Sachin don’t need my certificate. Still I would like to say, he is the one of the greatest player the cricket world has ever produced.
But whatever his arguments may be, sometime he puts his personal interest before the team. That’s what happened in Mirpur yesterday. When the whole world is busy praising and pouring greetings on him, the sad part is we have lost a match against Bangladesh that would have been easily won if the scoring rate was high as the situation demanded. There is no doubt we had to content with 289 because Sachin’s cautious approach (or over cautious?) towards his century. What is significant in one day cricket is, it is not important how you made the run but how much you made. Sachin consumed 147 balls to score his 114. In a game of total 300 balls a player in the side takes almost 50 per cent of the balls to score only 38 per cent of the total score cannot be acceptable, for whatever the reason.
In a tournament where we have beaten a better side like Sri Lanka, would have more easily won against Bangladesh that would have brought an easy entry to the final. Now we have placed in a peculiar situation where we had to beat more professional and talented team like Pakistan, who are also considered to be our arch rival. Surely the tension has been mounted, at least for cricket loving people of India.
At the same time I salute Sachin for his achievement I will also place the blame on his shoulder for our failure to win against Bangladesh. It has become part of us, our Indians, to live with tension coupled with happiness in whatever we do, life or play.
My prediction for Asia Cup final.
When my heart says India-Pakistan my mind indicates it is going to be a Bangladesh-Pakistan clash. No surprise if Bangla wins.
