Gentlemen Extraordinaire!!!

Over the past few hundred’s of years, India – The God’s Own Country, has been producing men and women with extraordinary capabilities. Right from Aryabhatta (scientist who invented zero) to Samrat Ashok to Dyan Chand to Mahatma Gandhi to Vikram Sarabhai, Mother India never had any dearth of people who could make it proud. But I have never ever come across these people. They mean a lot to me, to my county and to lot of other Indian’s but I’ve never watched them in action, only read or heard about them. This is not to discount their contribution to India. It’s just that we belonged to different generations and I unfortunately never had the opportunity to witness their greatness first hand. But ever since I’ve come out of infancy and started noticing things around me, I’ve been awed and dumb-struck by two great individuals ….. If I were to hand pick, two of the greatest individuals from India who had the greatest influence in my life and who could make the lives of people around them so beautiful, so worth-while, so entertaining…. It would be Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and Sharukh Khan (SRT and SRK). Hands Down – No Contest what-so-ever.

Ever since I remember watching cricket, Sachin was an Integral part of Team India. In fact, the oldest memories I have of cricket were of the 1992 world cup and Sachin was part of the team then. Sixteen years down the lane, after playing five world cups, after breaking every possible batting record, he is still part of Team India and he still is its most prominent batsmen. Team India still depends on him to trigger major wins. He was the poster boy of Indian cricket when he started out…. And it hasn’t changed much in the past 18 yrs… No wonder, in the latest ICC ODI Rankings, Sachin ended up at the No.1 spot.

Every sport has few great Individuals and they rule the roost during their time. For Soccer (Football) we have Pele (who invented the cycle kick) or Maradona (who bought the world cup to Argentina). For Basket Ball, we have Micheal Jordan or the Invincible Vince Carter. But when it comes to cricket, one gentleman stands tall and he stands tall above the rest. There were other great cricketers like Sir Don Bradman, Viv Richards, Kapil Dev, Gavaskar, Brian Lara etc., Each one of these individuals have achieved significant milestones in their respective careers and made great contribution to cricket. They may be better than Sachin or may be not. I haven’t seen them play live and I don’t know how good they were. Frankly speaking, I don’t give a damn… For all I care, when Sachin enters the cricketing field, it’s like Lion coming out of its den or rather Achilles entering the battle field. They are un-paralled!!!!

If you want to know what batting in cricket is all about, you’ve got to watch Sachin bat…. The sheer pleasure of watching Sachin bat is unparalled. His exemplary display of stroke play – those impeccable cover drives, over the bowlers top sixes, reverse sweeps and not to forget those rock solid defensive strokes have given immense pleasure not just to me but cricket enthusiasts around the world. In fact, few of the best moments I’ve had in my childhood were when I was watching Sachin bat. I can never ever forget the way he dismantled the figures of Australian bowlers in Sharjah Cup (1998)… one after another… from Shane Warne to Tom Moody to Damien Fleming…scoring back to back centuries and finally helping India win the coca-cola cup… Oh boy… what a series…. It's the most exotic display of stokes cricket viewers could ever witness...

Ten years later, in 2008, faced with the same challenge… same team (Australia)… but different venue…. This time it’s in Australia’s own den… Does he perform???? You bet he does!!!! He destroys the Australian bowling attack in the back to back finals and helps India register one of the greatest ODI victories in the history of Indian Cricket.... He is back… and back with a Bang!!!!! I guess that’s what happens if you wake up the sleeping tiger!!!!!

His impeccable track record, un-blemished character, excellent leadership skills make him not just great batsman, but also the greatest cricketer to have ever graced the cricketing field. Thank you Sachin for all the wonderful memories you gave us…. The moments that I have spent with you (even if it is on my TV) are some of the best moments of my life….

Shahrukh Khan, despite having a very contrasting personality compared to Sachin, is one of the individuals that I admire the most. If Sachin is calm, polite, down to earth… Shahrukh is aggressive, arrogant and intoxicating!!!! Probably, these are the very qualities that distinguish him from the rest!!!! Shahrukh personifies everything that has to do with Energy, Ambition, Glamour, Confidence and ofcourse Style. He is probably the best thing to have happened to bollywood or Indian Cinema in general over the last decade…

Unfortunately, all good things in life will have to come to any end some day. The day is not far when both Sachin and Shahrukh will step down and make way for the youngsters and those will probably be the most saddest days in my life. They have set such high standards, that it would be impossible for the ordinary mortals to even come close to them… forget about occupying their places... It would be an end of a great era, a great generation of which I am very proud of…… I dread for the day when Sachin retires from the International Cricket and I’ll probably stop following/watching cricket from then on…. He is the reason behind me following cricket so religiously for 16 years… and if I ever stop watching it… he’ll probably be the reason behind it too… Watching cricket without sachin is no fun…I suspect he might be thinking of playing 2011 world cup and take my word… if he decides to play the world cup, he will steer Team India to world cup victory in front of his home ground… (The 2011 world cup finals is being held at Mumbai, Sachin’s Home Ground)……

Thank you guys…. Thank you giving me all the memories that I could cherish for the rest of my life….