When numbers don't matter
Meeting the most complete batsman of all time - Sachin Tendulkar
Originally published Jan 24, 2016.
In November 2015, former cricket stars led by Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne came to the United States to promote Cricket with a 3-match series called "Cricket All-stars". The first game was held in New York's Citi Field. With some coordination with Anjali Tendulkar, I was able to get 15 minutes of Sachin Tendulkar's time to see him in his hotel room.
My cousin (Ankur) and I went up to Sachin's hotel room the day after the New York match. The transcript below has been put together by Ankur and details our interaction.
Knock
Anjali Tendulkar (AT) opens the door.
Warm smile and handshake.
AT - Hello..
Mayank Jhaveri (MJ) - Hello ma'am
Ankur Jhaveri (AJ) - Hello ma'am
AT - You are Mayank?! (Gesturing to MJ)
MJ - Yes ma'am.
Around 10 people in the living room area.
AT - Sachin! These guys are here to see you..
Sachin walks from the other side of the wall.
White shirt, jeans, scruffed beard, looking very fit.
Warm smile.
Handshake.
AJ/MJ feeling a constant shiver throughout the body.
MJ - Hello sir, I am Mayank
AJ - Hello sir, I am Ankur
Sachin Tendulkar (SRT) - Hi, how was your experience at the game?
MJ/AJ - It was great. Had a lot of fun.. the atmosphere was great
SRT - That's great. That's great. Did you see a lot of Americans watching the game?
MJ/AJ - There were some but mainly the crowd was from the South Asian community.
SRT - OK. Talk to your American friends about this experience. We want cricket to grow in America. See, Cricket was first played in the 1700s and baseball came into existence after 100 years. I was thinking about it the other day how did baseball catch on... The main reason was the weather (wide eyes). Because it was difficult to maintain the turf (gesturing a flat surface). So in baseball, you just have to throw the ball straight without (gesturing to throw) bouncing.
MJ/AJ - Right, Right (disbelief about what is happening.. dry throat)
MJ - (handing over a folder) Sir I write about cricket and wrote this about cricket in the US. It would be great if you go through it.
SRT - Wonderful, wonderful (impressed look)
AJ - The experience was great yesterday. I am from Toronto and came here for the game. It would be great if you plan something like this in Toronto. We have a big cricket community there.
AT - So which city is big for cricket in Canada?
AJ - Toronto is probably the biggest followed by Vancouver I think. These are two places with large South Asian communities.
AT - OK OK
SRT - Ya, we can do something at the Toronto ground we played Sharjah cup in.. That was a decent ground. We are in talks with the Toronto league and it will happen.. It is hard work but hopefully we will come there too.
AJ - That would be great, Sir. We have a lot of upcoming grounds now in Toronto that have the capacity to bring in portable stands for the crowd and people will surely come for something like this. Similar to the citi field, our baseball ground has a dome that closes so that is good for cricket..
SRT - The skydome, right!?
AJ - Yes yes.
SRT - Ya, I played there twice. Very nice facility, I had fun playing there.
AJ - Oh OK. That's great (can sense the shiver in his voice)
AT - You guys take the autograph and picture
SRT - Yes yes. You have a pen
AJ - Ya I do. (Takes pen out.. Opens the cap nervously. Cap falls on the ground between the three of us. Picks it up)
MJ and AJ present their copies of "Sachin Tendulkar - An Autobiography" to get it signed.
MJ - It would be nice to have you sign it as I start reading it.
AJ - Sir, I don't read any books but I read this one in pretty much one sitting.
SRT, AT laugh.
We requested for pictures.
SRT - Yes yes... But turn around. Come this way because the sun will be behind the camera. It will be better.
MJ fumbles and presses random buttons on the camera. AJ tries to help out.
SRT - It's the silver button.
MJ - OK ya got it.
Pictures taken.
MJ/AJ - Thank you so much for taking time to meet us.
SRT/AT - It was nice to talk to you guys. Bye, see you.
Door closes.
MJ/AJ walk up a few steps away from the room.. Look at each other.. "What did just happen..."
Now, if you read this without context you would think this is just two more crazy fans meeting the legend and getting nervous about it. However, people who have interacted with me or read my posts about Tendulkar in the last 3 years or so, will know that I have been very critical of him on a number of occasions. Many times I have looked up statistics and numbers to suggest that he was past his prime and should have been dropped.
In fact, even the idea of Cricket All-Stars to me (like many others) seemed like just a way to mint money by these retired cricketers. Yet, when I was standing in front of Tendulkar and heard him explain his theory of why Cricket did not sustain in the US, I was absolutely stumped. We have heard commentators and teammates talk about his passion for the sport n number of times. Yet, both of us were caught completely off-guard.
The Tendulkar's had guests visiting them in their hotel, they could have just given a photograph/autograph and asked us to leave. But both of them spent some time talking to us, asking us about the experience, telling us to spread the word among our American friends. The moment I walked out of that hotel room, I was convinced that Sachin really does care about spreading the sport and the effectiveness of their method.
It made me realize that when someone of his stature is talking to you with such passion, it just overpowers your opinions. Everyone becomes a fanboy and those numbers just don't matter.