In many ways, the Indian World Cup Victory on April 2nd 2011 was a fitting end to what can be called The Tendulkar Story ignoring the fact that the man's career itself has not ended.It would be difficult to say, what was the most striking aspect in a ODI World Cup Victory, that fascinated Sachin Tendulkar the most, for the man devoted himself to the cause for 19 years starting from 1992 to 2011 with utmost dedication, putting in his most passionate efforts(arguably more than what he would have done in a Tri-Series game). But, the way the events have unfolded game after game across the continents is no where short of becoming a biopic, one that has all the twists and turns to become an interesting one at that.

The year was 1992 and a 8 year old boy was looking at the portable balck and white television screen willing Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Manjrekar to get out soon, so that he can watch his favorite player in action. He knew nothing about cricket or its legacy, Gavaskar or Kapil Dev, but the words Benson and Hedges, Sachin Tendulkar rang in his mind so much so that he used to wake up early in the morning to catch the action. The cheer in the household at THAT Ajay Jadeja's catch to dismiss Allan Border still holds a special place in his heart. He was not so much interested in the World Cup once India were out and eventually Pakistan won it, nor was he versed with the fact that the next world cup in 1996 would be in India where a delight awaited him.


1996 world cup saw Tendulkar stamping his supremacy over the world in becoming the highest run getter of the tournament. He has shown his class and the innings in each of the league matches except that against with Zimbabwe were a pleasure to everyone, so much so that the nation dared to look at retriving the coveted cup after 13 years. The Quarter Final against Pakistan was an absolute cracker of a match, probably the best Ind-Pak game the boy has ever seen in a world cup.India arrived at Calcutta, being named big time favorites and were truly on course banking on a majestic 65 from the master. But things turned and how. The match though ended abruptly, was a major scar on the boy's psyche, that he cried in bed that night and refused to eat food for the entire next day before hunger eventually got the better of him. Probably during this time, the desire for his country to win the Cup became more fervent after seeing how close they were to achieving it, more so to the master batsman than to the then 12 year old young man watching him.

Tendulkar was made the captain of Indian Cricket team, following the phenomenal world cup success, but it is the emergence of Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly that were proved important to Indian teams' winning ways leading to the 1999 Cricket World Cup. The action then in England, with the ball swinging in both directions and Pakistan with their group of talented bowlers made good use of the conditions to obtain a finals berth, though they never really turned up for that encounter. For India, that tournament had little to offer except the victories against Pakistan and England, but the match that hurt them throughout was the close defeat against Zimbabwe. Tendulkar had to suffer the unfortunate demise of his father though he never made that a deterrent to his ambitions. Other than a hundred against Kenya, he was largely ineffective in that edition, a statistic reflected on the team's performance as well.

The lead up to 2003 World Cup in South Africa could not have been worse with the team's dismal performance on New Zealand tour. India have managed a moderate victory against Netherlands and suffered badly against Australia, causing a huge outrage among the fans back home. But, the team turned things around with comfortable victories against Namibia and Zimbabwe. The victory against England was a huge morale booster and then came the epic which saw THAT six off Shoaib Akhtar. India reached semi finals, with vicotries against Kenya, Sri Lanka and Newzealand in Super Sixes but more importantly, the team has come out of its huge dependence on one man. Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly shared equal responsibility in the victories, often ensuring Tendulkar to play his flamboyant Cricket. The hype over the 2003 World Cup final was huge as comparisons and analyses running wild but Australia was simply unbeatable in that tournament with many of their greats in their prime form and they proved too mighty an obstacle to overcome. Thanks to the absence of T20 Cricket the target of 360 in the final was never chased with a conviction specially after the dismissal of Tendulkar in the first over and India had to contend themselves being runners. Then a 19 year young man, more matured than his younger self admitted to himself that the best team won.

2007 edition in West Indies saw many changes in the squad with Greg Chappell, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar forming the core team of decision making. Those were turbulent times in Team India, something that the players themselves do not want to look back to. The team was mauled by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka's bowling was too good for India. The only moment of success was against Bermuda which proved rather insignificant, the records tumbled notwithstanding. Tendulkar was not opening again, a rather curious pattern to be noted(1992-League stage, 1999- Quarter Finals 2007 -League Stage) (1996-Semis, 2003-Finals 2011-Won). It does not take a genius to guess where the master wanted to bat in ODIs.

I think the failure of 2007 World Cup made Tendulkar to panic a bit. He immediately voiced his desire to play in the 2011 world cup and even he raised his game to such a level that he had the best phase of his career all over again. This phase saw India becoming Number One Test team, BUt Tendulkar had his eyes firmly set on the World Cup in INdia, and he adjusted his schedules by giving up T20 Cricket, taking care of his body so that he would be at his best when the situation demanded. Every Indian Victory in 2011 World Cup in India was a riot, with the fans going into a frenzy and beleiving their team had a real chance. The beauty of 2011 edition, was that no team was really dominant and each of them had their own flaws and demons to deal with. South Africa who could have been a real threat to India, defeating them in league stages were out of the tournament in Quarter Finals thanks to some spirited performance on field by the Kiwis. India, on the other hand, reached finals in a dream run. The matches against Australia and Pakistan were what can only be termed as a bliss from an Indian Fan's perspective.Tendulkar, contrinuted two hundreds in league games, though India never won them and a match winning but hugely flawed 85 against Pakistan. India viewed the finals against Sri Lanka as a blessing in disguise as the two teams played against each other quite a lot those days and India were the better team then. The looming hndredth hundred milestone in front of home crowd in a World Cup final was a mouth watering prospect but the man disappointed. A 27 year old man was almost in tears, but the class of Gambhir and street smart confidence of MS Dhoni playing his finest knock in the series saw us home. The celebrations knew no bounds as the incredible journey of 19 years culminated in a brilliant victory and brought tears of satisfation to the man who played the ODI game with a single dream in mind and pursued it with a fervour and attained the ultimate Nirvana setting an example for the country and its people to beleive in their dreams and chase them with steadfast commitment. The 27 year old man I turned out to be exactly a year ago,saw the spent up look of joy on his idol's face and learnt something that he would value and try to emulate.