Journalism of Courage
Such is his legacy,it demands that he evolve into a guardianship role for the sport
Sachin Tendulkar left the playing field for the last time this weekend without,as always,putting a foot wrong. Offsetting the hysteria,howsoever genuinely felt,in Wankhede stadium and beyond,he paid a heart-felt tribute to cricket that not once flirted with triteness. Great sportspersons are like that they lift the profile of their sport. Tendulkar did that at every point in his career,in many ways,and more than any other in international cricket. He did it most significantly by conveying through his presence in the field that the match mattered whatever the drift of play,whatever the importance or not of the final outcome,and whatever the suspicions about the purposefulness of his team or his board at the time. In Tendulkars time,his team coasted through many crises with some,like match-fixing,with the potential of destroying crickets credibility. Cricket was threatened,even more often,by irrelevance. It struggled to find a balance between many formats. He was not the only one to have played for India in the past quarter century who served,by his presence on the field,as a counter to cynical disregard for cricket,as a source of cohesion. But he did it the longest,most grandly,pushing the boundaries of what was seen to be possible. What will he now do,in the days after?
For now,however,it is time to salute and thank a great sportsperson. Tendulkar showed us what cricket could be and how. Yet,such is the legacy of his playing career it demands that he evolve into a guardianship role for the sport.
