When Sachin almost made me go blind: Atul Ranade

ATUL RANADE recalls a few special incidents from the past

I and Sachin Tendulkar go back a long way, since kindergarten, in fact. I also opened the innings for our school Shardashram in that famous match in which Sachin and Vinod Kambli notched up the 664-run partnership in 1988.

I feel what makes Sachin different is the utmost respect with which he treats all kinds of people. Be it a groundsman or the senior-most cricketer, his behaviour is impeccable and identical. He makes this possible because the respect he shows is immense and straight from the heart.

Many people ask me what makes him go on and on. I think it's the devotion. He sticks to the basics,

does the hard work each day and follows everything with discipline and honesty.

He is mentally very strong. We were training at the Bandra Kurla Complex gymnasium in Mumbai recently, and while I finished in 45 minutes, he went on and on, for hours. He has certain plans in mind and sticks to them faithfully, to the core. He is also very aware that his road is long, and he wants to go the distance. He knows there are no short cuts in life. Sachin feels that he was fortunate to get a chance to get into the Indian team when he was 16 years old and he treasures his place. He doesn't want to let go of that.

His batting has changed over the years, of course, and he has started including new shots in his repertoire, like the upper cut. As a friend, though, he's still the same. He has always been concerned about our families and will do anything to help out. His sincerity and morals come from his father, who always imbibed in him the importance of being humble.

When we were at the Ramakant Achrekar academy, our coach would make us put the nets, roll the pitch and even learn to do things with the outfield. So if the groundsmen were missing, we could still get on with the game. These basics are deeply ingrained in Sachin. He's still the same hungry boy who always wanted to bat and bat.

He's a brat too. Once when we were on the tour to Ahmedabad with the under-15 team, he applied Sloan's balm around my eyes and pretended to be asleep. When I awoke in the middle of the night, I rubbed my eyes and realised they were burning. They seemed to be on fire! I started screaming, ‘‘I can't see anything, I've gone blind!''

Sachin rushed to me and took me to the bathroom and said, ‘‘Apply this cream it will make you feel better.'' The cream was actually a toothpaste and since I couldn't see that too, I rubbed it all over my eyes!

When we catch up these days, we still talk about our schooldays and have a lot of dhamaal!

Atul Ranade has played first-class cricket for Mumbai and Goa

Sachin ton made TRP ratings soar

NEW DELHI: Sachin Tendulkar doesn't merely create batting records. He also does wonder to the TRPs. The Mumbai maestro's sensational 175 off 141 balls last week sent the television ratings soaring to a whopping 7.1, the highest in ODI matches in recent years.

According to Tam Media Research TV ratings, the ratings surpassed the Champions Trophy's highest TRP of 6.2 garnered in the match between India and Pakistan earlier this year. The TRPs increased as the tightly-contested series progressed. The first match had a TRP of 3.6 followed by 4.9 and 5.9 in the second and third games. The Mohali match, which India lost narrowly, had a TRP of 6.1.

The average TRP in the first five matches of the India-Australia series was 5.51, which is higher than the average TRP of 2007 Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, IPL I in 2008 (4.7), IPL II (4.2) in 2009. Even the average TRPs of the T20 World Cup in England this year was 2.89. This underlines that audience interest in ODIs is far from over.

In 2007, when Australia toured India after the T20 World Cup, the Nagpur match on October 14 had recorded a high TRP of 9.3. It was again a high scoring game and that time India were chasing Australia's 317 and eventually lost by 18 runs.

In that match too Tendulkar had made a run-a-ball 72. The average TRP of the 2007 India-Australia series was higher (6.6) compared to 2009 series. But then, two years ago, T20 was just new to the viewers and the Indians were fresh from a World Cup win in South Africa.

The highest TRP in a single game in the last couple of years has been in the 2007 India-Pakistan T20 final. The game recorded a high of 15.9. Even the IPL final match in 2008 got 9.8. There was a marginal drop to 9.3 in the following year's edition in South Africa.

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to felicitate Tendulkar

Ahmedabad, Nov 13 (PTI) Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who will complete 20 years in international cricket tomorrow, will be felicitated by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi before the start of the first Test match between India and Sri Lanka here, a GCA official said today.

"Sachin will be presented a memento by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the GCA president, on Monday before the start of the first day's play at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera for completing 20 years in international cricket," Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) secretary, Rajesh Patel told reporters here today.

Sachin, who made his international debut with a Test against Pakistan on November 15, 1989, will be felicitated on behalf of the Gujarat government, Patel added.

The Sardar Patel stadium, built in 1983, has played host to some of the most memorable moments of cricketing history.

I've never seen Tendulkar throw tantrums: Ganguly

What can I say about Sachin Tendulkar that has not already been said or written about? Isn't it enough to say that players of my generation have been lucky to share the dressing room with him?

Having known him from very close quarters right from our days we used to play under- 15 cricket, I have marvelled at the manner in which he has built his career, admired his single-minded approach to batting and the way he has handled fame and fortune.

After I took over the captaincy from him in 2000, I have often benefited from his cricketing wisdom. In my book, there are three aspects to being Sachin Tendulkar: the batsman, the person and the superstar.

The batsman

Simply put, he is the best batsman that I have seen or played with or against. He is head and shoulders above the rest and there is no comparison. Having opened with him in over 200 ODIs and been at the other end of the wicket on hundreds of occasions, I've marvelled at his ability to play shots that lesser mortals would not even think of attempting. With a cricket bat in hand, Sachin is supremely confident. There is no better sight in cricket than Sachin in full flow.

The person

The best thing about Sachin is that despite scaling new peaks of popularity, he has both feet planted firmly on the ground. That's the reason he has not only survived for 20 long years as a top-level athlete but continues to prosper in all walks of life. In life as well as in cricket, Sachin always strikes the right balance. I have no doubt in my mind that he will continue to do the country proud with the bat for as long as he chooses to play.

The superstar

In a cricket-crazy country where everyone wants a piece of him, I have never seen Sachin throw tantrums, on or off the field. He is a role model for the youth and carries himself with dignity. He also has very deep-rooted values and stands by them. He is easily India's biggest sporting icon of his generation.