Why Ricky’s 100 means so much more than Sachin’s

By Abhilasha Khaitan Two of the world’s top Test century makers are struggling to get to their next one. It has been a year or so since either of them scored a 100. Now, both have the opportunity and the occasion. Sachin Tendulkar has his home crowd and a tailor-made pitch to help him get to his 52nd. Ricky Ponting has his reputation to salvage and a match to win in his bid to reach his 40th. Ordinarily, it would be a no-brainer as to who I’d egg on to the three-figure mark. Not this time, though. In fact, as it stands, I would much rather witness a career-saving century by Ponting than a statistics-shattering one by Tendulkar. Anyone who knows me will bear out that while there may be worthier claimants to the tag of Tendulkar’s ‘greatest-ever fan’, I would certainly make it to the top 10, whatever the competition. Even so, the long countdown to yet another Sachin milestone is leaving me cold and bored, especially when you contrast it with the tragedy hero drama unfolding in South Africa as a legend struggles to hold on to his place in the team. [caption id=“attachment_135806” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ponting’s battle for survival is making him very popular. Reuters[/caption] This sense of solidarity with Ponting is all very new to me but so very expected. It is the Indian way, after all. Remember, we are the people who worship our heroes blindly, hold yagnas for their success and take their failures personally. Not surprisingly, much as the BCCI is criticised for it by ‘professional boards’, India allows legends to choose their exits and, in some cases, extend careers because we feel they’ve earned that right. The smart, calculating Aussie way appears strange and cruel, finding little appreciation from Indians even though the axe is hovering over our pet peeve. It is no secret that Ponting has hardly endeared himself to Indians. But to be honest, more than his quintessentially battle-hardened, aggressive Aussie demeanour, what has irked us over the years is his legitimate claim as a rival to Tendulkar. There was a time when there were serious debates in some quarters – particularly during Ponting’s purple patches – on who was the current ‘best player in the world’. How we hated such comparisons since, of course, we all know there can only be one top dog. But the thing with Indian cricket fans is that they can, when the occasion demands, put aside their fierce and sometimes ugly partisanship and get sucked into the sentimental whirlpool created by the time. And the very quality for which they are much maligned – loving the individuals more than the game – doesn’t allow them to enjoy seeing a giant getting felled without a fight. Sympathy is clearly a great leveller. Of course, at some Machiavellian level, they perhaps want the end of a worthy adversary to come at the opportune time and place, against India in Australia. Let no other country steal that right from us. So it is that even as he wards off the wolves baying for his head, Enemy No 1 has managed to engage the support of some of his fiercest critics. My Facebook timeline has several status messages from newly-born sympathisers exhorting Ponting to save his career. One friend wrote: “X is wondering why I’m rooting for Ponting to do well…after wanting him to fail every innings for the last 10 years !!” For possibly the first time in his career, Ponting is an underdog. And while it may not help his stress levels, the downturn in batting fortunes is certainly aiding him in the popularity charts. Why, I even kept my fingers crossed for him at one stage yesterday, a superstitious quirk typically reserved for Tendulkar.