Sudhir Naik is a coveted man. Not only did he create the world flattest pancake in the middle of a cricket stadium of all the places but it was also big enough to feed the batsmen for 4 days straight. On the 5th day it turned in to a waffle. IHOP are looking to pry him away from MCA as they look to reinvent themselves. While Mumbai Municipality are thinking of hiring him as an advisor as they struggle to build potholes free roads that last more than a week. It’s a different story that the bowlers are recuperating in the hospital.
After the euphoria at Wanderers where Australia and South Africa seemed to have resuscitated Test cricket out of the alleged coma it has been in, this was like a whack to the head to knock it out cold again and then revive him again on day 5. Agreed that this 100th 100 has grown in to a gorilla on Sachin’s back and Team India really needs him to get rid of it before the tour to Australia begins, but as you can see cricket does not take kindly to being arm twisted. You can’t force cricket to grant Sachin a century. Prepare all the flat tracks you want. Play as weak teams as possible but the century has to be earned.
Ask all those who have been out in the nineties. They will tell you how special a century is. They will tell you how badly they wanted to score it. But if you told a batsman you will just add a century to his records I doubt anyone of them will accept it.
Sachin will have his chance to score that hard fought century in Australia. This landmark deserves that. A century that really means something. Something to more than just the batsman. Something more than just another number. And I am sure Sachin realizes that too. The century will come and it cannot be denied. You can’t will it to happen but you can only wish for it to happen. And when it finally happens we will all cherish it. Perhaps even more than Sachin.
So just sit back and let the game take its course. What we are witnessing is the golden generation walking in to the sunset. Let’s not the miss the sunset for the star.