But it did not stop there. 2007 world cup in West Indies was one of the most controversial and dreadful episode of Indian cricket history, thanks to the Australian coach Greg Chappell and his revolutionary ideas which indeed changed the shape of Indian cricket. After that, a lot of question were raised over Tendulkar’s future in cricket. But like always he replied with his consistent performance. Sachin reached to his peak performance after 2007 world cup.
In 2008, he played two gems of inning that too in common-wealth series final, 117 of120 balls and 91 0f 122 balls. They never needed to go for third final as winner was to be decided on best of three. Next year, when Australia visited India for 7 match ODI series, Sachin showed the rock he is made up of, with a blistering 175 of just 141 balls in Hyderabad while chasing a mammoth target of 351. Unfortunately, India lost the match by just 4 runs but that inning of Sachin was hailed all over the world. It was not over. Biggest was yet to come.
Sachin reached to anincredible feat in 2010 when he faced one of the most lethal bowling attacks of South Africa in 2010, at Gwalior, likes of Steyn and Morkal. But who cares, his bat roared on that day, he played like a young lad that day. No onewas able to stop him. That day, Sachin was in such a mood that a century was not at all a big deal, it came handy and he went for more. World witnessed a double hundred, “first man on the planet”as narrated by commentator then, Ravi Shastri. Sachin became the first man to score a 200 in ODI International.
And then came the jackpot. 2011 world was the last draw for Sachin. But he did not trust his fate. He trusted himself, backed himself up with everything. He batted like a 16-year-old kid. Sachin scored an outstanding 482 run, second highest scorer, in this world cup at the age of 37 with two 100s and two 50s. India had an ice cool captain in MSD, an all-rounder who was vomiting blood in the ground, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan leading the bowling attack with all his experience. India beat their new arch-rival Australia in quarter-final. In semis, Pakistan just failed to match the level.
In the final, Sri Lanka came up with quite a big target. Mahela Jayawardene’s hundred helped Sri Lanka to reach to a respectable total but even their captain Sangakkara accepted after final,” it was never a winning target, looking at the batting order of India”. India lost both their openers, Sachin and Viru in early overs but Gambhir and MS Dhoni played best innings of their life.
And rest was history. Dhoni hit a six which became an historical moment of Indian cricket. Other team-mates took Sachin on their shoulder all around the stadium. Sachin’s dream came true. Million’s dream came true. It was the only gem missing from the beautiful treasure like career of Master blaster but not anymore.
Every Indian cricket waited for this moment. Exquisite Scene of World cup trophy in the hand of Sachin Tendulkar was a treasure for them. And for Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, It was a gifthe deserved.It was a gift he earned.It was a gift, he won.