Thursday, 14 November 2013

Sachin Tendulkar

Posting some lovely quotes from various people about Sachin as he starts the last test match of his very illustrious career.

  • In an over I can bowl six different balls. But then Sachin looks at me with a sort of gentle arrogance down the pitch as if to say 'Can you bowl me another one?'
  • For cricket, Sachin is Maradona and Pele put together. Cricket will be a poorer sport when he quits the game. He is the first name that comes to mind the moment you ask who is the greatest.
  • Sachin Tendulkar has often reminded me of a veteran army colonel who has many medals on his chest to show how he has conquered bowlers all over the world.
  • I was bowling to Sachin and he hit me for two fours in a row. One from point and the other in between point and gully. That was the last two balls of the over and the over after that we took a wicket and during the group meeting I told Jonty (Rhodes) to be alert and I know a way to pin Sachin. And I delivered the first ball of my next over and it was a fuller length delevery outside offstump. And I shouted catch. To my astonishment the ball was hit to the cover boundary. Such was the brilliance of Sachin. His reflex time is the best I have ever seen. It's like 1/20th of a sec. To get his wicket better not prepare. Atleast you won't regret if he hits you for boundaries.
  • His shot selection is superb, he just lines you up and can make you look very silly. Everything is right in his technique and judgement. There isn't a fault there. He is also a lovely guy, and over the years I've enjoyed some interesting chats with him... Sachin is in a different class to Lara as a professional cricketer. He is a model cricketer, and despite the intolerable pressures he faces back home, he remains a really nice guy... Sachin is also the best batsman in the world, pulling away from Brain Lara every year...
    We'd heard all about him modelling himself on Sunil Gavaskar, and he had the same neatness, the same time to spare, the same calmness - and a very heavy bat.
  • "During our team meetings, we often speak about the importance of the first 12 balls to Tendulkar. If you get him then you can thank your stars, otherwise it could mean that tough times lie ahead."
  • When you bowl at him you are not just trying to get him out, you are trying to impress him. "I want him to walk off thinking 'that Flintoff, he's all right isn't he? I feel privileged to have played against him.
  • To Sachin, the man we all want to be.
  • There are two kinds of batsmen in the world. One, Sachin Tendulkar. Two, all the others.
  • I am very privileged to have played with him and seen most of the runs that he has scored. I am also extremely happy to have shared the same dressing room... He is a very reserved person and generally keeps to himself. He is very determined, committed and doesn't show too many emotions. He just goes about doing his job.
  • I am fortunate that I've to bowl at him only in the nets.
  • I can be hundred per cent sure that Sachin will not play for a minute longer when he is not enjoying himself. He is still so eager to go out there and play. He will play as long as he feels he can play.
    • Anjali Tendulkar, Sachin's wife [17]
  • First and foremost, Tendulkar is an entertainer and that for me is as important factor as any fact or figure. Too often boring players have been pushed forward as great by figures alone. For sheer entertainment, he will keep cricket alive.
  • Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.
  • The thing I admire most about this man is his poise. The way he moves, elegantly without ever looking out of place in any condition or company, suggests his pedigree. I remember he had once come to New Delhi in the 1990s to collect his Arjuna Award (India's highest award to its top sportspersons) and he asked me if I would attend the function. He is a very sensitive human being...
    Sometimes you feel he really hasn't felt the kind of competition in the world his talent deserves. I would have loved to see him perform against top quality cricketers of the previous generation. It would really have brought out the best in him.
  • You might pitch a ball on the off stump and think you have bowled a good ball and he walks across and hits it for two behind mid wicket. His bat looks so heavy but he just waves it around like it's a toothpick.
  • You know genius when you see it, and let me tell you, Sachin is pure genius.
  • The only batsman I would love to see by paying for the tickets and sitting in the stand just to watch him is none other than Sachin Tendulkar.
  • Tendulkar is to cricket what Michael Jordan is to basketball and Muhammad Ali to boxing.
  • He is a tremendous cricketer. He is young and has got a lot of ability. He's got his own style. He has got the temperament for big cricket and I hope that he goes from strength to strength.
  • For Sachin the balance is there. He is quick to complete his shot. He covers the crease much better than mere mortals.
