For the last two decades, Indian cricket has gained immeasurably from Sachin's presence- on and off the field. Sachin Tendulkar, gifted with talent and temperament, has reached almost all heights that can be scaled in the record books of cricket but the only thing that is missing from the cabinet of the living legend is a World Cup trophy.
Prior to the World Cup, all the pre tournament hype for India revolved around only one man - the little master: Sachin Tendulkar. Each and every Indian player came out and said that they wanted to win the tournament for the maestro.
On Sunday when Sachin took guard, everybody in the ground and millions watching on television could have sensed how desperate Sachin was to lift the cup and that his passion was still the same for the game.
Although he started slowly but when he got his eye in he cleared the boundary with ease and the England bowlers had no answer to his shots, the way he clobbered Paul Collingwood and Graeme Swann out of the park, fans were reminded of the young Sachin. One thing was clear on Sunday that he more than anyone in the team wants to win the coveted trophy and he can pace the innings the way he wishes and can slaughter any top class bowler.
But the Indian bowlers and fielders had some other plan, they were simply out of sorts and when they took the field inspite of being charged up to take the game to the opposition, they were restless and lethargic on the field.
Once again it was the bowling that led Team India and their fans down. Likes of Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Yuvraj Singh were hammered all over the ground by some classy batting by Andrew Strauss, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell.
Though Zaheer Khan was the pick of the bowlers for India but he too was expensive giving away 64 runs in his 10 overs but made up for it by picking up three crucial wickets.
Both the Indian games were an action replay of each other. On one hand where batting was just a class apart, bowling was well below par and wayward. Indian bowlers should take the England tie as a wake up call otherwise forget about the Cup, India won't be getting beyond the quarter final stage.
The key in saving India on both occasions was the lack of depth in the opposition's batting. This surely won't be the case against South Africa, who will have AB de Villiers walking in at 5 and Duminy at 6. Pakistan will have the likes of Misbah, Afridi and Razzaq in the lower order to hammer the opposition bowling. Likes of Sri Lanka and Australia also have good depth down the batting order and if bowlers continue with the same line and length, surely an early exit is on the cards for the Indians.
Talking about Sachin, critics and many people believe that Sachin plays for records. Are you kidding me here? Man who gives everything on the filed - play day in and day out and walks to the crease like it was his last match surely does not run after records.
What else do you expect from a man who is going out in the middle and scoring a century at less than a run a ball? He scored a classy 120 off just 115 balls that included 5 massive sixes and it was mainly due to his efforts that India were able to up the ante in the middle overs and reach a formidable target of 338.
But thanks to the Indian bowlers and fielders they ruined the day for the master with their pathetic bowling and fielding. If the performance of the bowlers is not up to the mark, it's surely not Sachin's headache. It's high time India know about their responsibilities and start giving more than 100 per cent if they really want the World Cup to be won for the little master.
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