SACHIN-THE MAESTRO

[jagan]

Sachin's top of my bat pack


Last updated at 11:43 PM on 16th December 2008

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Sachin Tendulkar took his incredible career to its greatest heights yet when he won the first Test for India against England on Monday with a brilliant unbeaten hundred, played out in the shadow oftragedy in his home city of Mumbai.

But is ‘The Little Master’ the best there has been?
Sportsmail’s unrivalled columnist Nasser Hussain selects his list of the top 10 batsmen he played with or against in a career that culminated with him, too, reaching a century and winning a Test match with the same stroke — in his case against New Zealand at Lord’s in 2004.
DO YOU AGREE WITH NASSER’S TOP 10? GIVE US YOUR BATTING ORDER IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW...


1 Sachin Tendulkar

The best of my time and arguably the greatest of all time. Of the batsmen on this list, Sachin comes closest to perfection.
He simply has no mental or technical weakness. When I was England captain I found it incredibly hard to devise a plan to get him out. Also, think of the pressure he has had to deal with, being the icon of cricket in India for almost 20 years.

He handles himself incredibly well and that’s because he simply loves the game. When I interviewed him for Sportsmail last year he was just happy to talk cricket for ages and he has never lost that almost boyish enthusiasm.

Uniquely gifted: Tendulkar showed his class against England in Chennai
He played Shane Warne better than anybody and Monday’s innings, his 41st Test hundred, was possibly the best yet considering the context in which it was scored.
Here was the man from Mumbai standing up for the people of India in their hour of need.
What I really liked about that was that it silenced once and for all the suggestion in India that, for all Sachin’s greatness, he has never actually won Tests for India. It is a
ludicrous suggestion but it existed and now it can finally be put to bed.


More...

• A Little Master at work: Peerless Tendulkar wows the world with epic ton
• England left to rue letting Tendulkar write another incredible chapter in Chennai
• Nasser Hussain: This match has been England's finest hour

2 Brian Lara


The batsman who could best be considered a genius, as opposed to the almost super-human perfection of Sachin. Someone almost born with a bat in his hand. When Brian was in the mood, there was nothing you could do about it.

I was there both times in Antigua when he set the world individual batting records — 375 in 1994 and 400 in 2004 — and the second time I was fielding at short leg when he was on about 80 and he turned and looked at me.



The Prince: Lara in full swing at Lords

It was a look I’d seen before and one that I knew meant trouble. Brian would toy with a captain, as he did with Michael Atherton in 1994 and Michael Vaughan 10 years later. He was such a sweet timer of the ball with a light bat.

If they moved a fielder, he would deliberately put the ball where the man had just been. He could drift a bit mentally and shuffle across his crease technically but these were minor flaws.

3 Ricky Ponting

The highest-ranked Australian on my list. Bowlers such as Angus Fraser, Andrew Caddick and Alex Tudor would bowl a ball on a good English length, one that would be met with a defensive shot by most players, and Ponting would simply pull it to the boundary. He just rocked back and whacked it.


Leading by example: 'Punter' has become the heartbeat of one of Australia's greatest ever Test sides

Certainly one of the best players of fast and medium-paced bowling there has been and such a crisp hitter of the ball with his hard hands and high backlift. Possibly has a weakness against spin on the sub-continent against the likes of Harbhajan Singh but once he is in, the runs are sure to flow.
DO YOU AGREE WITH NASSER’S TOP 10? GIVE US YOUR BATTING ORDER IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW...


4 Graham Gooch

I was brought up watching the great Essex man play. He was just destructive. As far as he was concerned, there was no role in the game for spin — he was just disdainful of it.

I remember a game at Chelmsford when he took his great mate John Emburey apart, having told him he was going to!


Destructive: Gooch was disdainful for the art of spin

David Gower was my boyhood hero but I can’t really include him here because I barely played against him, whereas with Gooch I had the privilege of studying him from the other end as well as from the sidelines.

