"200" - Sachin did it on 24th Feb 2010. Sehwag did it again on 8th Dec 2011 !

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Sehwag after his 200

       When Cricket becomes boring, people start expecting from Sachin Tendulkar to create a yet new milestone and give a new meaning to the game. After winning the World Cup, India wanted a big reason to celebrate on the name of Cricket. But, then, England series happened and everyone lost their hopes from Indian Cricket team. Everyone started criticizing Indian team for lacking determination and not racing with the same spirit of winning every series like they did for World Cup. The only man who stood with his head high after the series was Rahul Dravid. He made England bowlers struggle throughout the series and made one century after another. People started expecting Rahul Dravid to cross the mark of highest runs in Test Cricket and surpass the record of Sachin Tendulkar. And people still expect him to do so. Then, India-West Indies Test series began and people started expecting Sachin to score his 100th 100 and give an acceleration to the team India but every other player performed except Sachin. Sachin went back to the pavilion at 94 once while playing at Wankhede stadium and that was almost the end of hope from him. India won the Test series against West Indies but that was not enough to excite the Indian fans. Then, the ODI series began. India beat West Indies in the first two matches. In the 3rd ODI, West Indies smashed us quite beautifully. :-) 


            But the 4th ODI had something for which Indian cricket fans were waiting for. Sehwag won the toss and elected to bat. He came on the pitch with Gautam Gambhir and said to him that "It's a good field and we can get maximum runs out of here". And THIS suggestion he gave to Gautam shows his attitude with which he came on the field. He started hitting ball and scored his Century in just 69 balls. Then, he kept striking the ball and scored his 150 runs in just 112 balls. But, even then, he looked determined and his body language was showing the fun he was having while playing this inning. He kept scoring runs and finally hit a boundary on the bowl of Andrew Russell and scored the DOUBLE TON in just 140 balls. Our claimed God- Sachin Tendulkar did it in 147 balls. Sehwag raised the level of how the DOUBLE CENTURY is made. When Sachin made it, people believed that this may not happen quite sooner but Sehwag did it in more mind-blowing way than Sachin. People forgot Sachin Tendulkar for a moment and everyone rejoiced on the DOUBLE CENTURY of Virender Sehwag. He created a big history in the history of Cricket. And he didn't just scored 200 and chilled out. He kept hitting even after that too to score more. He wanted to immortalize his innings and he ended up in the 47th over when he got caught at 219. And see the uniqueness of the Legend that his Highest in Test is 319 and his ODI highest becomes 219. :-)

Sachin after his 200*

              I remember, I was in 5th std when I developed some interest in the game of Cricket. Then, I asked my friend about the highest score ever made by any player in Cricket. He told me about Saeed Anwar's 194. I was shocked as I always saw everyone celebrating the 100 runs made by any player and I was shocked that someone has already reached the spot where 200 runs is just 6 runs away. From then, I kept on expecting this record to be broken but it never happened in my school times so I thought that it's impossible. Many players did reached in 180s but none of them succeeded in reaching in 190s till then. A player named Quantry scored 194* after that but it went unnoticed. And suddenly one day, the same Record-master Sachin Tendulkar scored 200* in 147 balls against South Africa on 24th February, 2010 in Gwalior and did it for me and all the Indians. I purchased the DVD of the innings the very next month and saw it whenever I felt demotivated and low. It showed me the dedication with which a person can break a record even at the age when Cricket experts asks him to sit at home as he has done whatever is possible from a Cricketer. 


             But, who would have expected that 200* will not stay intact for a long time. In 2011, Shane Watson scored 185* in 96 balls against Bangladesh in the second inning. He hit 15 sixes in this inning. Every Indian was shocked to see that Watson was about to break Sachin's record with such an ease but people didn't gave a DAMN as 200 toh nahi baney naa.. bantey to baat thi. :-) And 2011 started with the World Cup tournament where India lifted the cup after 28 years. Then, in November, Rahul Dravid became the highest run-scorer in Test match in the calendar year of 2011. Even, Sachin crossed the mark of 15,000 runs in Test matches which is still not cracked by anyone else. And finally, Sehwag scored the Highest runs ever in an ODI inning- 219 runs. With this, he becomes the only Captain to score 219 runs. Before this, Sachin Tendulkar scored 186* as a Captain long back which was the highest till today morning. :-) And with the help of Sehwag's glorious inning, India scored 418 runs with 5 Wickets in 50 overs. This is the highest runs India ever made in a 50-50 over match in the Cricket history. So, almost, 2011 will be remembered as the Best Year of Cricket for India. 


              This attitude of Sehwag has taught a lot to everyone of us. Impossible is nothing. When Sachin made 200*, it was impossible till then. Now Sehwag has made 219 which is again termed as impossible by many of us. But, you will see this record being broken very soon. It's not just Cricket where the impossibilities can be surpassed but even in our challenging real lives, we can break the landmarks created by many successful personalities. If a person is determined, he can surpass the Mightiest work done by the most successful person of the same field in which he is determined. Any landmark created by anyone should not be seen as an Impossibility but as a Challenge that if he can why not me? If Rajkumar Hirani's movie can surpass 200 crore business, I'll make a movie which will do 250 crore. If Chetan Bhagat's books gets its 7,50,000 copies sold in 2 months of its release, I'll write one which will sell 10 Lakh in 1 month. If Steve Jobs have the coolest patents under his name, I'll try to innovate something more cooler than his technology. 


             Sehwag has shown us an example of surpassing the BEST ever made. Another very inspirational example is of Carlos Slim who is the world's wealthiest person currently. He surpassed Bill Gates who has been the world's wealthiest from 1995 to 2009 incessantly(except in 2008 when he was ranked 3rd). Right from my childhood, I always heard that Bill Gates is the richest person on the planet but someone surpassed even him. So, nothing is impossible. We are hearing this term from our school days but these people are setting an example for us and making it practical. A thought or a quote doesn't have a meaning until it has an example. Finally, we have many such examples where Impossibility has been hurled away and everything is made possible by these personalities who take an oath of being the best and breaking the people's myth of considering something as impossible or out of reach of humans. 


             Ending with, I would like to congratulate Virender Sehwag for making us proud once again. We always wanted an Indian to break Sachin's 200* and you did it for us. I personally feel that the next Indian who may score a Double Ton is Virat Kohli. I know many of you will not agree to me but still, I will stick to what I said. :-) Currently, I am still waiting for someone to break Lara's 400* in Test Cricket which he scored in 2004 against England. Rahul Dravid, are you listening? Hahaha !!! It's enough of writing for now. This is what Cricket and Bollywood does to Indians. :-)


         Thanks. Bye. Celebrate.


  ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU