Column

Given our obsession for records and statistics, the response to Sachin Tendulkar becoming Test cricket’s highest run getter was rather muted. Perhaps it is a sign of the miserable times that have gripped us currently or perhaps just the sheer inevitability of the event. For, ever since Brian Lara retired last year it has become a one-off race for Tendulkar.

In many ways the Tendulkar-Lara rivalry has become the showpiece of cricket for the past 15-odd years. Their penchant for attacking strokeplay and propensity to score centuries frequently not only made them the staple diet of statisticians but also earned the two batsmen world-wide adulation from lay spectator and aficionado alike.

The history of cricket of course is dotted in with several such fascinating battles between batsmen over different eras. Ranji versus Fry (though they both played for the same county, Sussex and country, England), Bradman versus Hammond, and Gavaskar versus Richards versus Greg Chappell versus Miandad are a few that come readily to mind.

The most remarkable phase in cricket however came in the late 1970s and ’80s when four brilliant all-rounders graced the game simultaneously. Imran Khan, Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev were exciting cricketers and striking personalities. The debate on who was the best still rages, but that is purely academic; all four had outstanding talent and were capable of winning a match on their own.

Purely from a personal viewpoint, I thought the seesaw battle between Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne was as compelling as the race for runs between Lara and Tendulkar. But this did not quite command the same level of interest in the general public. There are nuances to spin bowling which are not so easily highlighted still either by television or by stats. Cricket, all said and done, remains a batsman’s game.

What added enormously to the romance of the rivalry between Lara and Tendulkar was that they were as dissimilar as they were alike — and not just because one was a left-hander and the other a right-hander. Tendulkar’s batting is built around technical virtuosity; Lara’s on razor-sharp eyesight and superb footwork. There is an evident solidity to Tendulkar’s batting even when he is blazing away while Lara is all magical effervescence, living dangerously but delightfully.

They were vastly contrasting personalities too. Lara carried his flamboyance even beyond the cricket boundaries, leading a life so colourful as to whet the appetite of the sensation-seekers wherever he went. Tendulkar, a la Jekyll and Hyde so to speak, becomes a model of sobriety and propriety once he puts away his bat.

Okay, now that Tendulkar has the world record, where does he go from here? Does he have the hunger for new challenges and if so, what can these be?

In the short run, he obviously wants to play on which is good news for Indian cricket and should mean a few 1000 runs and some more centuries to swell his kitty to an even more amazing degree. But I would hope that Tendulkar extends his role now beyond just runs and records.

What cricket needs today is someone who has the stature which everybody respects and who can give voice to a vision that would take it to another level. In that sense too and not only in batsmanship, Tendulkar needs to be a Don Bradman who had served as selector, administrator, critic and conscience-keeper of the game.

Alas, there have been very few players in post-war cricket who have been able and willing to take on this mantle. Frank Worrell was one but too many other players with the right credentials have never quite sought this role. Of four others who I believe had the clout and articulation to do this, Richie Benaud and Sunil Gavaskar chose to pursue media interests and have been off and on. Imran Khan has preferred politics and Mike Brearley went into practising clinical psychology full time.

Tendulkar’s biodata for this role is impeccable. He is not only the most watched and richest player in the world, but also the most revered. He is cricket’s undisputed global brand ambassador. He now needs to
become its statesman.
Email: ayaz@dnaindia.net