The phenomenon called Hundredth Hundred

A person whose name is synonymous with the game, the one who is a symbol of sheer hard work and dedication, who is considered a Demigod in His nation, now sees Himself at the pinnacle of all records. It almost seems impossible for any living person in this universe to even reach near to the landmark. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, for whom life has been nothing but cricket, is now in that kind of a phase.

It’s obviously very tough to choose the best among the best Tendulkar hundreds, that you have watched and in fact lived them throughout your life. But there are some none the less that stand out and define why He is called ‘The God’. The hundreds which he scored at Sharjah definitely top the list. Virat Kohli confessed that those were the awe-inspiring innings that influenced his career decision and he dreamt of repeating some thing like that for the nation one day. It was famously described as ‘The Sandstorm inning’.

Chennai has always been a favorite hunting ground for the God. The night mares of 1998 are still fresh in the minds of Shane Warne and that superlative knock on the last day against England after 26/11, which He dedicated to NSG and Indian Army. Of course, who can forget that epic inning of 136 against Pakistan in 1999, when India lost by 11 runs. Even God could not control His emotions that day and the nation cried along with Him. Emotions have always been an integral part of a Tendulkar hundred, but the century against Kenya in 1999 World Cup had no comparison. He had to take that hard decision between personal loss and national duty.

Apart from Chennai, Tendulkar has loved playing on SCG. Some of the innings that stand out for their special aspect is the 241* at Sydney where He controlled Himself from playing front foot drive which was causing his dismissal most of the times during that period. The hundred in the test match that included the so called monkey gate incident at the same venue 4 yrs later and His hundred in the CWB Tri series final on the same tour, were again an epitome of class and genius. Cricket pundits have lauded His hundred at Perth on tour to Australia in ’92 as a knock that unleashed the fighting spirit in Him which the world was about to see in coming years.

Along with 1998, one more year that would define Tendulkar’s career would be 2010. He was just phenomenal that year. It began with two test hundreds against Bangladesh, two against South Africa, a double against Sri Lanka, a double against Australia and ended with that coveted 50^th Test Hundred against South Africa at Centurion. But in between another landmark happened. A double hundred in ODI. Undoubtedly it was an innings of a lifetime. An interesting fact here can be observed –He had scored 4 double hundreds in His career of 20 years long but scored 3 back to back in a single year. To add to that the orange cap in IPL. Definitely age (38) was just another number for Him in 2010.

Again one inning which I was amazed to see was of 175 against Australia at Hyderabad in 2009. Australia had set a daunting target of 350 runs to chase and from the entire star studded Indian line up, it looked like only Tendulkar had the belief that the target was achievable. If we look at His career graph, we can see that some of His long innings have come in the past few years. Just like an old wine, his taste with success has continued to become richer with years. Even the two hundreds which He hit in 2011 World Cup against England and South Africa were a delight to watch.

Its just amazes me how can a knock of hundred runs capture entire Nation’s attraction and the kind of satisfying feeling which it gives to everyone that day. The fact that in the entire year after the World Cup, the 100^th hundred phenomena became the epicenter of any Indian match just speaks about the adulation that this man gets. Such are the emotions of people attached to each of His inning that Sachin equivalents to a century for them and nothing else. Years down the line a Tendulkar hundred has achieved such a stature that even the result of the match seems inconsequential (as observed in the Asia Cup match and in many more previous instances). People are just too satisfied with a Tendulkar hundred. It makes their day and gives them a peaceful sleep. Although the God, Himself would hate that. It has always been team first for Him.

After the golden moment was achieved by the Master Blaster, Harsha Bhogle in his video blog asked all cricket fans to just sit back, relax and repeat those words “One Hundred Hundreds” and experience the goose bumps that every hardcore Indian cricket fan would feel. Indeed how true is that.

Enjoy the God at work till He is on the field. Who knows you may just won’t love the game any more after He retires.

                                                                                                            OMKAR.D.JUVEKAR.