Covid Catches up with Sachin Tendulkar : Prayers for his speedy recovery. 

One year and counting, yet COVID continues to take centre stage and hog major headlines, particularly in the city of Mumbai and Maharashtra that are in the grip of a second wave of the SARS-COV2 virus which has not spared even the God of cricket in India - Sachin Tendulkar. A glimpse at the latest Covid numbers in India, particularly in Mumbai and Maharashtra provide a sordid tale. The active Covid cases in India have risen sharply in March this year and now stand at 6,58,909 as of today, with an increase of 44,213 in just one day. Yesterday, India accounted for an increase of 88,415 with 44202 recoveries and 714 deaths. The death toll now stands at 1,64,110. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr Uddhav Thackeray, in his televised address has emphasised the seriousness of the issue and has appealed to the citizens of Mumbai and Maharashtra to follow Covid safety measures to avoid repeat of the lockdown. The silver lining however has been an exponential increase in the number of people taking the vaccine. Just yesterday 30,93,795 people have taken the Covid vaccine with Maharashtra leading the way and the over all number of vaccinations in India now stand at an impressive 7,30,54,295. The mantra for Covid control continues to be prevention using mask, physical distancing, hygiene and sanitisation, whose importance has been stressed unendingly by all concerned. 

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, has now been admitted to hospital. Tendulkar tweeted on Friday ;  “Thank you for your wishes and prayers. As a matter of abundant precaution under medical advice, I have been hospitalised. I hope to be back home in a few days. Take care and stay safe everyone”. The news of his admission into the hospital has sent shock waves among his well wishers with millions praying for his speedy recovery and wishing him well. I am one among those cricket fans for whom Sachin continues to be a legend and I join them all in wishing him a speedy recovery. Through this blogpost, I am not only praying for his speedy recovery but also wish to pay my tribute to the ‘God of cricket’. I am reminded of two Cricket Connect exhibitions, which I had the honour to curate in which I had included a section each on Sachin. For the Australian Cricket exhibition, this section was featured under the title ‘ The God ( Sachin Tendulkar) and the God’s God (Don Bradman)’ and for the England Cricket exhibition, it was featured under the title  ‘ The Almighty Bat’. I was also fortunate to host another interesting art exhibition ‘ Deconstructed Innings - A Tribute to Sachin Tendulkar’ at the NGMA Mumbai, in 2016, while I was holding the additional charge of NGMA. Sachin Tendulkar with his entire family in attendance came for the opening of this exhibition and he gifted a signed bat, which has been preserved at NGMA, Mumbai. The current Chief Minister of Maharashtra - Shri Uddhav Thackeray ji, had also visited this exhibition and I had the honour to walk him through this exhibition. 

Sachin Tendulkar, a spectacularly talented prodigy, is more than a mere cricketer for Indians. He has carried the hopes and aspirations of one billion plus Indian cricket fans for all of 23 long years that he played the game. Sachin's unparalleled achievements and his simplicity and humility have led to his fans placing him on a reverential pedestal. Many of Sachin's fans have come dangerously close to believing that Tendulkar is God. Certainly much of Tendulkar's batting seemed like a Gods gift from above. But the impression short-changes him, for no one has worked harder than Sachin to hone that legendary batting talent, which he is associated with. Sachin, who is a devout Hindu, does not like his fans calling him God. In one of his interactions with his adoring fans, he said  "he is not a god as he makes mistakes and gods do not", but that had little impact on many of his fans. Every 'God' has a share of non-believers. The great Sachin too had some. Some critics started writing his cricketing obituary when he was past 35. He bounced back and proved his critics - who had coined a new phrase 'End'ulkar, to signal the end of Tendulkar - wrong. At the age of 37, he had his most fertile year (2010); scoring more than 1500 Test runs and in the process he achieved a feat not witnessed in cricketing history. 

Sachin has to his credit an unprecedented record of scoring 100 hundreds in international matches, playing in a record 200 Tests. He continues to be the highest scorer in both Tests and ODI and he holds several other records, which are hard to conquer. Sachin had to wait for a long time to get to his 100th hundred. He says “When I got to my 100th international century, I was not jumping or celebrating. My first question to God was ; why did it take so long? What did I do wrong? With a billion plus people waiting for this, it shouldn't have taken so long”. Sachin played 664 international matches in 24 years. It means around 27.67 matches per year, and yet he maintained an average of approximately 44 and 54 in ODIs and Tests respectively. Although the average is less than Bradman's, the matches are way higher. His consistency, keeping in mind his longevity in the game, the varying opponents and conditions, is probably the best at the international stage and therefore it is no wonder that he commands so much love and affection from his fans.

