photos with him and got his autograph! read about my exciting experience in my previous blog, Hallelujah I Saw Sachin!

My all time Sachin's favorite innings was his back 2 back centuries in Sharjah against the might Aus!(I still watch that at least once a week) how can I forget the 2 CB series finals, 2003 world cup against Pakistan, the great superman innings of 200 runs vs SA, and the greatest achievement of his life, 2011 World Cup, I can do this for many hours, but I would stop here.  

One of the best videos regarding Sachin have a look and enjoy his achievments.

Some fast facts about Sachin- Facts

I am not sure how I can watch India playing ODI matches without Sachin? well, I am also retiring from watching ODI matches. Yes, It is a pure selfish act, but I would happily accept the blame.

Thanks again Sachin!

Calvin Christopher

Hallelujah I Saw Sachin!

My Dream came true! Yes, my 20 years, Golden Dream came true!

16/07/2011, Unforgettable day in my life!

As my blog heading says, I saw the “God of Cricket!” Yes, I met Sachin Tendulkar!

I stood near him, touched him, got his autograph, took pictures of him and I Took pictures with him!!!! I didn’t sleep that night! not able to sleep because of excitement! Also, I saw Sachin playing! Oh my God! it all happened in a same day! what else i can ask for a day?

Truly exciting! amazing!

I saw Sachin and Team India during their first practice match again Somerset @Taunton, UK. 
Its not only my dream its the dream of Million people!

I used the opportunity and grabbed a ticket for the 3 days friendly match, not only me, there were 100’s of Indian there, all came to see the one and only Sachin. The truly amazing thing, is most of the British people came there to see Sachin and his Game!

British kids, waiting outside to see Sachin, 60 years old waiting outside to see Sachin! We really need to be proud!

The match was Scheduled to start at 11:00am, second day, I went there approximately 9:40am to see the players! It was raining, the ground was wet! I was so upset, I just entered into the ground, opened my bag to take my Cam and there came a car!

All started shouting Sachin! Sachin! I was excited and I was not aware what I was doing, didn’t turn the cam on!  but started clicking! Missed to capture Sachin! So upset!


Then, everyone was waiting outside the dressing room building more than 2 hours to get a glimpse of Sachin and get his Autograph! No Joy!

I heard someone saying, if we go to nets we can see the players! I thought where was that? I started following few people and they entered in to building and there, I saw few people taking photos! I was excited and ran towards the nets!

There Dravid was batting, Murali Karthick bowling to him in one nets, Raina batting and Srisanth bowling to him in anther one, took few pictures. I asked people there did Sachin came there, all said NO
I along with few others were standing there, suddenly the Master Came out! He was literally 6 feet away from me! He came out from the Gym, sweating! 38 years old working hard in the Gym, where as Dhoni, Yuvraj, Laxman, Munaf, Praveen, Gambir came to the ground only 30 min before the game started!



I didn't believe my eyes! He went to have a chat with Dravid and few other players everyone started shouting Sachin, he promised he will come back for Autograph! I found a Autograph book in my backpack picked out, found a pen and was ready to get his autograph!

As promised he came back! I watched him very close! He is so simple, no attitude, very good person. He is Fit, Strong, and no one can say that he is 38! he is so good! Broad Shoulders and chest! amazing athlete!  I was waiting with my note book. waiting for my turn for the autograph! finally I got that! It was a great moment Guys! I felt that!

Here is his Autograph! That autograph book worth Millions of Pounds for me now!


After autograph I desperately wanted to take a picture with him! I followed him and tried to take a pic using the Live view feature, thanks to Nikon D5100, it comes with the flip display screen, I tried to take a picture as the lens was at 55mm I was not successful, please see my attempt below! out of focus also! as you can expect I am extremely sad! I wanted to take another one!




I followed him and few people stopped him to get his autograph! A guy ran towards me and asked me to take a picture of him with Sachin! I perfectly did that, I asked him to take a picture of me with Sachin! He tried, but quiet late in clicking the button! Sachin turned! look at this pic below!



As you can expect I wanted to slap that guy who took the pic!
mm.. though I am extremely Happy to see Sachin that close! Wished him, Thanked him for the World cup! what else I can ask?

I felt satisfied! This is the second time in my life I get this feeling, first time I got satisfied after doing our first service at Thirupathur Blind School!

I was a happy bunny!!!! laughing and running!!

