Celebrating Sachin

Jamshed: jwqs@yahoo.com: Prem bhai!

Phaar diye, Ukhaad diye!! Wah, wah!! what a loovely letter it was to Arvind Lavakare! I sure imagine Sachin might have refused to be interviwed by him at some stage, and the outcome was him projecting Sachin as national villain..so accurate and poignant reply it was by you...keep it up...why don't you write somehting about the Indian team presently acclimatising in UK? That will give us some idea as to how the team spirit is, and things like that..

Celebrating Sachin:
Reader: nomail@nomail.com: STOP THE NONSENSE , PREM !! If you are so talented, how come you never made it to the Indian National team ?

Celebrating Sachin:
Raj Shaker: raj_shaker@usa.net: Great piece, Prem.

If i had the power, i would have put you in the ESPN or star commentary team to have the pleasure of listening to your views all day.

Keep up the good work.

Sarat: asarat@in.ibm.com: Hi Prem, Let me congratulate you for your fitting reply to the illogical article. These days We've been reading many articles of yours.This one was very inspiring.

I would like to join with my opinions below. Sachin Tendulkar Vs Snail Gavaskar 1. How about a comparision of their strike rates. 2. Can any Indian ever forget Gavaskar's Contribution in the 1987 world cup semifinal? Many feel he threw away his wicket b'cos a win means he would have to play at calcutta where he was once felicitated with rotten eggs and tomatoes. 3. Gavaskar more often played to notch up personal 100's,while Sachin played for the teams cause.I quote Sachins second innings batting in the chennai test against Australia -- the innings made an Indian win possible. If it had been Gavaskar it would have been a tame draw.

Whatever be the statistics, to me and many in our generation SACHIN IS THE BEST.

SARAT.

m.ramkumar: ramkumar_m@hotmail.com: i have read the message, i am an fan of sachin and the whole indian team. i ma sending my wishes to the indian them on their forecomming worldcup. I hope this world cup will be called the best ever world cup india had ever won.

with love to indian from an true indian ramkumar_m@hotmail.com JAI HIND..

Murali.K: muralic@iname.com: Brillient article by Sanjay. If fact best by him so far. He simply exposed the fact that Arvind is for some reason anti-sachin. Thanks Sanjay.

Sachin versus Bradman:
Mahesh Tripunitara: mahesh@ipo.att.com: A fantastic article! The portions about Don Bradman were especially superb! My hat is off to Arvind!

Celebrating Sachin:
samir: samirbakul@hotmail.com: Hi! KYA MUD TOD JAWAB DIYA HAI. I like it very much. you are excellent. now next time he will affraid to write all that thing.

Celebrating Sachin:
Sameer M: sameerboy@yahoo.com: Writing from this Godforsaken corner of USA, I am doing the same thing what I had been doing when I was in India. Playing truant from studies when it came to cricket. Even though I have been bereft of any cricketing visuals of our GREAT team in action since the last 17 months, the conclusion is clear (as it has been since the last few years), India's fortunes are again burdened on the now "healed" back of the GREAT ONE (I dont think I need to take his name). But after getting expensive audio inputs (telephone calls to India), I see a silver lining over the great dark cloud hovering over the Indian team's expectations, my friends in Bombay have been tremendously optimistic about the initial three (Sachin, Saurav and Dravid) but beyond that (they asked me to not even take the trouble of looking beyond that), they are not worried at all about our bowling, a comical suggestion being bowling full quoata of overs by Tendulkar, Ganguly and Robin Singh and the rest being shared by Srinath, Kumble, Prasad and Agarkar. But the major and the only worrisome point in the long tournament like this is how well does our Indian team perform as a "team" and all swords are out for Azaruddin's throat. I really hope that he gets some "divine" inspiration and starts opening up his mouth and saying something fruitful to inspire his tamamates. I really would not even mind India losing the World Cup, but all i want to see is all the 11 players put in some collective performance and at least make an effort to win matches, show some aggression in their play, it does not mean that they have to be foul mouthed, the best way to show aggression would obviously be coming out better against the opposite team. And since the previous two world cups have shown that some drastic tactics are are needed to win the world cup I suggest a little trimming of DEAD WOOD meanin a little reoccurence of his shoulder injury for Azaruddin, which can be achieved any time during the nets. Our team has left 21 days in advance to prepare, i suggest this would be one of the best preparations they can make, sometime around the evening or morning of May 13, a lethal bouncer from Srinath or lets say a wild throw from some newcomer to the Indian squad putting paids to the hopes of Azza leading our Indian lambs to the slaughter. I think this bit of news would demoralize any opposition be it South Africa in our initial match or Pakistan in the later stages (Sachin will take care of the only remaining threat Australia). I think some corporate house should come forward and announce a prize for anyone from the Indian team for doing this GREAT ACT, or the mastermind Anshuman can finally prove his utility and do the honors himself. Of course later on, we can always make statements like How India managed to win the World Cup inspite of the absence of a great player like Azzaruddin. And of course Azzar can come back to the Indian team anytime during a homeseries. I think I have done a bit towards India's world cup efforts, I hope my prayers are answered.

