End of an era - Sachin Tendulkar announces retirement

Ending months of speculation, Sachin Tendulkar has announced to quit all forms of cricket. Tendulkar, who has already announced retirements from twenty-twenty and ODIs, will play his last Test match (200th) at his home venue at the Wankhede.

"All my life, I have had a dream of playing cricket for India. I have been living this dream every day for the last 24 years. It’s hard for me to imagine a life without playing cricket because it’s all I have ever done since I was 11 years old. It’s been a huge honour to have represented my country and played all over the world. I look forward to playing my 200^th Test Match on home soil, as I call it a day," the master batsman said in a statement released by the BCCI on his behalf.

"I thank the BCCI for everything over the years and for permitting me to move on when my heart feels it's time! I thank my family for their patience and understanding. Most of all, I thank my fans and well-wishers who through their prayers and wishes have given me the strength to go out and perform at my best."

The announcement immediately evoked emotional reactions as Tendulkar fans took to the social media expressing their sentiments. His teammates in the Indian dressing room, and outside it, were also not far behind in expressing their thoughts. 

"Privileged to have seen a child prodigy gone on to become a true legend of the game from very close quarters. All the best Sachin," tweeted Sanjay Manjrekar.

Not far behind were his friends and admirers in the media.

 "We all kind of expected the announcement some day. But now that it is here, its hard to soak in, no matter what your views," tweeted television commentator and presenter Gautam Bhimani.

Proposing Sachin Tendulkar - The Prime Minister

Proposing - Sachin Tendulkar the Prime Minister

 
By Himanshu Shekhar

"I Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar do swear in the name of God that I will faithfully execute the office of Prime Minister of Republic of India, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the constitution and the law, and that I will devote myself to the service and well being of people of Republic of India,” this will be the exact text which cricketing legend might have to read the day he becomes the Prime Minister.

Today on this day, I am proposing Sachin Tendulkar as Prime Minister of India!

Oops! You must be wondering, whether yours truly has gone crazy. Let crazy be thy name. Go back to the oath and you will come to know what I am talking about. If cricket is one religion which binds every single individual in India, then Tendulkar is the God. All the more reason why Hindu, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and others, regardless of what they practice, are bound to accept. What the great Mughal emperor Jalal-ud-din Mohammad Akbar could not do with Din-e-Ilahi, I propose Tendulkar to do it.

This is just the ideal weather (read time). With no Steve Bucknor around as the speaker of the house, Tendulkar stands all the chance to win a trust vote incase of a hung verdict.

Time magazine once rated him as the most powerful Indian on earth and that too with just a wooden bat at his disposal. Little champion from Mumbai is India’s most prized possession for over two decades and has fired on all cylinders, at-least more than India’s ICBM Agni – I & II.

Maestro has devoted his entire life in service to the nation. This in no way is taking away from all those men of steel and substance who layed their lives for securing our borders.

After reaching 50th Test century, Sachin ‘Ton’-dulkar boasts of a CV which no cricketer on earth ever had, leave alone the statistical exception Sir Donald Bradman was. Renowned historian Ram Chandra Guha in his book - A corner of a Foreign Field -says: "In the history of cricket, four individuals have had a definitive impact on the game; the Englishman W. G. Grace, the Australian Don Bradman, the West Indian Garfield Sobers and the Indian Sachin Tendulkar."

"He is certainly one of the four greatest cricketers ever," adds Guha.

“…like millions upon millions of Indians, they're mad about the one maddening sport at which this dismally un-athletic country excels. And, again like millions upon millions more, they all worship the same hero: a 5-foot, 5-inch tall, curly-haired, 37-year-old cricketer with a reedy, teenager's voice who just might be the Greatest of All Time -- and the best athlete you've never heard of. His name is Sachin Tendulkar. But here in India, he's simply Sachin,” Jason Overdorf wrote in Huffington Post.

Sachin Tendulkar is the most followed Indian on globe today and in times when criminals join politics and turn overnight custodians of constitution or people like Ms. Roy (Arundhati), who call themselves an Independent Mobile Republic, it won’t be a bad idea to have India’s most trusted man contesting for the most coveted crown.

The little genius might have rubbed his state-mates like Raj Thackeray the wrong way by preferring to chose India over Mumbai but there is no denying that when it comes to Tendulkar – India often stands united.

Coming to the business end, if a pilot (read late Rajiv Gandhi) can take the hot seat in troubled times and guide the nation to some degree of safety and his ‘non-political’ wife can later on successfully decide who will India’s Prime Minister then I have every reason to believe that Sachin Tendulkar stands the chance of becoming nation’s first ever sporting Prime Minister!

What an Idea Sir ji?