Tendulkar - 36 and going strong

[Pratters]

The maestro celebrated his 36th birthday yesterday.

Sweet 36! Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai Indians and Team India teammates celebrate his 36th birthday in Durban on Friday. (AFP)

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Sports | I feel like 16, says Sachin

I feel like 16, says Sachin

Durban: Sachin Tendulkar turned 36 Friday and said he still feels like a boy of 16.

The right-hander, bracketed with the legendary Don Bradman, is currently leading the Mumbai Indians in the ongoing Indian Premier League in South Africa.

“I feel like 16. I think it’s the good wishes and blessings that count,” he said.

“It’s not about breaking records. It’s about winning matches. It’s a terrific feeling to win and that’s what matters,” Tendulkar said, after cutting the birthday cake in company of his the Mumbai Indians teammates.

Worshipped in India and equally revered across the world, Tendulkar made his debut at 16 against Pakistan before growing into a batsman who has given nightmares to bowlers across the globe.

Tendulkar said his career stats, which show more than 12,000 Test and over 16,000 ODI runs, don’t matter much in comparison to being part of a winning team.

“Stats are merely a reflection of an individual’s contribution to the team. Ultimately it’s a team sport and though individual performances matter, it’s more about winning matches,” he said.

Tendulkar’s birthday celebrations here was also attended by his India teammate Yuvraj Singh. (PTI)
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It is also a good time to remind every one that he is playing at his best now, comparable to any phase of his career. My long and tedious arguments with people who thought Tendulkar was finished can lay to rest now.

 

[Noble One]

Happy birthday Sachin.

Seriously though, he still looks in great touch. Seems to have placed many of his injury concerns behind him now. Has few records left to break in the game, but still looks like he could play on for years.

 

[rivera213]

Dravid is also having a bit of a renaissance in the IPL this year.

I wonder if Tendulkar will replicate Graham Gooch and have the best of his years post 36-years old?

 

[Jono]

Forgetting the money and fame, and purely from a statistical point of view, I wonder if Sachin would trade his records with, say a Damien Martyn or Justin Langer, so long as he experienced the team success they did.

EDIT: Maybe not Langer, because he never won a World Cup.

 

[Anil]

no i don't think he will...

 

[ret]

happy b'day Sachin!!

 

[vcs]

Forgetting the money and fame, and purely from a statistical point of view, I wonder if Sachin would trade his records with, say a Damien Martyn or Justin Langer, so long as he experienced the team success they did.

EDIT: Maybe not Langer, because he never won a World Cup.

That's an interesting question, I think he would, because he still says that he would like to lead India to World Cup glory. Also don't forget that those batsmen have very respectable records, and if they had Sachin's longevity, they would have around 10000 Test runs as well. Of course, the fact that Sachin has performed at this standard for close to two decades is a massive credit to him, and is testament to his greatness. I believe too much hype and attention is paid in India to winning the World Cup and maybe Sachin is affected by that, personally, I feel winning a Test series in S. Africa or Australia would be a far more memorable achievement than winning a World Cup, and a fitting way to go out. I think after all these years, Sachin finally has a team that is worthy of his amazing talents, and he realises this, which is why he is enjoying his cricket like never before.

I feel Damien Martyn in particular is criminally underappreciated as one of the great batsmen of modern times, he scored crucial runs under all kinds of conditions, against every kind of bowling attack, and was a huge part of Australia's Test success all over the world, especially the Final Frontier of the subcontinent. His only high-profile failure came in the Ashes series of 2005 (where he was a victim of some shocking umpiring decisions) and the first two tests in the 2006-07 series, which led to his retirement. I hope he is remembered by those amazing innings he played in 2004, under all sorts of different conditions (Galle and Kandy against Muralitharan and co., Chennai and Nagpur against Kumble/Harbhajan, Perth against Akhtar/Sami). He is one of my all-time favourite batsmen to watch, in terms of technique and how easy he made batting look. I was looking around youtube for videos of some of his innings, but was unable to find anything.

 

[Furball]

The thing I'm loving about Tendulkar is the way his batting seems to be one final massive farewell tour - and he's treating the crowds in every country to some vintage Tendulkar innings.

I'd never fully appreciated Tendulkar for years - Brian Lara was always my batting icon.

 

[Pothas]

Always loved him, would really like him to come to England one more time as the two times I have seen him he didn't make runs but I think it is unlikely.

 

[Howsie]

Watching him in bat in the first test at Hamilton was a real treat, for me Tendulkar hasn't looked this good in years.

 

[honestbharani]

Hope he can continue to delight us for a few more years... Even forgetting about how good a cricketer he is, the fact that he is such a delight as a person is what is always gonna stay with me about him. You don't see men who can react this well when their whole life is spent under such intense media scrutiny...

 

[oitoitoi]

Belated happy bday Sachin!

He's still got another 2 or 3 years in him yet. I think he may well do a Gooch, he's always had the technique but now he has all the experience in the world and a successful side to give him confidence. He's assessing conditions and situations perfectly and I'm hoping he can get that 100 international 100's, would be "thuper awethome"

 

[Uppercut]

Hehe, the monthly "isn't that Sachin Tendulkar a good player?" thread.

 

[Jono]

^ Lol true. They've replaced the monthly "Sachin is past it/overrated and should retire/be dropped" threads.

 

[Pratters]

I don't see threads on Tendulkar cropping every once in a while. Maybe I missed a few threads but when I created this, I thought it was about the right time.

 

[Arjun]

We may be seeing the best of Tendulkar in the last few years- a lot of his knocks have resulted in team victories, notably in the Hamilton Test, and the Commonwealth Bank finals.

 

[silentstriker]

That's solely because of the bowling.

 

[silentstriker]

And he is doing well, not better than the mid-late ninenties though. He was the best I've ever watched during that time.

 

[Jono]

That's solely because of the bowling.

Lol, so what is he supposed to do?

You can say that about so many other batsman knocks (Lara, S Waugh) which have been hailed as match winning.

 

[silentstriker]

Lol, so what is he supposed to do?

Huh? Nothing. I'm saying you can't look down on his mid-nineties knocks because he didn't have the bowling he does now.