Celebrating Sachin:
naveen: naveen3@aol.com: Dear Arvind, Thankyou so much. There are tears in my eyes now, and they are just because i'am overwhelmed by your bringing to light, that how tendulkar brought us indians our pride back.

To all of the people, whoever had or has any doubts about tendulkar's ability, should keep in mind that 50 of his innings were played even before he was 19. When he was 16, he saved india's pride by drawing a test match with pakistan, and when imran, wasim, waqar and qadir were trying to make him out.

Thankyou arvind, thanyou very much. Thanks to a great patriot of india's pride.

Celebrating Sachin:
Abhijit Nadgir: a_nadgir@yahoo.com: Sir, This was a marvellous job. I have been following your columns for quite some time. This article to me was one of your best. Sincerely Abhijit

Celebrating Sachin:
Nitin: nitin@hotmail.com: Bravo Prem!!! To quote my professor"Statistic is curse when you apply to psychology and boon when yo a apply in science". You surely spoke on behalf of some LOGICAL minds not HEARTS!!! Thnaks for that. BTW who is Arvind Lavakare? Nitin.

Celebrating Sachin:
rajapandian: rajapandian@mailcity.com: Your Page is wonderful. I like it very much Thank You for providing this wonderful site

Celebrating Sachin:
sree kumar.c: c_sree@hotmail.com: prem, what a beauty of an article it was...i cherish each and every word of urs....it is absolutely fantastic....u response was thought provoking and that arvind should now regret having looked at only an angle of the greatness of a cricketer.....i would like to add that,was there any situation in don's era or sunny's era that when they lost their wicket did the crowd turn away in disgust and frustration it happened to only the "greatest sachin" and happens to only him not to anyone ever in the history of cricket i feel(is there any such occasion,prem??)......we have it with us a lion hearted tiger who can bring down any bowler or team to his/its knees (ask hbangwa,saqlin,warne et al....) ur article has added more beauty to sachin's skills and value....... i admire ur neutrality and wish u keep up the good work..... i firmly believe that "the greatest cricketer on earth" sachin can single-handedly(i kno cricket is a team-game..!!) win the world cup which will be the answer to the million hearts that r praying.. regards sreekumar.c bangalore

Celebrating Sachin:
Raj : samundar@hotmail.com: Hi Sanjay Manjrekar, I have been reading all your articles and today you have proven that your fortress does not only belong with the bat..but you are equally fluent and technically efficient with your words and pen too...that was an awesome piece of article...a great answer to Arvind Lavakare's preposterous accusations..you the man...SANJAY...hats off to you. Sincerely, Raj.

Sachin versus Bradman:
Shibabrata Mondal: shibabrata@mailcity.com: What exactly is your point, I mean what exactly are you trying to prove. What has some stupid (well selected at that) figures to do with cricket. You tried to prove that Gavaskar was a better one-day player than sachin. Let me tell you, Gavaskar was great, but you are even greater, for you are the first person on earth, trying to prove that. I can go on saying a lot of things, but why waste time.

