Sachin Tendulkar played four
Ranji matches and one Irani Cup tie last season. That’s quite a
number when you consider that prior to 2012; his only appearance in the
tournament had been in its 2009 edition.
Tendulkar has had to turn to the
less hurly-burly regions of domestic cricket to find a semblance of batting
rhythm. Last season, he chose to wear Mumbai’s white before the home series
against England and Australia. He was part of Mumbai’s 40th Ranji title win
in January this year – ideally that should have been a fitting end to a
domestic career.
However, his soon approaching
farewell Tests against the West Indies have forced him to have another go in
the domestic arena.
Mumbai will soon leave for the
quieter plains of Lahli for their first Ranji match against Haryana on Sunday,
and Tendulkar has prepared himself as meticulously as he has done for the last
24 years.
A sharp rising ball from Dhawal
Kulkarni knocked Tendulkar on the fingers in the nets yesterday, the most
valued commodity in sport until next month.
After his first round of practice,
he had another session of throw downs with local bowlers just to get the feel
and swing of his bat. And then, Kulkarni & Co listened with rapt attention
as Tendulkar demonstrated the subtleties of releasing the ball and body
alignment while delivering it.
Wasim Jaffer and Zaheer
Khan are Tendulkar’s only contemporaries in the Mumbai dressing room.
Jaffer spoke about the aching sense of loss that he and Zaheer are bound to
feel after the Lahli game.
“We know it’s his last domestic
match, but nobody wants to say anything. Apart from Zaheer and I, our team is
brimming with youngsters. Even Abhishek (Nayar) is relatively new. Nobody has
the courage to talk to him about his retirement. But I’m sure everybody is sad
– the whole cricketing world is sad,” Jaffer said, adding that the team will
organise a get-together sometime during the Lahli game.
Asked what fans in the
post-Tendulkar era will miss, Jaffer added: “The inputs he gives during batting
or after practise, I’m sure nobody must have ever heard of them. It’s like
giving graduation lessons to a student of standard five. They won’t have access
to great thoughts.”
In the last two weeks, everything
that Tendulkar has been doing has been reported minutely.
Yet he seems unmoved – he has hardly
presented a picture of a man moving away from a universe he can’t do without.
“I think mentally he must have realised that it is time to go. So the burden is
off him. That’s why he wants to enjoy the 15-16 days of cricket left in him,”
Jaffer said.
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