Jose can stuff it. Sachin IS the ‘Special One’
Prabhav Kashyap, Famous Indian
If I believed in religion, I would have gone to India – beautiful blue chair, Sachin, and after Sachin, God
A surprisingly witty Carlton Palmer
Most of our BigFourZa regulars hail from India, England, Africa and Singapore. While undoubtedly football is the world’s most popular game (which is why we write about the BPL and not the IPL) and personally my favorite sport, I did start off my sport viewership career with cricket. Simply put while the Arsenal is now my first love, it wasn’t my first ever love.
I am confident that our readers too are reasonably in touch with the sport that is played with willow, leather and the hands rather than legs, heads and chests, what with the Barmy Army to the Indian Army all being mad fans.
Hence you will forgive me for the slight digression from all things Arsenal, because something happened yesterday that hasn’t happened in the 39 years and 2961 games that have been played so far in history. A man (rather THE man) named Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar scored the first ever double century in a One Day International (ODI) inning. Might seem unremarkable to the average football fan, so let me try to put it into perspective in football terms.
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Firstly, this achievement came at the age of 36. The only active 36 year old footballers you’ll find are either goalies or Rivaldo (and with due respect the Saudi Arabian league doesn’t come close to the rigors of full fledged international cricket).
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His 442 ODI appearances put him in second place for all time appearances which is the same position occupied by a certain Ryan Giggs in EPL all time appearances (who in all fairness is behind David James and hence has maximum appearances for an outfield player). Giggsy’s been playing for 18 years which would be phenomenal everywhere except when compared against Sachin’s career which has spanned 21 years.
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James Vaughn was 16 years and 271 days old when he became the youngest player to score in the EPL for Everton vs. Crystal Palace. Sachin was just older when he got his first test hundred ironically at Old Trafford against England.
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He is the all time highest scorer in ODIs having scored 17600 runs in those 442 games a la Alan Shearer with his 260 goals (ironically in 441 games)
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If you were to consider a century the equivalent of a hat trick, Sachin again is right at the top with 46 in ODIs again like Shearer with 11. 93 50s (brace maybe?) also ensure he is a runaway leader.
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He has the record for the highest individual score in a game (200*) with Defoe and Andrew Cole holding a similar record in the EPL.
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Sachin hold the record for maximum runs (1894) scored in a calendar year with the equivalent record in the possession of the prolific Cristiano Ronaldo with 31 strikes.
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For all of his achievements, he has never been involved in any kind of controversy. I can state with the utmost confidence, he hasn’t slept with Rahul Dravid’s (team mate) wife, never had a bust up with Gary Kirsten (Indian team manager) or ever head butted an umpire. To paraphrase, he has never in 21 years committed even a Yellow card offence.
A man with the longevity and consistency of Ryan Giggs, the prolificacy of Alan Shearer, the brilliance of a Cristiano Ronaldo, the ability of an Andrew Cole and sometimes the luck of a Jermaine Defoe. What more could you have or want in a player? That is why, 1 billion people pray harder for him when he goes out to bat, than all of England ever did for Wayne Rooney to get fit for the last World Cup.
Sachin is the greatest. Period.
Brilliant comparisons. Agreed wholeheartedly
I agree with everything in this post. My liking of cricket ends the moment Sachin is out and its totally limited to his batting elegance. Sachin is definitely next to God if not God in India.
and thats why we have http://www.sachin200.info
more to be up on this ..
wonderful post maddy …
With all due to respect to Sachin, the fact that we need Jose’s quotes, ascribed to Carlton Palmer no less, to drive home a point, means that there is only way known to man to decide who the special one is.
Mario Kart.
Sachin is apparently a Man U fan. Which makes sense, if you think about it. Dravid is obviously the bastard child of Chelsea and Liverpool fans… He either defends or offends, just like them 😛
And have you seen Mrs Dravid????
Yeah, It does make sense. He IS human and ergo cannot be perfect 🙂
As for Dravid, heh that was trippy.
18 years as an outfield player is definitely more rigorous,demanding and dangerous than 21 years of facing leather with protection. so gigsy surely beats sachin in this aspect.
Owais Shah is a stoke city fan
Don’t think any footballer has stayed on the same club for 20 years either 🙂