IN THE NAME OF...

 

 

SYDNEY Cricket Ground and Sharjah Cricket Stadium set the ball rolling for bestowing true honour for the greats of the game by naming a gate and stand, respectively, after batting legend Sachin Tendulkar. The Indian great turned fifty last week sparking a wave of celebrations akin to a festival in India as well as many other parts of the world. Both the venues have great memories of the master’s blade as he constructed some memorable innings while donning the India colours. It was truly remarkable on part of the ground authorities and administrators to think of naming a gateway and a stand after the Indian champion.

While Tendulkar has a staggering record at the SCG where he scored 785 runs with three centuries, his masterclass in Sharjah is for ages. For years together, Tendulkar has blazed the Sharjah ground with his astonishing batting. Be it a ‘revenge attack’ on poor Henry Olonga or the slaughtering of Shane Warne into the stands. The summer of 1998 remains the peak of Tendulkar’s Sharjah connection and, perhaps, the lasting memory for his fans. He had exploded after the desert storm and his whirlwind innings knocked the Aussies twice in two days. It is apt that a stand from where the magic was witnessed is named after the great batsman.

Sports holds this amazing power of chronicling greatness through monuments and avenues. It is the most modest way of immortalising greatness. World-over, sportspersons have stadiums, stands, gates, avenues, roads and buildings named after them as a mark of recognition of their services to the game. The gate named after Tendulkar will serve as a reminder of his great career to each player passing through it to enter the iconic SCG. It is, in fact, a way to perpetuate history, making it available for the future generations as a ready reckoner. It is also a reminder to the next generation about a legacy that they need to carry ahead.

The gestures by Cricket Australia and Sharjah authorities are another proof that sports does not always operate within the limited confines of nationality and geographical boundaries. It can rise in a splendid manner, most graciously, to acknowledge the genius of a skilled individual. Notwithstanding the rivalry of the cricket teams, Australia went ahead to honour the genius of their known adversary. These special moments make sports a thing to fall for, kicking aside all the vagaries heaped by facets of material life. While the honour to our legend by the world must be celebrated and acknowledged, it also leaves some food for thought back home in India. Why there is no cricket stadium in the entire country that is not named after a cricketer? India has cricket stadiums named after politicians, musicians, officials, administrators, heroes of other sports except a cricketer. Irony, one can call it, and hope that someday wisdom will dawn upon the cricket administrators.