  • I actually feel very embarrassed because I rejected him as a fast bowler. I think I did him and the game of cricket a favour.
    • Dennis Lillee advised Tendulkar to focus on his batting, instead of bowling, when he came to the MRF Pace Academy in 1987. [31]
  • If I'm to bowl to Sachin, I will bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard.
  • No Michael, as long as you walk off with your pride that's all you can do.
  • I saw him (Sachin) playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...his compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel.
  • In the early years, especially around the mid 90s, I had this feeling you could play around on his ego and get him out. He believed he could attack bowlers at any time and anyone who could bowl maidens to him stood a good chance. Things are of course different now.
  • He is cricket's greatest role model and continues to provide a great example for young aspiring cricketers on how to conduct oneself throughout one's career.
  • Technically, you can't fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow nothing is a problem.
  • The joy he brings to the millions of his countrymen, the grace with which he handles all the adulation and the expectations and his innate humility - all make for a one-in-a-billion individual.
  • I'll always remember Sachin as a quality cricketer, one of the best of all time.
  • Tendulkar is the best in the world at the moment. Why I've always liked him is that batsmen tend to be negative at times and I think batting is not about not getting out - it is to play positively. I think you got to take it to the bowlers and Sachin is one such player. When you do so, you change the game, you change bowlers because they suddenly start bowling badly because they are under pressure.
  • I'd like to see him go out one day and bat with a stump. I tell you he'd do OK... I just get the feeling because of his mental strength that Sachin will be definitely the best player of his era and probably the best 2-3 of all time.
  • He is a perfectly balanced batsman and knows perfectly well when to attack and when to play defensive cricket.He has developed the ability to treat bowlers all over the world with contempt and can destroy any attack with utmost ease.
  • I am one of those fortune people who have seen Bradman and Tendulkar bat in my lifetime and in my opinion Tendulkar is the best batsman I have seen in my life.
  • For every ball Sachin has two shots in his mind. And he gets out when he plays the third one.
  • I had to remind Gary Kristen often that he was in the covers to field against Sachin not to applaud him.
  • Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it.
  • Whenever I see Sachin play I am reminded of the Graeme Pollock quote of Cricket being a 'see the ball, hit the ball game.' He hits the ball as if it's there to be hit.
  • It did dawn on me at the end of the series that he was something special.
    • Ian Healy after Tendulkar's tour to Australia in 1991/92. [49]
  • I know that the new ball is due, but I am saving it for that "Chotu" (Sachin) who is coming next.
    • Imran Khan (captain) of Pakistan to Javed Miandad (vice captain) in Sachin's debut test series (1989).
      • "Chotu" is a subcontinental term for the one who is lean and short. [50]
  • He loves India. He has named his child India. His biggest player is actually Tendulkar. Right now I'm hoping Tendulkar does not hit a catch to him because he will probably drop it to watch him bat.
  • "He loves cricket and with his hardwork, focus and commitment he has truly become a outstanding ambassador for the sport at a time when commercialism is so rampant."
  • I never coached Sachin Tendulkar, I gave him gentle advice when he asked for it.
  • "The way he has taken on the role of India's greatest sporting ambassador... He has, among other things, inspired a generation and more to play cricket."

  • "He continues to give more than 100 per cent and his schoolboy-like enthusiasm for the game is something I envy and admire. For the team he is the best available coaching manual."
  • We did not lose to a team called India... we lost to a man called Sachin.
  • Irrespective of the score, whenever Sachin Tendulkar comes to bat he is under pressure. The pressure comes from all those people who look up to him, who pray that he gets a century, who cheer like India has already won when he comes in to bat, and who silently troop out of the stands once he gets out. When a visiting team comes to India, they know whom the Indians look up to. While they love watching India play, there is no doubt that Tendulkar is the player they love watching most. There is a buzz when he comes in to bat and if he fails, the crowd goes quiet for the rest of the game.
  • The pressure on me is nothing compared to Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin, like God, must never fail. The crowd always expects him to succeed and it is too much pressure on him. But, he rarely disappoints them.
  • "Sachin was so focused. He never looked like getting out. He was batting with single-minded devotion. It was truly remarkable. It was a lesson."
