Sachin: Idol for Channels

Amidst the all the criticism for his recent poor form, the God of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement from One Day Internationals on Sunday, December 23. Like many of his million fans, channel partners across the country too are disappointed with this sudden announcement by the Indian batting legend. But at the same time, they are supporting his decision and believe that it has come at the right time.

"I feel its a very positive step from the Master Blaster. He is at the pinnacle of his career and has achieved everything as a cricketer. He didn't have anything left to prove. It was never about him as the individual but about India. Though the experts were talking about his retirement, it was totally up to him to take a call. He has hung his boots at the right time. He will be missed badly in the Indian cricket for sometime. He was an inspiration for all the youngsters for his on-field as well as off-field experiences. The void created post his retirement will not get filled soon," added Nityanand Shetty, MD, Essen Vision.

C Arumugam, CEO of Vellore-based Intech computers, pointed out, "Sachin is my all-time favorite. Do you need a reason for liking a person like Sachin Tendulkar? The best part of Sachin is the opening especially in the Test and T20 series."

Though the partners will miss Sachin's class-act on the field, they draw a huge inspiration from his approach towards the game of cricket. The way Sachin has carried himself (both on-and off-field) in the last 23 years, it is very difficult for anyone to ignore his contributions.

"Sachin Tendulkar has good affinity with channel community. A decade before, while there were too many players, how come the master was able to succeed. It is only because of his talent. So as the channel partners should adopt the policy, not just the talent, but also being ethical and disciplined will help you reach heights," says Anand Narla, CEO, Pioneer Marketing Corporation.

Echoing his views on the same, Rajkumar, CEO of Madurai-based Srimathi Computers, asserted, "I do not now the personal life of Sachin Tendulkar. But. on field, I admire his batting skills. As a channel partner, one should definitely learn a lot from Sachin Tendulkar. Whomsoever may be the fast bowler, he maintains his consistency. Likewise, however dull may be the business, we, channel partners should maintain the consistency."

While we might fall short of words in praising and saluting the legend, The DQ Week would like to present a few facts and figures for its readers that would certainly raise some eyebrows:

1. India's GDP has grown by 453% since Sachin faced the first ball against Pakistan in Karachi 23 years back.

2. 41 crore new Indians have been born during Sachin's long career, taking the country's population to 126 crore, a whopping 48% increase.

3. We were struggling as a nation when he came to power (yes, cricket has became a power in India). Our foreign reserves were at 5.83 billion dollars, Now at 280 billion dollars (become 48 times).

4. Sensex has reached from 1050 to 18600.

5. Sachin was the 74th Indian to wear the ODI cap. Now we have 275, added 200 during his career. More than 70% of new additions have already retired.

6. At World Cups, he has been more prolific than anywhere else, his total tally at WCs (2278 RUns) is 30.6% greater than his closest and arch rival Ricky Ponting (1743 runs). And if you think he has played more, he has played 1 match less than Ponting in WCs. He has also hit 6 centuries and 21 Half tons.

7. Sachin's runs in WCs are more than any other player's (Ok we all know that), but what's mpre exciting is that his runs scored in WCs is greater than runs scored by as many as 8 test playing teams.