Ayaz Memon on Sachin Tendulkar's first Test hundred, at Old Trafford in 1990 |
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I sent in a blue inland letter addressed to you, with warm compliments on the article and it's interesting details. I ended it with something like ' And finally, thank you for not mentioning any of that nonsense about......" . Going through the following week's edition of the Illustrated Weekly, I was taken aback to find my letter had been printed in the mail section of the magazine; everything but the very last line. I was a little embarrassed to see my letter there, but also mollified that someone had read it, and my opinion had been delivered. I showed it to my Dad and he was quite happy on my behalf. Those two weeks have become a wonderful memory for me about my family and my childhood and growing up in my neighbourhood. Of course Sachin went on to even greater heights… what a wonderful human being he turned out to be. And I've been a big fan of your writing since then.
Hi Ayaz. I grew up in Bandra (East), Bombay, near Sachin's home. I remember reading that wonderful article you wrote about Sachin in the 'Illustrated Weekly of India'. It ran into several pages with black & white photos of Sachin & his entire family. I started recognizing them in the area after seeing those pics. My father was a great reader and he too, enjoyed the article very much. It was surreal for me then, to see a cover story in a national magazine about someone who lived 5 minutes away from me, and went to the same shops to buy his chocolates that I did. Around that time, someone had made a comment about Sachin that every woman in India wanted to mother him and smother him. I was really irate after reading that. It was as though no female Indian was capable of appreciating his cricket. I had never written to any publication before, but I was annoyed enough to do something about it.
I'm a Bangladeshi and extremely thankful to my father who introduced me to cricket in 1988 when I was a boy of six years. Bangladesh didn't have any cricketing status and there was no satellite TV in those days. It was almost impossible to watch any match which was not aired by DD National (We could watch DD National in the border areas of Bangladesh and India). However, radio was the letheal weapon for my dad and me...It might be very early in the morning or late night, my father would tell me to get the station wherever the cricket match was played and we would listen together. Many many hanks Ayaz for writing this fantastic piece which brought me back 24 years. I still remember the radio commentry after that off drive (which I watched later in youtube over and over) as if it was yesterday..."Tendulkar on 98 and and there it is...He got one, he came back for two and he goes for the third". And since then, he is the reason I love cricket...He is the reason I wanted India to play.
Despite being a great Sachin fan I must say that Tendulkar had only 2 weaknesses throughout his carreer (Must mention all other batsmen had lot more) 1. He couldn't bat on moving & uneven bouncing wicket. 2) He got nervous in 90s and while finishing a chase like he succumbed chasing 350 against aus scoring 170, He succumbed against Pak in test in 1999 scoring 135, He scored only 1 100 & 8 nervous 90s in 2007 & scored 1 100 & 7 nervous 90 from March 201 till date
WONDERFUL piece well worth reading. To put a story together like this in a limited pages was excellent. One of the best pieces I have read on the retirement of the legend.
I sent in a blue inland letter addressed to you, with warm compliments on the article and it's interesting details. I ended it with something like ' And finally, thank you for not mentioning any of that nonsense about......" . Going through the following week's edition of the Illustrated Weekly, I was taken aback to find my letter had been printed in the mail section of the magazine; everything but the very last line. I was a little embarrassed to see my letter there, but also mollified that someone had read it, and my opinion had been delivered. I showed it to my Dad and he was quite happy on my behalf. Those two weeks have become a wonderful memory for me about my family and my childhood and growing up in my neighbourhood. Of course Sachin went on to even greater heights… what a wonderful human being he turned out to be. And I've been a big fan of your writing since then.
Wionderful wonderful piece, you know its awesome when you get goosebumps reading it.
@@vatsap. Thx to cricinfo you can check everything online now. The scorecard for the match you were referring to is available: http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1990/IND_IN_ENG/IND_DERBY_16JUL1990.html
Wasn't this the series, where against Derbyshire Sachin scored 105 no. Different versions whether he actually hit Ian Bishop for a last ball six or not.
A very nice article. Very well written. Thank you, Mr.Ayaz Memon.
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