The veneration that Sachin receives from his fans not just in India, but globally, was beautifully captured and portrayed in one of the art works that was displayed at the ‘Deconstructed Innings’ exhibition at NGMA Mumbai, under the title “Arrival of a Cricket God” by Manjunath Kamath. The artist essayed the birth of Sachin as an auspicious occasion where little Sachin is blessed by mythical godly figures. The artist said he drew his inspiration from Indian Calendar Art, popular culture, and epics to celebrate the legendary stature of Sachin Tendulkar to present a visual imagery, which includes metaphoric mythical elements that is juxtaposed with the childhood image of Sachin's arrival at the centre. There is a book titled “If Cricket is Religion, Sachin is God” written by Vijay Santhanam and S B Subramanyam, which also juxtaposes the position of Cricket and Sachin for Indians. It is therefore no wonder that when Sachin tweeted about his hospitalisation, his fans in millions stood by him wishing and praying for him. 

When Sachin was playing cricket, more More often than not, India's chances for success rested on his shoulders. Entire stadiums erupted at the very sight of seeing the little master walk out to the wicket from the pavilion and the very crowd entered into a deadly silence, and often emptying the stands, when the bowler got the better of Sachin. Sachin was born in Mumbai, one of the prime cities having a very rich cricket history. In a work titled “The City of Dreams” exhibited at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai the artist, Remen Chopra presented a sculptural representation of Sachin's Cricket career in a skyline of his city of dreams that is symbolic of his unprecedented skyline scores and achievements on the cricket field. 

In the history of Indian Cricket, no one has had a following bigger than Sachin – more than a billion. Cricket Fans all across the globe continue to keep the spirit of Sachin alive long after he has laid his bat to rest. He has connected Indians to cricket and to his own play, more than anyone else. His performance used to be the reason for whole country's happiness or sadness. Harsha Bhogle, an erudite and highly respected commentator, once said "India sleeps well when Sachin plays well". The crazy and unsportsmanly attitude of the crowd at the Eden Garden during the semi final world cup match against Sri Lanka after Sachin was out, stands testimony to the dependence of the cricket fans on Sachin. Many of Sachin's fans have come dangerously close to believing that Tendulkar is God. It is therefore no wonder that the he was conferred with the highest civilian honours - Bharat Ratna. Sachin Tendulkar at 40,  is the youngest ever and the first sportsman to receive the coveted Bharat Ratna, which was conferred by the then President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.

Among his innumerable fans one man, Mr Sudhir Chaudhary, from Odisha is conspicuous. He is seen with his whole body painted with the colours of the national flag and at the bottom are three words: 'the god of cricket'. Like a true disciple he has followed Tendulkar wherever he has gone. Likewise there are several other diehard fans of Sachin who are equally passionate about their idol  who continue to keep the spirit of Sachin alive. The exhibition “Deconstructed Innings” at the NGMA was actually an outcome of the reverence that Indians have for their idol.

At the World Cups, Sachin has been more prolific than anywhere else, his total tally at WCs (2278 Runs) is 30.6% higher than his closest and arch rival Ricky Ponting (1743 runs). And if you think he has played more, you are wrong. He has played 1 match less than Ponting in WCs. He has also hit 6 centuries and 21 half tons. Sachin's achievements can best be summarised in the words of Ponting who wrote in his forward for a book titled ‘Tendulkar in Wisden: An Anthology’, “For me, he's the greatest batsman after Don Bradman. While I hold Brian Lara in high regard because of his match winning ability, I don't think any batsman can achieve more out of the game than Sachin has". 

As Covid numbers continue to raise in India with a growth rate of 6.8 per cent in March 2021 which has surpassed the previous record of 5.5 per cent in June 2020, it is time for all of us to extend an unprecedented cooperation to all the Covid warriors and local administration and ensure that we not only follow all the Covid protocols but we must also help others in adhering to these mandated protocols to win over Covi pandemic so that no one including our hero Sachin Tendulkar will ever be effected with this Pandemic.

Once again wishing Sachin and all others who have been affected by Covid 19 and are in hospital recouping from this dreaded disease a speedy recovery.