The Human God-----Part 2

A career that took off approximately 20 years ago as a 17 year old has spanned and captivated not only a whole generation but also people belonging to all generations. If we for sometime keep aside the love Sachin has for the game and the passion he exudes for playing and representing his country aside and look Cricket as his mere career option like each one of us has our own like being a Software, HR, Legal or Teaching, we will understand the work that has gone into it is enormous.
If we see compare ourselves today, what is the amount of efforts we put in our careers to make them more interesting or challenging for our ownself. Here am not saying that we must put something out of the ordinary to excel or chalk out better careers but what am trying to emphasize is the effort and sincerity being put in our day to day activities. I think the most important facet of Sachin’s glorious career is what I term it as the LOVE FOR the ROUTINE. He must be in love with his routine so much so that he has continued that routine for 33 years of his life. This is probably the same amount of time we will have our career spanned as well. But I think the main difference between him and us is the Love for the routine which we keep whining about.
I always keep hearing myself and others that there is nothing new and I have the same old routine going on which is boring, sedentary, and monotonous etc etc…… I think what he found out very early in his career or what was imbibed on his mind very early was that the routine is what makes or breaks careers. The routine is what the difference between good and great careers. People work hard and then we usually see a lot of promise fade away with time. I think the promise is still there but the problem is that the person is not fallen in love with his routine.
We join a new project, a firm, and/or any endeavor we see ourselves thinking and working towards it but as day’s progress we find thinking about some other things or in plain terms “Distractions”. Here again am not emphasizing on focus, its slightly different we all are focused but the intensity in which we pursue things at the start fades away till we reach the middle and completely fizzles out till we reach the end.
It’s like rowing in a river, the time we left the bank we are rowing with all the intensity and vigor and then as the rigors of rowing start to take effect the speed is slowed then the effort and then finally the will to take the effort. This is something I felt never happened to Tendulkar, he never stopped rowing and went on and on until people looking at him got tired seeing him and started to question whether he will ever stop or no.
His career if you look at it resembles how our career goes about. There is hardly any difference except for the one mentioned above. Likewise when we join a new project or a new firm we work hard and one of the other reasons might be establishing the credibility or proving ourselves. As a 17 year old dropped from the team even he had to prove his credibility. He came back stronger mentally and technically and also worked upon his defense and excelled in the tours of England and Australia the most difficult for any Indian batsman. He hit his maiden Test hundred in Nottingham in 1990 and the wonderful hundreds in Perth “the fastest ground” till Wanderers came up and a sedate knock at Sydney before the world cup of 92.
By this time he has shown a lot of promise but was still regarded as a “late middle order” batsman a term used to glorify his batting position at 5 or 6 during those times. He was not getting enough deliveries to face in the One dayers due to his low batting position and therefore a lad with such a high potential though recognized was wasted so low in the batting order. How often we get frustrated by this lack of opportunities and easily blame the people responsible or the circumstances prevailing or both. Some of us we even get de-motivated and fade away or leave the challenge half way. But Sachin stuck to it till the people responsible realized his potential after starting his career in 1989.
The most rewarding and interesting part of Sachin’s career or for that matter anybodies career is the belief or the vision that the superiors or seniors see in you. I think his career really took off in the early part of year 1994 when then Indian captain due to lack of choice promoted him to open the batting for India due to injury to one of the regular openers. The Indian team management took 6 years of his career to realize the true potential and perfect batting position for the greatest batsman ever. This is very important in everyone career where someone realizes the perfect role, the perfect position, the perfect job that you can do the best. So in March 1994 at Napier started a new phase in Sachin life, a phase where there was to be tremendous expectations, pressure and which required highly skilled technique and a strong mind. As an opener he not only had to negate the early swing or freshness in the pitch but also make sure that he scores freely and briskly in the power play to give the perfect starts for his team.
The first match in Napier he proved how the Indian think tank had got it right but got it right a little late. He samshed 80-odd in some 40 deliveries and it was treat to watch him. The more satisfying thing was he had used the opportunity very well and also filled up a void in the team for a solid opening batsman. For the next 15 years Sachin was batting at the helm of line up and the only thing changed over these years were his partners at the other end.
This opportunity also got him his maiden century in later that year in 1994 and it took 6 long years of wait to achieve that. Someone who had such a proven ability took 6 years for his first major success. His next 45-odd centuries came in a span of less than 15 years. Sometimes opportunities come late in our life and we rue the fact that it’s late now and we cannot achieve what we could have, would have or should have achieved otherwise but what we forget is when the opportunity has come up what can be achieved. I think what we perceive is the amount of success we can or could achieve in the given opportunity at that given time; we always tend to measure the amount of success or try to somehow quantify it. If this quantification does not amount to a satisfying amount we many times tend to let go the opportunity. Many times we don’t take up the opportunity don’t work on it and see if something else comes up from it. Sachin not only took the opportunity but excelled in it and the most rewarding phase of his career started. This was a prolific start but it did not go the same way as it started. It had all the ingredients of a fight and fights with none other than one own self.