His only possible weakness was against medium-paced bowling and, famously, Terry Alderman, but to anything else he was completely destructive. There was a spell in my early career when counties dared not declare against Essex because they knew, whatever they set, Gooch would probably get it. Never showed any signs of nerves, either.

5 Mark Waugh


Maybe a surprise that he is so high on my list but I played with him at Essex, shared
many a partnership with him and found him to be a fantastic player — so pleasing on the eye, so entertaining to watch. And, after all, we are in the entertainment business.



Elegant: Waugh was easy on the eye and effective with the bat

Yes, he had weaknesses, possibly against the fastest bowling, was a bit laid-back in
the Gower mode and was inclined towards the odd dopey moment, but the way
he played off his legs and against the spinners will for ever be etched in my mind.

One of the few players I would watch even when I was out. The total opposite of his
twin brother in every way, both as a player and as a man, but none the worse for that.

6 Sanath Jayasuriya


Iconoclast: Jayasuriya changed the face of the one day game

Changed the face of one-day cricket.

The old role of the opener was to see off the shine on the new ball and create a platform for the middle order but Sanath attacked from ball one and completely altered the perception of his role.

The English methods of playing with a high elbow and in the ‘V’ were challenged by a man who played a different game.

When one-day fielding restrictions came in, you just would not know where to put your two outfielders.

He could hit you for six over point and would carve you to pieces.

Would take any one-day game away from the opposition if he batted for 20 overs.
DO YOU AGREE WITH NASSER’S TOP 10? GIVE US YOUR BATTING ORDER IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW...




7 Adam Gilchrist


If Sanath changed the face of the oneday-game, Gilly changed the face of Test cricket. He played with absolutely no fear or respect for convention. If the ball was wide, he would hit it, irrespective of whether his team were 100 for five and struggling.


Exhilarating: 'Gilly' was as hostile as he was entertaining at the wicket

Before Gilchrist, it was accepted that three runs an over was an acceptable level of scoring in Tests but he raised the bar with some astounding shots. There are not too many people who can claim to have changed the game significantly. Gilchrist and Jayasuriya are two of them.

8 Steve Waugh

A real fighter. We would think we could get him out with short balls but he would somehow always keep them out. He was so ‘in your face’ and would thrive when the situation was at its most demanding.

The time in Sydney, when he came in with Australia something like 50 for three, was a perfect situation for him and a dangerous one for us because he would thrive in adversity.



Pom basher: Waugh lashes out against his favourite opponents during the 1993 Ashes

All mental toughness rather than aesthetically pleasing but, if you needed a job doing, he was the man to do it — an ‘over my dead body’ mindset that few others possessed.

9 Rahul Dravid


As Sachin said recently, Dravid is not a good player, he’s a great player. Before his current bad form he was India’s rock — ‘The Wall’ that could not be broken down.

Mentally and technically one of the strongest players, Dravid would never get himself out, he would always have to be got out. A stroker of the ball, with a light bat, rather than someone who bludgeons it, he plays for love of the game rather than for material
rewards.



'The Wall': Like his contemporary Tendulkar, Dravid will be remembered as a great

Mr Dependability in my time but is conceivably playing for his Test future in Mohali in
the second Test. Dropping catches is normally a sign that powers might be on the wane but I would not write off Dravid.

10 Graham Thorpe


I have chosen him ahead of equally worthy English candidates like Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart, Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick because, if anything, he has been slightly forgotten when people talk about the great and the really good players. And he’s a mate of mine.

Thorpey was an unsung hero — a consistent, nuggety player who was a real fighter, qualities I so admired in him.



Nugget: Left-hander 'Stumpy' was comfotable playing pace or spin

He won games for you and was the perfect man for a difficult situation. Played all types of bowling exceptionally well in his pomp, before his back started to go, and I always
wanted him by my side in the heat of battle.