Celebrating Sachin:
Narayanan Seshadri: n_seshadri@yahoo.com: Hi Prem,

Though I understand your intention of the article about comparing Don and Sachin, the way you expressed this is kind of cheap. I don't know why you need to say about miniskirt or "lady virginity" examples.

It doesn't serve any purpose other than telling how cheap you have gone.

Hope you avoid such things in the future.

Thanks -narayanan

Sachin versus Bradman:
Ranjan Tripathy: ran_jan@hotmail.com: Happy Birthday Dear.

You have to touch the heights of himalaya, Which all indian knows u can. Best wishes

Celebrating Sachin:
Narayanan G: narayanang@hotmail.com: Dear Prem,

I loved reading every single line in th article "Celebrating Sachin". While you too have constructively criticized players in the past, you've proved that you don't tolerate people writing such rubbish just for the heck of being a critic. That shows your "PASSION" for the game, team and the country and it is this passion with with your write that puts your articles head and shoulders above the ordinary. Keep up the good work.

with best wishes, Narayanan

Celebrating Sachin:
Ashwin Kumar: ashwin03@hotmail.com: Absolutely superd. Made fascinating reading. Panicker is damn good.

Celebrating Sachin:
Nitin Sanghi: nsanghi@cctr.umkc.edu: Dear Prem,

This was one of the most deep hearted, moral boosting article I have read in a very long time.

I was never able to grasp the Motivation or timing of Arvind's Article. It was like he wanted to demoralize the team right before the World Cup.

Personally, I believe the Individuals like Arvind and others like him in the Sports Media have contributed more damage than the BCCI. Not only have demoralized the team, but most importantly they have fueled the Cricket Fans.

I am really happy to read your article because I think it has not only boosted team moral, but improved the image of the Indian Team and most importantly Silenced( I hope ) individuals in the Sports Media from using the Indian Team as a Punching Bag.

Thanks Prem...

Nitin

Celebrating Sachin:
vidhika: vidhikap@hotmail.com: oh,i just lovce u're article.thank god u gave arvind a mouthful ,he really deserved it!u've done us proud by writing this article.thanx a lot mr. prem panicker,we owe u a lot!

Celebrating Sachin:
Deepak Raghavan: rdeepak@home.com: Way to GO Prem! ...Thanks for that reply...Couldn't have said it better!

Celebrating Sachin:
schatterjee: schatterjee@pomona.edu: Mr. Panicker, you talk like a 18 yr old who has just discovered Camus and thinks he is the greatest philosopher ever. Comparisons across generations might be hard to do. Indeed they may be impossible to do accurately. But the human nature, eager to know who is best, will always want to know whether Bradman topped Sachin, or vice versa. And statistics are the best way to do so. Flawed, yes. But the best way we have.

Rather than Arvind, I find you to be the one using word play and biased numbers. Your examples are the misleading ones. I enjoy your writing very much. But you tend to ruin it, when you reveal your delusions of intellectual grandeur and the resultant snobbery. A pity, really.

Celebrating Sachin:
Samir Thaker: samir_thaker@hotmail.com: Dear Panikar,

Thank you very much for answering Mr. Arvind Lavakare. I am a regular reader of rediff & specially your column. When I read Mr. Lavakare's article, I wrote him in my Forum. But I think because of the virus, you might have lost it. I wrote similler aruments like you but without statistics as I don't have such records of the past. I again request, not to publish such articles (like that of Mr. Arvind) as it might affect the performance of the player & that too at the time of world cup. But again, thank you very much for the solid answer. I, by the depth of my heart, appritiate your article.

-Regards,

Samir Thaker

Celebrating Sachin:
ashwin nivsarkar in canada: ash1@canada.com: I totally agree wit u on every single point. One doubt I have though.So how come you did not publish ANY of my articles or replies to your collumns?Specially when I mentioned about ROHAN GAVASKAR being in Indian colours in SHARJAH because he was asked to?

What have you got against GAVASKAR?Has he rubbed you off the wrong way?

