Duniya Hain Mere Peechche ... Lekin Main Tere Peechche ...

Perhaps this is not the best time to write this piece what with Sachin Tendulkar suffering a shoulder injury and having to undergo surgery and all. But this was a very pertinent observation made by Navin Desai, a mate whom I interact with in a Yahoo! Group - the SachinTendulkarFans group.

So we were on about this discussion about Sachin's poor form. And we were wondering what it was that was possibly responsible for it. We first thought about and summarily dismissed the idea of a lack of inspiration or motivation because looking at the enthusiasm he shows in the field and with the ball that certainly does not seem likely.

So what is it that is causing this ?? Surely his skills have not deteriorated, not to that level anyway. No, it has to be something mental.

So Navin's theory goes thus. Over the years there is practically nothing that Sachin has not earned. He has been compared to Bradman himself by the man himself, he has been the destroyer, he has been the World's greatest, he has held all the conceivable records in batting in both forms of the game. If there is one thing that he has not achieved that is the tag of being Mr. Reliable or Mr. Dependable that Dravid has earned. He has never been that man whom you want out there batting for your life when the chips are down.

And that is what he perhaps aspires to. It is ironical because all batsmen and that includes Lara and Dravid have at times in the past wished that they possessed so many of the great qualities that Sachin did (does).