So there you have it. I apologise to players like Sir Viv Richards, David Gower, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes — all true greats, but they are not on this list because I only played against them briefly at the start of my career and view them as from another era.

This is my top 10 but there is only one number one — Sachin Tendulkar, a man who could go on for some time yet. And whenever the time comes for him to retire I just hope it is when Sachin chooses to go, ahead of being treated to media scrutiny. He has earned that and I’m sure he will get it.

[jagan]

Sachin become number 1 role model(survey report)

Sachin become number 1 role model(survey report)
no Big B , no SRK its sachin who topped d list .....
Mumbai (PTI): Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar has been voted by people of India as their number one role model of health and happiness in a nation-wide survey conducted by a health magazine.
Sachin was stumped when he was told that he was India's hero even off the pitch. "Goodness me! Is it true? My countrymen think that I am the healthiest and happiest person in the country? what a compliment, I am truly overwhelmed. I will cherish this compliment forever" was his reaction in an interview in the December, 2008 issue of health magazine, Complete Wellbeing.
Interestingly, the survey, which was conducted by global research firm Synovate for the Complete Wellbeing magazine, was before Sachin became the highest Test run-scorer and before his 40th Test century, said Manoj Katri, the editor and publisher of the magazine.
Tennis player Sania Mirza is the only woman to be voted among the top 10 role models of health and happiness when majority of the top role models that India has chosen are from cricket, Katri said.
The results of the survey are fascinating with Indian icons APJ Abdul Kalam and Amitabh Bachchan emerging among the top three role models across categories, along side Sachin.
Salman Khan, Sharukh Khan, Sonia Gandhi, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Anil Ambani also emerged as the top celebrities who inspire health and happiness in their respective domains, the survey said. India voted Railway Minister Lalu Prasad as the happiest among all politicians while Congress president Sonia Gandhi as number one role model of health.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/007200812171667.htm

[jagan]

Sachin is Mother Teresa of cricket: British media

Sachin is Mother Teresa of cricket: British media




London: British media were unanimous in their praise of Sachin Tendulkar, with one commentator calling him “Mother Teresa of cricket’’ after India successfully chased down a total of 387 to win the Chennai Test on Monday.
Though British media had plenty to write about, Tendulkar’s fourth innings century was the centrepiece of their attention.
John Etheridge, while writing in The Sun said, “Sachin Tendulkar has always been able to unite the vast country of India and bring joy to its billion inhabitants. “But what he did in Chennai Monday - little more than two weeks after the terrorist attack on his home city of Mumbai - was extraordinary even by his exalted standards.
“Tendulkar is the most feted man in India, more popular than any Bollywood star or politician. He is the Mother Teresa of cricket, a great little person, and his century helped ease the pain and suffering,’’ he said.
The Mumbai massacres and Tendulkar’s emotional reference to it was evoked and it was observed that the final runs fittingly came from the bat of the master who after the match revealed that two of the victims of the terror attacks were parents of pupils at daughter Sara’s school.
Former England player Derick Pringle, writing in The Daily Telegraph said, “It was new ground too for Tendulkar, India’s pre-eminent batsman during the first innings but rarely a dominant figure in last-day pursuits.’’
Pringle was also unequivocal in his praise of the Mumbai born and bred Tendulkar’s ability to guide Yuvraj Singh. “So often the quiet one, he (Tendulkar) cajoled, encouraged and generally advised all his subsequently partners, including the headstrong Yuvraj Singh, whose unbeaten 85 enabled the pair to add 163 for the fifth wicket,’’ he noted. “Sachin Tendulkar’s heroic status will be implanted even more firmly on India’s psyche after he dedicated his stunning last-day performance in the first Test match to the victims of the Mumbai atrocities,’’ .
“Sachin Tendulkar’s outrage over the terrorist murders in his home city of Mumbai has been the most enduring image of the Chennai Test. His defiant words have felt like an address to the nation,’’ The Guardian added.
Former England opener, Geoff Boycott, writing in The Daily Telegraph, said ageing is a natural process but what is unique about Tendulkar is the fact that he still manages to score those runs when required. “As a batsman it is not how many runs you make but whether you do it when it matters. Tendulkar showed all his experience, skill and ability. As he gets older he does not dominate bowling as he did in his younger days. He does not have the same range of shots and has to use his brain instead. It makes no difference because he is just as effective as he ever was,’’ said the cricketer-turned-commentator, known for his forthright views.
In The Independent, Fraser says that it is not every day that you hear a cricket team chase down the highest total on home soil, and for Tendulkar to be there at the end and ensure that it happened for India, was not only miraculous, but heartwarming for a connoisseur of the game.
“The Indian cricket team gave more than a billion people the perfect antidote to last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai,” producing one of the most remarkable run chases in the history of Test cricket, says Fraser.
“When the country's favourite son, Sachin Tendulkar, swept England's Graeme Swann to fine leg for four, and it sent a large and excitable crowd into a state of rapture. The stroke not only provided India with the uplifting national triumph it desperately needed, it allowed Tendulkar, a born and bred Mumbaikar, to pass 100 for the 41st time in his stellar career,” he adds.
"It was one of those special moments that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, similar to when an under-fire Steve Waugh hit the last ball of the day's play for four to complete a hundred against England in Sydney six years ago,” Fraser says