I had also written 3 articles and submitted them promptly after I thought of certain things that I know from experience due to my stay in UK for a long time.Is there a method to your selection process?I would beg you to kindly advise.

Thanks and best regards. CIAO

Celebrating Sachin:
Parthasarathy: parthas@brunet.bn: Well done, Prem. Some people never learn to admit the obvious. They appear to derive a sadistic pleasure from ridiculing one of the greatest batsmen of all time.

Well done, once again. We'd like to see more "bright young men" on the rediff scene.

Partha

Sachin versus Bradman:
Srikumar M.: siku72@yahoo.com: Happy Birth Day Sachin. Hoping to see best of best innings from your bat and power. Hope you take full responsibility of 100 million Indians hopes for this WORLD CUP Victory.That one always be in the minds of Indian when you showed T'dulkar storm after sand Storm in Sharja! Hoping the best from you for this world cup. I wish you the best of Luck!

Celebrating Sachin:
Bhaskar: vili_m@yahoo.com: It is just great

Celebrating Sachin:
prashant: pgadepalli@strykerendo.com: 1. I'd like to meet your stats professor. I like his comments. Is he for real or just a literary creation.

2. Frankly, the article by "arvind" was quite ridiculous to even justify a reply. We find those kinds all the time. They seem to be written more with the intent of flaming than anything else. Amazed how his article got the bandwidth that it did. Quality Control lacking??! :-)

3. I was hoping that arvind would make a more intelligent(or atleast a pretense of being that), it would have made for an interesting argument.

4. Keep your articles coming, "bright young cricket corresp.."!!:-)

prashant..

Celebrating Sachin:
Satish Kumar Baskaran: satish_baskaran@amat.com: The article was fascinating. It reiterates in a wonderful way, that the game is not all about numbers, but about passion and pride of the players and of the devoted followers of the game. Hats off.

Celebrating Sachin:
Vivek Mukherjee: vivek_m874@yahoo.com: All I want to say is that Sachin Tendulkar makes use of adjectives very easy in english language. He is the lone shining star in out team. Vivek, TX, USA

Celebrating Sachin:
Sundar Aiyar: sundaraiyar@hotmail.com: Dear Mr. Panickar, 30/04/99

All that this article achieves is to provide ample evidence that the usual ego trips of us Indians(amonst ourselves),is not restricted to our esteemed Parliamentarians, but is fairly widespread to include the average sports hack as well.

Anyway,to come to matters of cricket,for all the noise made on the Indian team and notably Tendulkar, do you deny that his "achievements" on outside wickets is quite pedestrain ? How do you rate his performance in South Africa,against Donald and Co.? (One century,and he looked like getting out anytime).There was only one Indian batsman who looked solid and composed -Rahul Dravid.It reminded me of video tapes I had seen of Gavaskar and Co. against the fury of Imran Khan in Pakistan.Gavaskar looked like he would get out any ball but when Imran was bowling to a Mr. Mohinder Amarnath, he looked quite docile. Was it not the same Amarnath,who was carried bleeding (hit in the mouth) and came back to hit 99 (against Marshall and Holding).Was he not the highest rungetter for India on that tour (599,if I remember right),while the others did precious little,including the big names ?

What is it that causes this mass hysteria,selective hyperboles homing in on one or two players,usually bereft of all rationale or facts ? Is it the sponsors ? Is it the "moolah" that is perhaps there to be made ? Why can't we have fair and balanced coverage without going overboard ? (There is no denying that Sachin's innings in both those matches against Australia were great -but would he have done that well,if a certain Mr. McGrath were around,on slightly,only slightly more conducive wickets ? -Do you remember how he got out to Henry Olonga,on the one day when there was something in the wicket for the bowlers ? What was his performance against Zimbabwe,in Zimbabwe ? Was it not again only a certain Mr. Dravid,who looked like he had the stomach for a fight ? )

Of course the less said about the Indian captain against fast bowling,the better.Charity perhaps demands it. Let him collect his monies and retire from the game,after the world cup. One must indeed thank modern technology,for bringing highlights (or ball by ball coverage) so that many of us can form our own balanced judgement instead of depending upon on others.

