Sachiiin sachin

When did I started following cricket? Don't remember. Who was the earliest sporting hero for me? I remember Maradona as his performance entered my nascent mind at the age of three when I didn't even understand what football meant. I still remember buying a poster of Maradona in my 4th standards during an excursion to Bandel church. 

The earliest memory of cricket in my mind was the scene of Ravi Shastri driving a car around probably MCG after being the man of series of champions trophy 1987. But when I started understanding the game it was only Sachin. Indian cricket team at that point was never the dominating team so we did't expect them to win every match or even series. But then every time Sachin batted it was like expecting  a hundred was the minimum. Always all the hopes were on him. He saw the rise and fall of so many great players but he still managed to tower above all. 

Today he is playing his penultimate international cricket match in Eden gardens and I couldn't miss the chance of missing this great moment of cricketing history. As Gavaskar said this is the biggest retirement in Indian sports history. The man raises so much emotion. Lucky to born and breath in the same era and to watch him closely.