Finally, the rain stopped and the umpires decided to started the match by 2:30pm, Somerset continued batting and our bowlers struggled! A Tamil Guy named Arul Suppiah played for Somerset and he scored 156 at an avg of 66, good batting!



Somerset declared for 425 and we started batting, first to go back to pavilion is Gambir after a short quick innings, then Dravid came.

The interesting thing is Indian Opening batsman Mukund was batting and Somerset appealed for an LBW and all the Indians in the crowd started shouting OUT!!! OUT!! OUT!! Give IT! OUT! even I did! Its all because to see Sachin’s batting! How crazy right? yes!

When Sachin came in to Bat all gave him Standing ovation! he is really the master!

Now Sachin came in….



He didn’t score a lot, he scored 26 runs, 5 glorious, classic boundaries! He soon got out and started walking back, the entire crowd stood up clapped and appreciated him!Glorious scene for an Indian to watch that!
After he got out, almost 75% of the crowd started moving! Yes, even most of the British people called the day off and started moving out!

I was really gifted to see Sachin that close! He is amazing, its really impressive to see how people all over the world is respecting the Master! Its true is Cricket is Religion then Sachin is GOD!

And my Dream Came true! I have one more dream!

I wanted to live witness Sachin scoring a Century!

Calvin Christopher

World Cricket Day, Sachin

"ONE MAN"
286-Six (6)
2895-Four (4)
152-catches
20152-balls faced,
44-not out
44.34-average
451-ODI
424-innings
94-50s ODI
48-100s ODI
18008-runs
61-man of the match,
54-man of the series,
""FIRST MAN ON THE PLANET TO SCORE 200 IN ODI"".

That's one and only...

 

    SACHIN

 "GOD of Cricket"

ICC announced that our Sachin Tendulkar birthday is "WORLD CRICKET DAY" Proud to be a Sachin's fan. Long live Sachin..  India is Proud of you Master!  I am proud to be your fan!   Dont forget! April 24, World Cricket day!   Calvin

A Bow to the New T20 Champions!!!

A Bow to the New T20 Champions!!!
Hard work always pays, it’s the biggest truth. We can also say hard work and good attitude pays; this also seems to be good. My hearty congrats to Pakistan T-20 team for lifting the WC. They showed what they are capable of. They showed what hard work and good attitude can make.
They were not in the greatest mood to start the T20 Tournament. Honestly I didn’t expect Pakistan to win the WC, I never even taught of that. The team hasn’t played lot of international tournament recently and they never had a winning stroke in the matches they played recently. But, they won the WC. Initially in the tournament they faced some serious defeats, but they recovered so quickly. I will say its pure attitude and 100% dedication than anything which, most of the team failed to show in the WC...

India’s early exit in T20 World cup!!!

India’s early exit in T20 World cup:

Team India, the unexpected champions of 2007- T20 world cup, unexpectedly flushed out of theT20- WC contest 2009. It’s is a disappointing story. It was said during IPL 2, IPL is a good ground for Indian Players to express their Talents, to gain Confidence and Spirit. Now the story line moves in different direction. Even in IPL the young players like Yuvraj, Dhoni, Gambir didn’t perform well whereas the big guns like Sachin, Saurav, Kumble proved, they are the master of cricket irrespective of the format and age.....

Are Indian players’ fatigue? I don’t think so. Not only Indian players played in IPL. Many international players, who are a part of IPL, played reasonably well in T20 WC.

So what it could be, Lack of planning, Overconfidence? Or Lack of good captaincy? Or pressure? Or Lack of coordination? There are many more to add in this list. Even before the T20-WC Indian team had a fight with the media, still it follows. Players were not interested in showing their face to the media. So what would be it?

IPL Season II

The Great Entertainer for every Cricket Lover… IPL (Indian Premier League)

IPL season II is in it's last day... A great season we had… right??  Great matches… Great display…

The only, great, disappointing factor is, it's not in India. 

Mr. Lalith Modi, the chairman of IPL Promised, IPL -3 will be in India. Let’s hope for the best… 

IPL was moved out of India because of our Elections. 

They should have delayed IPL right..?? 

The fact is no Players would be available after our Elections…They have their own National Duties to perform!   

It was in its own critical time… 

Mr. Ray Jennings, Former South African coach, stated “IPL is for Men, not Boys.” It’s almost correct. The performance of players makes that genuine.

Have a look at the Top batsman of IPL-II