Celebrating Sachin:
prashanth kulkarni: pkp007@hotmail.com: a master piece worthy of reading & also preserving to be raed later

Celebrating Sachin:
Exellent and passionate

Celebrating Sachin:
Akash Bhatia: bhatiaa@email.uc.edu: Prem does a great job in demolishing Arvind's theories. Thanks Prem

Celebrating Sachin:
Sreeram S: ssammeta@hotmail.com: IT KA JAWAB PATHAR SE

Celebrating Sachin:
Samrat: csamrat@hotmail.com: Prem I Really enjoyed reading your Tendulkar like 'innings' against Arvind Shane Warne's googlies. It was a typical Sachin-ishtyle bashing of each delivery (laced with statistics) with shots (also laced with statistics)all over the ground. I was always a great fan of your fresh & positive batting (read writing) and you have proved yourself again.

Looking forward to many more such great 'innings' from you Regards Samrat Mtn View, CA (USA)

Celebrating Sachin:
Sunil Krishnan: skrishnan@platsoft.com: Great Work, I liked it ! Never mind my boss coming in I went on reading this!

Celebrating Sachin:
Nand Kumar: babu_kumar@hotmail.com: Thanks Prem,

For replying to Arvind in the desired and right way. I stay in Europe and play for Milan Cricket Club. Most of us the member of club are British or Australians and all have no doubt that today Sachin is the best for ODI.

Your article clearly showed the passion and pride which Sachin induces in our team. The won which lacked against Pakistan in the Sharjah Series. I have no doubts whatso ever that Arvind - will be no more be a sports correspondent after the woeld cup. He has to go - if he has some self respect. For our Sachin bubble will explode in the filed , in all the matches which matter for India in the World Cup and the explosion will show the few in the world what it still views with suspicion.

We will be their in UK supporting and cheering the team to vicotry and note this e-mail in your diary - we are going to win the world cup for we now have a fit Sachin with us.

Celebrating Sachin:
Rohit: rohitsarkar@yahoo.com: Prem: I understand that you have a soft corner for Sachin Tendulkar, and I respect that. After all, he is the best batsman in today's era. However, comparisons with Sunil Gavaskar and Don Bradman are unwarranted and unfair. To begin with, the Don played a long, long ago and most of the contemporary writers did not even have a chance to watch him bat. History has it that he is the greatest batsman of all time. I would not wnat to contest that view because I have not seen him bat..only his records speak volumes of his superiority. So don't compare Sachin with Don. Regarding Sunny, well all I can say is that Sachin is more fun to watch while Sunny was the classical, elegant opening batsman. Give credit to Gavaskar. He again belonged to a different era where One Day cricekt was pretty much an alien sport. Every Sachin fan rails Gavaskar's laborious 36 n.o. in 1975. But let us not forget, at that time ODI was new to everyone. Sunny proved that when the situation demanded, he can work his magic. His 103* at Nagpur in 1987 was gem in any form of the game...a chanceless hundred. For all those who say that Sachin is greater because he faced better bowlers, I would like to point out that Gavaskar faced far more superior bowlers in their primes than Sachin has. Ask the West Indian quartet -- Holding, Roberts, Garner, Marshall. Imran & Wasim, Lillie and Botham. You name them and Sunny has frustrated them with his uflappable temperament and technique. It is just that the game has changed so drastically and people have become more accustomed to ODI's. The shorter version of the game has given Tendulkar the popularity he deserves. But by comparing him to Sunny is being judgemental and foolish. Sunil Gavaskar will go down in history as one of the greatest batsman of all time, and so will Sachin. I have great respect and admiration for Sachin and he is my favorite batsman. With all his talent, Sachin will break all records and rise to become, probably the greatest of all time by the time he hangs his boots. For the moment though, Bradman and Gavaskar rule the batting strip and there is no justification for dislodging this duo from the helm of batsmanship!

Celebrating Sachin:
ramprasad: rpmvadi@hotmail.com: hile I am not sure about the statistics in the original and this article too much, taking them on the face value, its a good rebuttal.

