“Genius does what it must, talent does what it can” Owen Mereditch

People always have mighty expectations from genius. Sometimes unrealistic, too. They wish to fulfill their dream by someone who is genius. Their hero. For millions of cricket lovers in India, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is perhaps the finest creation of God, if not the ultimate. But alas, the man hasn’t delivered to that extent as we hoped for.

Doubtless, Sachin is the most charismatic and courageous cricketer around yet he has to prove many things. Ever since the venerable Sir Donald Bradman has publicly acknowledged the striking resemblance of his batting style in Sachin’s, the entire nation went berserk in heaping praise over Sachin. Suddenly, Sachin became larger – than –life figure. Little importance was given to the fact that apart from winning some ‘home Test’ matches and some great wins on the benign pitches of the sub-continent, his contribution was not as magnificent as the crazy media made us to believe.

Of course, Sachin’s calibre as a great batsman is beyond doubt but so far he hasn’t been able to translate his enormous potential into epoch-making performances, where he can be bracketed along with the likes of Don Bradman and Garry Sobbers.

Isn’t it a cruel agony that despite having such a phenomenal cricket India hasn’t been able to win a test-series abroad (Read: outside the sub-continent) in past 14 years? At this point apologist may argue that cricket is a team-game and Sachin alone can’t be held responsible for that. Well, but when an Arvinda De Silva or a Chris Cairns can win matches with individual brilliance for their respective teams, why not our Sachin. Undoubtedly, always a mile ahead from his contemporaries.

The other question is that-Has he been hyped a bit too much? Or is he being exaggerated by the media? There is some point here. When have we seen Sachin battling in the fourth innings to save a test match? Barring one or two matches, it is a rarity. Giving one’s best when chips are down, which is the very hallmark of a champion, is unfortunately not the case with Sachin. In this regard, performance of Steve Waugh and to an extent Brian Lara’s is more striking.

If we allow ourselves to go in the pages of history, our very own Sunil Gavaskar in this regard is awesome, indeed. Authoring epic hundreds against the best fast bowling attacks ever in the history of the game, he astounded the whole world. Comparing two individual’s performances and that too, played in different era is not only hazardous but also unfair. Yet it is not too astonishing to hear from old timers that Sunil’s performance is test matches is more enviable.

This article is not mean to belittle the greatness of Sachin. It is not that he is incapable of playing heroic knocks in crunch situation or in the testing condition that will give India its ‘first abroad test’ victory after a gap of more than a decade. He is, and definitely will. But so far, it has come in bits and pieces and even the staunchest fan of Sachin will admit it.

Or may be we are expecting too much too often and not realizing that he is only a human. But huge expectations will always be there whenever he bats for India. That is the only small price he has to pay for his unmatched adulation and unparalleled adoration from his countryman.