  • Sachin Tendulkar is a god in India, a phenomenal player. His life seems to be a stillness in a frantic world and I admire his mental strength. He is a phenomenal player. When Tendulkar goes out to bat, it is beyond chaos - it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one man. Tendulkar seems like a spiritually rich individual, a solid human being; quite reserved and thoughtful to speak to. The people of India see him as a god, Stephen Waugh is almost a god here, but Sachin is a god and people believe good luck shines in his hand.
    • Matthew Hayden [59]
      • Hayden quoted a Paul Kelly song about Sir Donald Bradman: "He was more than just a batsman, He was something like a tide."
  • This little prick's going to get more runs than you, AB.
    • Merv Hughes to Allan Border after an 18-year-old Tendulkar scored a century in Perth. Tendulkar now has scored more runs than Border.[61]
  • Test cricket is bloody hard work, especially when you've got Sachin batting with what looks like a three-metre-wide bat.
  • Tendulkar is one of that narrow stratum of elite sports stars whom people will clamour and even make great sacrifices to watch, regardless of their national identity. If you care for cricket, you must love Sachin. In this regard, his peers are few - and mostly found in other sports, and certainly in other lands.
    • Mike Marqusee, writer, journalist and political activist [64]
  • He is the world no.1 in my list simply because of the way he has performed at the highest level for such a long time. In that journey, I also take into account the number of years he's been on the road, records by his name. In fact, statistically too, he has performed much more than any other cricketer. He is a very quiet person, doesn't interact much, but I have always heard he is a great team man. He has always shown respect to his opponents, an important yardstick for a great cricketer.
  • His mind is like a computer. He stores data on bowlers and knows where they are going to pitch the ball.
  • Sachin cannot cheat. He is to cricket what Gandhiji was to politics. It's clear discrimination.
    • NKP Salve, when Sachin was accused of ball tempering [70]
  • On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt at one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing a century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This genius can stop time in India!
  • Would pay to watch Brian Lara, bet life on Sachin Tendulkar.
  • He is one of the rare few who don't boast after scoring a 241, rather comes back to pavilion just to see the replay of his dismissal and rectify it in future.
  • Sachin has been sent by God to play cricket and then go back.
  • He's undoubtedly technically the best batsman I've seen, played against, played with. I've said that for a long time. One, because of the amount of success he had against us - it seemed just about every time we played against him he made a hundred. There weren't too many series that went by that he didn't dominate. Technically the best batsman I've seen, and quite easily as well.
  • I will forever remember Sachin as one of the greatest players of the game. In fact, it is something I look forward to telling my grandchildren in the future -- that I played against one of my childhood heroes. He has been one of the greatest cricketers ever and it has been a privilege playing with him and against him. It can surely rank as one of my cherished cricketing memories.
  • I never get tired during umpiring whenever Sachin is on crease
  • I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing us to breathe the same air as you do.
  • There was a big party where stars from bollywood and cricket were invited. Suddenly, there was a big noise, all wanted to see approaching Amitabh Bachhan. Then Sachin entered the hall and Amitabh was leading the queue to get a grab of the genius!
    • Shahrukh Khan in an interview when asked who he thought the most important celebrity was. [80]
  • Sachin Tendulkar is, in my time, the best player without doubt - daylight second, Brian Lara third.
    • Shane Warne when asked who he thought the greatest batsman in the world was. [81]
  • You have to watch India in India truly to appreciate the pressure that Sachin Tendulkar is under every time he bats. Outside grounds, people wait until he goes in before paying to enter. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer. This is cricket as Sachin has known it since the age of 16. He grew up under incredible weight of expectation and never buckled once - not under poor umpiring decisions or anything else. I place him very slightly ahead of Lara because I found him slightly tougher mentally.
  • I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player.
  • You have to decide for yourself whether you're bowling well or not. He's going to hit you for fours and sixes anyway. Kasprowicz has a superior story. During the Bangalore Test, frustrated, he went to Dennis Lillee and asked, "Mate, do you see any weaknesses?" Lillee replied, "No Michael, as long as you walk off with your pride that's all you can do".
  • With Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, it was better to be friends and make them smile rather than wind them up.
