Yes, he is an awesome batsman. Yes, he is GOD! and he is much more. But there are many instances where he is the devil.. not to me, not to you.. but to the people who matter - the young talented players.
Look at the recent match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. Every person who saw the match or heard about it or read about it is talking about Sachin. Almost every newspaper in India wrote in its headlines that Sachin's innings made the victory possible. It is Sachin in every article, in every status message, in every tweet and in every blog post. But does Sachin deserve it? (He definitely deserves much more for his career. But for yesterday's match?)
What did Sachin do?
He played a sensible innings by staying on till the end and asking other batsmen to take risks. By doing so, he scored 72 in 52 balls.
Yes, that is a great strategy. That is how he (or any other experienced player) should play ideally and he executed it with perfection. That won the Mumbai Indians victory. No doubts about that.
But....
What did Badrinath do?
He came in at a stage when Chennai were in trouble losing 2 quick wickets in 4th and 5th overs and stood at 38/2. He did exactly what Sachin did - to make sure that wickets did not fall and giving strike to Raina who played a wonderful innings.
I would rate his innings better than Sachin's simply because he was under much more pressure and has negligible experience compared to the master - even though he played exactly the same role as Sachin did, with comparable perfection.
What did Raina do?
He played an outstanding innings. He took Chennai from 38/2 in 5 overs to 180/2 in 20, making 83 not out off 52 balls. His, is obviously, the best batting performance of the match.
What did S Dhawan do?
He opened the innings along with Sachin and played the role which Sachin assigned him to perfection. He made 56 in 34 balls giving Mumbai a great start. It was he who went after the bowling and made it easier for Sachin and for every other MI batsman who came in later.
If not for his innings, Sachin's innings simply doesnt have a meaning. (Dont tell me that there would be plan-B. I am talking about what happened and what is happening after that happened.)
Unfortunately, no body is talking about the awesome performances of these young batsmen. All these future stars are being shadowed by the image and following of the little master.
Many such performances are going unnoticed. This might act as a serious threat to the growth of some good players.
