Tendulkar and the Principle of Moments

Life can now return to normal. A nation that had held its breath, after endless debate and agonising, can get back to enjoying the cricket. ...

Life can now return to normal. A nation that had held its breath, after endless debate and agonising, can get back to enjoying the cricket. Sachin Tendulkar has finally done what had long been expected — demanded — of him, and how!

It’s not often that sport can summon up such moments, although perhaps only sport can truly bring a nation together. This writer is not a Tendulkar fan — not much of a cricket fan, come to that — but staying awake after a night shift, in the freezing cold of a Delhi winter, to watch The Moment and then waking up in time to watch the Double Moment was not a matter of choice: it was the only choice.

Those who did watch the Moments, and the hours in between, would have watched a man coming to terms with himself, with his demons, with his fallibility. Only Tendulkar can know what the past few weeks have been like for Tendulkar, how he suffered the slings and arrows. How, indeed, does a demi-god react when he looks down and sees his feet are made of clay?

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We don’t even begin to have the answers to that. What we do know is that Tendulkar, having come face to face with mortality, simply rearranged the mirror.

It brought to mind two similar occasions. The first was a year and a half ago, June 7 at Sapporo, Japan. England v Argentina at the World Cup. Beckham up against Argentina, four years of bitter history. When the penalty came England’s way, there was no question who would take it. The stakes were high, the consequences of failure could not be countenanced. But Beckham knew this was his Moment; let this slip by and you have a lifetime to repent.

He walked up, ignored the play-acting of the Argentinian players, looked his Moment in the eye and scored. The Boy became a Man.

Six weeks ago, on a rainy Saturday evening in Sydney, not far from where Tendulkar held court today, another young Englishman faced up to his Moment.

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For the past month, as his form in the Rugby World Cup dipped alarmingly, Jonny Wilkinson had been mocked, taunted, torn to bits, mainly by the Australian media. Now here he was, in the final, the scores level, the seconds running down on the clock.

He had, in the previous match, announced his return to form. But that wasn’t enough, that was against France; demons are not destroyed by proxy. In truth, he had less of an option than Beckham; the ball was passed to him, all he could conceivably do was shoot for goal. He did, and scored, and won the World Cup for his country. The Hero became a Superhero.

‘‘I play with a fear of letting people down. That’s what motivates me.’’ That’s Wilkinson, though of course it could so easily have been Tendulkar.

Yes, sometimes they let us down, they let themselves down. But then they pick themselves up, they pick us up…and we wish the Moment would last an eternity.