Sachin Rocks, But Dravid IS the rock

I know I am going to lose MOST of my readers after this post, and chances are that MOST will not even read through the entire post, because they will be too busy reaching for their hidden revolvers/swords to KILL me.

So I am stating the disclaimer RIGHT.AT.THE.BEGINNING: “I DO NOT HATE SACHIN TENDULKAR, I just like other people more.”

Lords, the mother of all cricket stadiums (now despite being an eternal Eden Gardens loyalist, I would have to give it to Lords when it comes to all the history and heritage), is currently hosting the 2000th Test Match, between India (We may be the champions but we STILL struggle to save the follow-on when it comes to playing Test cricket in trying conditions) and England.

But what overshadowed this historic event was the fact that Sachin Tendulkar was expected (and technically he still can) to score his 100th century. Quite apt for the man who has rewritten the history books (making kids revise their knowledge before sitting for the Bournvita Quiz Contest) and continues to do so. Reaching a significant personal milestone in Lords has a special feeling. And, I hope he gets it (and for once, hopefully his personal milestone can save India the Test match)…

However, for a change, his party was crashed by the unassuming (and according to Harsha Bhogle, phlegmatic) Rahul Dravid, who not only saved India from an embarrassment, but did so in style, scoring his first century at Lords 153 tests after he missed out a debut 100 at the venue back in 1996 (when I was a pigtailed schoolgirl who was still in love with Mohammed Azharuddin). For a change, he is in the limelight that he so deserves. For a change, he is the man of the moment…

Now, the past 20 years have mostly been about Sachin: the God, the Little Master, the Master Blaster- sometimes all at the same time. And don’t get me wrong (please don’t), while I love to see him bat at full flow (who doesn’t) and I have the highest respect for him as a cricketer who has successfully managed to stay clean and out of controversy even after two decades, but to me he was just a visual delight while batting. That’s it, not a role model, not an icon, not an inspiring personality, but just a remarkable batsman who sometimes rolled his arm over with very good effect. To some extent, I even resented him because, well, he (or rather the media circus) overshadowed everybody else; and I have always liked the understated people, who never got their dues, despite being legends in their own right. So each time the country went gaga over him, the more loyal I became to VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. Each time Laxman made a statement with his bat and pulled India out of trouble or Dravid stood his ground true to his nickname, I became a complete underdog loyalist…

Sachin may be God, but he is no leader…

And I am not anti-establishment, I just don’t agree with the establishment…