I should say the style and content that Arvind Lavakre presented were quite fascinating and credible, though I didn't appreciate the idea of trying to discredit a good player by comparing with others. Becaue, first, its just a futile academic exercise. Rather it would be interesting read an analysis of the statistics of a player and come up with some insights about his approach, technique etc. Even that would not be accurate but thats the best one can produce, I believe, when trying to prove a point using statistics.

Tendulkar is a lovable guy, an achiever yet modest/friendly with an attitude that inspires and brings out best from others. I felt it was very inappropriate on the part of the writer to try to make an off-beat statement to grab the attention of the readers on the occasion of his birthday. Tendulkar may not read that, but his fans and cricket lovers do.

In this World Cup frenzy, I see quite a few articles which try nothing more than cobble up some stats and make a worthless point. Its very stupid and I get bored reading them. I love cricket and I read a lot about it. But its very sad that there are hardly any good writers and articles around.

Celebrating Sachin:
Raghu: mrr_3@hotmail.com: Prem Panicker, That was a great reply, Like a perfect shot from sachin. Good Luck for your articles, Feel most journalists are VERY baised, just be careful not to give any baised reporting. Thanks, -Raghu

Celebrating Sachin:
Ajay: ajay@vpharm.com: This is too tempting ... but i am sure you knew that!

Very neat, very nice. Do you want more compliments?

---ajay

Celebrating Sachin:
Elil Arulraj: earulraj@aol.com: Good piece of work and the right answer for Arvind. Prem tell Arvind when U mmet him next time that WE Indians should thank GOD for giving us "Sachin and Pakistan" as these are the only TWO things which invokes patriotism in Indians.

Celebrating Sachin:
srinivas challa: srinivasc@staa.com: Great, being young than arvind you are matured than arvind. Simply how could he compare batsman of different eras.Sachin has great contribution making India one of the best cricketing nations.I am proud of that and all Indians are proud of that. Statistics are nothing it is the motivation that matters.Sachin gives his 100% when it matters to India not GAvaskar.

Celebrating Sachin:
Harsh: harsh35@hotmail.com: Great Prem!!! Way to go.... U too went the Sachin way.... hitting out against Lavkare left and right. Well, that teaches the Lavkare man a lesson or two ..... dont ever write an article just for the heck of criticizing someone and that too some one of Tendulkars Calibre (which is unquestioned and undoubted by other stalwarts of the game). I hope Lavkare is listening!!!

Celebrating Sachin:
Anish: kurupa@hotmail.com: A well deserved smack in the face for Arvind. He is the kind of person who will look only at the negative aspect of everything. Infact I feel the atricle by him was written with the sole purpose of putting sachin down.

Saying that Gavaskar was a better player than sachin "at that stage of his career" is the most ridiculous statements I have ever heard. Even beats some of the best statements made by Laloo Prasad Yadav. I hope I never get to read another article from that man. Rediff is surely taking a big risk on its popularity by letting such people write such junk on their site.

Extending his theory of "at that stage of his career" if tommorrow we have a batsman score a 100 on debut and plays only one innings in his cricketing career then according to mister Arvind he will be the greatest batsman of all times, even greater that Don himself. In closing I would say that this guy needs a check up from the neck up and the best thing he can do is to quit being a cricket correspondent.

Celebrating Sachin:
pk: pk@dk.com: Great article Prem!!! I think you spoke for all of us!

Celebrating Sachin:
VIKRAM: V_GODBOLE@HOTMAIL.COM: HATS OF TO YOU MAN!!!.I JUST LOVED YOUR ARTICLE... I WAS PISSED WHEN I READ PREM'S ARTICLE.IT WAS GOOD THAT YOU CAME BACK WITH SOME NICE REPARTE WELL DONE!!! GOOD LUCK TO YOU AND THE INDIANS