  • You have to watch India in India truly to appreciate the pressure that Sachin Tendulkar is under every time he bats. Outside grounds, people wait until he goes in before paying to enter. They seem to want a wicket to fall even though it is their own side that will suffer.
  • He is the greatest cricketer I have ever seen. I haven't seen Bradman, but he is as close to perfection as you can get. His insatiable hunger, combined with incredible talent, makes him a real genius. When people criticise him, all I point to them is the 100 international hundreds. Lara was a great and Ponting too was a brilliant, but Sachin, without any hesitation, is the greatest. He is the best I have ever seen and will perhaps ever see. No batsman in the next 50 years can score 100 international hundreds.
  • Sachin made 9 centuries in one year but many cricketers have not made 9 centuries in their whole career.
  • To me he will not just be remembered as a great player and a lovely human being, but as somebody who tried to learn Bengali for the last 14 years but never managed to do so!
  • It was one of the greatest innings I have ever seen. There is no shame being beaten by such a great player, Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don.
    • Steve Waugh after being defeated in the Coca-Cola Cup finals in Sharjah. [90]
  • "The last time I watched Sachin was last week when he was on his way to a spectacular 175 and once again I felt that I was watching a player who comes but once in a century. It can be said that he is the Bradman of our times and I do feel privileged to have played a lot of cricket against him,"
  • When Sachin Tendulkar travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam. When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to "open" the Nehruvian economy. It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will.
    • Time magazine, in 2011 [94]
  • For me, Tendulkar is one of the greatest cricketers. He has done extremely well and is very aggressive. I look forward to the day when I can see him play live. That's a dream.
  • Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years. It is time we carried him on our shoulders.
    • Virat Kohli leads the Tendulkar tributes after India's World Cup triumph[96]
  • ...when he is in full flow, the mild-mannered boyish cricketer can look extremely intimidating. If there is a resonance, I find of myself in his batting, it is in that intent that he communicates.
  • I think he's marvellous. I think he will fit in whatever category of cricket that's been played or will be played, from the first ball that's ever been bowled to the last ball that's going to be. He can play in any era and at any level... What he looks to do first is to attack.
    If it's not there in the groove he waits for the line and defends. Most of the time batsmen, just because it could be a fearsome fast bowler they are facing, tend to defend. But Sachin's always ready. He's always in a position to take advantage of loose balls... He has something special. He's blessed. I would say he's 99.5 per cent perfect... Even if he retires tomorrow and doesn't achieve anything more he is right there.
    I have never seen Bradman but heard people talk about him. But I tell you what, if Bradman could bat like this man does then he was dynamite. Players like Sachin deserve to be preserved in cotton wool.
  • I think he is marvellous. I think he will fit in whatever category of cricket that has been played or will be played, from the first ball that has ever been bowled to the last ball that's going to be. He can play in any era and at any level. I would say he's 99.5% perfect.
  • Certainly the best I've seen... People talk of (Sir Don) Bradman, but our generation and the ones immediately before us didn't get to see him... Sure, he has an astounding average (99.94), but of the cricketers I've watched, Sachin's the best.
  • Today, he showed the world why he is considered the best batsman around. Some of the shots he played were simply amazing. Earlier, opposing teams used to feel that Sachin's dismissal meant they could win the game. Today, I feel that the Indian players, too, feel this way.
  • I dont know what to bowl at him. I bowled an inswinger and he drove me through covers of the front foot. Then I bowled an outswinger and he again punched through covers of the backfoot. He is the toughest batsmen I've bowled to. He should live long and score lots of runs, but not against Pakistan.
  • Tujhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoDa hai?
  • Cricketers like Sachin come once in a lifetime, and I am privileged he played in my time.
  • Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job.
  • He is definitely someone who is miles ahead of his competition. In our days, cricket was played less, but in Sachin's time, there is relentless pressure to perform. And the way he has carried on batting throughout his career is phenomenal. As for myself, I have many videos of Sachin's best innings which I will watch from time to time to reminisce about his batting achievements when he has retired.
  • I Will See God When I Die But Till Then I Will See Sachin Tendulkar
    • A banner in Sharjah [108]
  • Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting. They will go unnoticed because even the Lord is watching.
    • A placard at the Sydney Cricket Ground [109]
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