241 Not Out

"This one was written after Tendulkar score 241 not out at sydney in Jan 2004, on e of his most uncharacteristic innings."

Youth however beautiful has to decay. Now for almost 15 years Sachin  Tendulkar has resolutely kept old age at bay. That in itself is an  achievement. Few others have been at peak of their powers for so long. And  he may continue to do so for another couple of years. But sooner or later  sporting night will come calling at his door and then he will have to go.  As he walks into the night, all the luxuries of his youth, wrongly assumed  to be his faithful allies, will fall by his side one by one. Physical  strength would be the first to dwindle and soon thereafter his silken  touch would wrinkle. And then no spring would ever rejuvenate these. But  while all this would be happening, Sachin would be a content man at peace  with himself. For he would be looking back at yesterdays innings. This  innings would stay with him for rest of his life and be a constant source  of inspiration and hope. This was the day when he refused to be a slave to  his powers, when he resisted all temptations to drink at the fountain of  youth, when he just wouldnt let go. "Come what may, I am not getting out"  he said to himself and thus he did. Aussies fed him where he loves it the  most, wide and short outside the off stump. Years of savage cutting and  effortless driving urged him to launch into them, but he has turned deaf  to all voices from inside except for the one that said "I will not get  out". Yes he had realised that the hand that feeds him kills him. Laxman  murdering the bowling with ease at the other end would have compunded his  dilemma and might have hurt his ego and a lesser man would have fallen  prey to it. But his was an innings of sheer bloody mindedness and utter  discipline. These two would be his aides when old age beckons and will  keep him going long after his best years are behind him. Even towards the  fag end oh the day, he did not touch anything wide. What made it even more  amazing was that this was tendulkar doing it. To Rahul Dravids of this  world this comes naturally and has been honed by years of exercising  restraint. But fir tendulkar this was going against all that he believes  in. Like a shark made to swim like a dolphin, yet it swam and swam with  amazing grace that belied its savagery. Not his greatest innings, but the  most significant, It showed that a tendulkar bereft of his skills would  make runs, lots of runs. It augurs well for the future. To rephrase Dylan  Thomas "Tendulkar will not go gentle into the dying night."