[jagan]

Sachin Tendulkar's No. 1 sportsperson for me: SaniaNew


I am okay with Miss Mirza but if they want to call me doctor that’s fine. It was completely unexpected. I always wanted to be a doctor. I had to choose between becoming a doctor and a tennis player. I choose tennis but destiny is such that now I am a doctor.

On being the most googled Indian sportsperson

In India if I am the No.1 sportsperson to be googled then its greats because cricket has been a religion in India and the fact that I am No. 1 proves that people are interested in tennis as well now. I hope that I can keep the interest alive and I am honoured that people want to know so much more about me.

On being more popular than Sachin Tendulkar

I don’t know about the rest of India but for me Sachin is always No. 1 and he is above me in my eyes. But I think we are not here to compete against anyone and any sport. I think we are all there and it is just a curiosity factor which is more. Maybe there is more curiosity because I have come in more recently.

On status of her wrist injury

I am fine. I have been working out and we have been in Bangalore for the last couple of weeks. It’s been more than two weeks now and we have been working really, really hard. We have been almost punishing our body everyday so it’s been good. I am feeling great and my wrist is good. Insha Allah I hope to come back in Australia and I can’t wait to compete again.

On being ready for circuit

Well I think it is going to be a process. Everything is a process whether it is winning matches again. To me the most important thing right now is to try and stay healthy, to try and just get some matches under my belt and try and get that feeling of winning again, to try and get that feeling of competing again. I think that’s the feeling that I have missed a lot in the last few months and I am just looking forward to that. Of course no one goes in and suddenly starts winning tournaments. Neither do I expect that of myself. But slowly and steadily I think it will happen

[guru]

taankz..jagan.......our tendulkkar

[jagan]

taankz..jagan.......our tendulkkar

[Niranjan]

taankz..jagan.......our tendulkkar

Thanks Jagan...Nee athu motham vayichanodey thanks paranjathu

[guru]

Thanks Jagan...Nee athu motham vayichanodey thanks paranjathu

[Krrish]

On being more popular than Sachin Tendulkar

I don’t know about the rest of India but for me Sachin is always No. 1 and he is above me in my eyes. But I think we are not here to compete against anyone and any sport. I think we are all there and it is just a curiosity factor which is more. Maybe there is more curiosity because I have come in more recently.

Sania Popular than Sachin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gud One!!!!!!!

[jagan]

Sania Popular than Sachin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gud One!!!!!!!

mandatharam parayunnathinu oru athiru vena ketto