Celebrating Sachin:
Raghu Nippani: nippani@uic.com: Excellent response by Prem Panicker. It was indeed very amusing to read Arvinds's article. Gavaskar was a great batsman but with a very defensive approach towards the game. He never looked like a go-getter. I remember a one day match when he was required to score just 8 runs in the last over from Chris Cowdrey and he just could not do it. India lost the match. He also used to pile up a lot of runs when there was nothing left in a match. Another instance is a test in bangalore when Zaheer Abbas's pakistan visited India. The pakistan team walked out of the ground after 10 mandatory overs on the last day with Gavaskar on 83 not out. The match was certainly hedaing for a draw. Gavaskar refused to leave the ground and the pakistanis were asked to come back into the field. Zaheer Abbas started bowling himself so that Gavaskar could quickly get to his century. HE GOT IT WITH AN EDGED BOUNDARY OF ZAHEER ABBAS. This is defintely not a incident that an indian fan would look back and feel proud about.

Celebrating Sachin:
Anil: asharma@operamail.com: Great article man. I would like to hear more frequently from you.

Celebrating Sachin:
Sameer Sonalkar: ssonalkar@aol.com: Its a pity being out of the country we cannot watch the master blaster in the peak of his career. Good luck to him for this world cup and hopefully he can restore Indian cricket to the top.

Celebrating Sachin:
Kiran Krishna: kirankrishna@hotmail.com: Prem,

You have finally come up with a fitting rejoinder to Aravind's comments. Aravind, apparently, holds some sort of a grudge against Sachin. I think your metaphor about the miniskirt was a real gem. I think Aravind is too pre-occupied with trying to prove his statisyical prowess, which any true cricket afficionado knows is only half the story, at best.

Thank you, for putting him in his place

Jai Hind.

Kiran Krishna

Celebrating Sachin:
Vijai Saran: saran42@hotmail.com: It was such an amusing but intelligent piece. I have not read the article by Mr. Arvindh. But indeed if he set upon provving Tendulkar very unreliable then your task was easy. Who wont be able to justify a correct thing. Does Mr. Arvind has something personal against Sachin.But you have in your article made him look very ordinary and well--- but I am sure he is not like that. Any comments?

Celebrating Sachin:
Zameer Rehmani: zr786@samart.co.th: Hi Prem, Well I already wrote a long reply to Arvind when I read the article. I was quite disgusted and appalled at how cynicals and critics loose there sense of perspective in order to proove some point. In this case it is the never ending comparision of Sachin and Bradman. What can I say, you said all of it and the rest I have already conveyed to him directly. When an aussie fan tells me that sachin is not the best until he performs on the fast track against the swinging balls of mcgrath, I listen and understand their cricketing knowledge. And then I quote to them their own skipper calling him a great batsman..and then ofcourse, in his top ten batsman..Mcgrath himself made Sachin his no.1 batsman..no.2 Steve Waugh ...No.3 Lara and so on...so that sort of quiets them down. But I also agree with them that Sachin(not revealing the 100plus he smashed in the Diana game against the best ballers you can name)hasn't performed to his calibre in the tests but I never back up from telling them that one day he will knock the socks of their bowlers in their backyard. Most of them knowing sachin his immense talent tell me that will most probably what will happen but still they won't take him for the best till then. Stubborn brats.

But getting back to the article..this kind of criticism of Sachin amuses me and I enjoy all the backing up I can provide Sachin..which he really doesn't need..his talent being so obvious.

But I get pissed off when indians don't back him up..don't treat him like their pride..when like guys like Arvind who is knowledgable about the "stats" are bent down to proove a stupid point that has no sense as you wrote. It only shows how ridiculous critics can get. And being an Indian if you can't love him, adore him, then what kind of cricketing passion are you storing in your heart. Its like criticism for the sake of criticism ...to stand where the crowd is not so that "I" gets noticed. The crowd says, "Sachin is awesome!" and this Anand bhai goes.."No he is not..nothing compared to ...according to the stats..."

Well what more can I say. Good reply. You presented my point in much coherent fashion than I could have. But you are a writer and I am an artist. At least we both have one thing in common..our kinds are especially sensitive to the inspiration...and sachin..well he is a thunder of an inspiration. The most famous Indian on the planet today..and indeed a deserving one.

Long live India! And long live humara Sachin!!

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