The bowler steams into bowl, Sachin Tendulkar rises on his toes and flicks a short of good length delivery to the right of the mid-wicket fielder and scampers for two runs. Ravi Shastri goes ballistic on the mike with his chosen clichés as the Little Master completes another century. Millions in front of their television and radio sets erupt in joy and celebrate. Within minutes, a nation gets back to work. The joy of a Sachin Tendulkar landmark is priceless.
So finally comes the 24th day of April and Tendulkar isn’t playing cricket anymore. The charisma surrounding him is yet to be completely faded. He continues to capture the imagination and be a hot-selling market property. He still seems a good investment. And thus, Mumbai Indians wouldn’t have left the opportunity of having him in their set-up go.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is known to give out fancy designations — a head coach, a coach, an assistant coach, a batting consultant, a bowling coach, a fielding coach, an analyst and a mentor among others. The pool of support staff at times is as big as the squad. With all these roles already assigned, Mumbai Indians needed a suitable title to fit Sachin Tendulkar in their set-up; and thus, emerged the ‘icon’.
Whatever the title means, the Little Master seems to ease into any role. As a cricketer, he was often the answer to any dilemma that the team faced. If Inzamam was taking the Indian bowlers to the cleaners, Sachin was brought on. If the captain was looking clueless, the genius always had a smart ploy up his sleeves even in the bowling department. As far as his batting was concerned, words won’t do justice.
Even off the field, go for a press conference of a launch of any product with Tendulkar as the brand ambassador and he had a life story about each of those products/brands.
So how frivolous is the tag of an icon on Sachin Tendulkar. Is it merely a marketing ploy or simply an act to garner goodwill? Is it of any good to the cricketing aspect of the Mumbai Indians?
With the retirement of Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sanath Jayasuriya, VVS Laxman, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting from the IPL, very few senior heads remain in the competition; a ‘tournament of the young’. The cricketing landscape is changing, players are becoming bolder, more money is pouring in and distractions are at an all-time high for young cricketers. Sachin Tendulkar, under these circumstances, becomes an ideal hero to look up to.
He has seen money, fame, attention and a lot more distraction than many players today could even imagine. And yet, he has emerged out of it without letting his game or conduct down. The title of ‘icon’ befits the man for his deeds and stature. But it will be redundant if the players in the side don’t seek his advice or follow his footsteps. Beyond all the runs and centuries that he has scored, there remains a man who was the ultimate ambassador of the game.
Former Mumbai skipper Amol Muzumdar had told me a couple of years back in an interview with CricketCountry,”From the moment he enters the nets to the moment he leaves, your eyes are transfixed on him. Just watching him practice is an education in itself.” He said this after Tendulkar had played 23 years of international cricket and scored over 32,000 runs.
In India, we don’t have as many heroes who have achieved laurels of the standard of Tendulkar, whose work ethics are as exemplary. And thus even frivolous titles can go a long way in helping the youngsters in the team groom to be better ambassadors of the game, to stay away from the evils prevailing and pick up the fine intricacies of the art of cricket. It depends on how well the players choose to use the services of the Little Master.
To have Sachin Tendulkar in the world is priceless.
Aayush Puthran is a media graduate from Wilson College, Mumbai who formerly worked as a cricket journalist. Currently he is an Associate Producer with Sony SIX. Mercurially jovial, pseudo pompous, perpetually curious and occasionally confused, he is always up for a light-hearted chat over a few cups of filter kaapi!
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