Time up Tendlya

Watching Tendulkar bat yesterday was as bad as Hrithik Roshan getting beaten up by a second rate henchman of Shakti Kapoor like Ulhas Bhai or something.

There are times when stars have to be stars. Whenever a great batsman enters the cricket field, the lakhs of spectators who clap are similar to the expectations you have while watching the titles of a blockbuster movie. Apart from patriotism and the love of cricket, batsmen fight for our attention, just like the best selling paperback, the blockbuster movie or the wine n dine restaurant. If there is a hero who has been delivering a string of flops, he soon loses circulation.

But Tendulkar in some way or the other has been flopping in all big matches. Cometh the hour, gone is our man. Yes he has a huge burden now on his aching shoulders and tennis elbows. No its not to save Team India , but to save the sponsors and talent management who have wagered millions on him.

Today as two legends of the game, Warne and McGrath announce their retirement with their reputations bigger than ever, we are left with only faint memories of the games where our man with the same tennis elbows made them look like club level bowlers in Sharjah and other venues. The man who came down to hit McGrath out of the stands is now guarding his crease like a hyena guarding his carcass from vultures. That too for a rookie like Paul Harris.

Maybe it was a rare day. But sher jab geedad ki maut marta hai na, woh jyada der sher nahi kahlaata. How can a great have an a batting average lower than Brett Lee this year. How can his best scores come only against Kenya and Bangladesh. Today when Laxman and Tendulkar bat together , one looks like a lorry driver with a sputtering engine where as the other cruising on a compact car on a highway. As a movie buff, I remember my childhood days, when Amitabh used to get hurt a lot and then start hitting the baddie, to shouts of 'maar Amitabachhan maar'. I want to do that once before you hang up your boots.

Else its time up Tendlya.