Indian cricket fans expressed disappointment on Thursday that Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar took as many as 442 ODI matches to hit 200. Fans have been waiting for Sachin to accomplish the feat since 1994 when Sachin first opened the batting, and scored 82 off just 49 balls against New Zealand.
It was also in 1994 that Sachin hit his first ODI century, and he compiled 45 hundreds before finally getting to 200, giving him a poor conversion rate of just over 2%.
41 year old hardcore cricket fan Rajesh Bhatia says 'Just look at how easily he did it. He could have chosen to do it any day of the week, but he decided to keep us waiting all this time. Why?'
'Why did he do this to us?' He added, before breaking down in tears.
A poll later confirmed that Bhatia's feelings were representative of 100% of the Indian population.
In a separate survey, 97% of Indians said Sachin has underperformed for at least 20 years in international cricket, 93% said they expect him to beat Bradman’s Test average by the time he retires around 2025, 98% wondered why in the world has he not yet chosen to break Brian Lara’s Test record of 400, while 99.98% questioned his commitment to frequently making ODI 200s.
'And why stop at 200? Why not 300? Or even 400?' felt casual cricket fan Meena Nayak. 'One would think he would be smart enough to know this. I mean, if I can think about it, why can’t he? I don’t even know much about cricket.'
Fans attribute Sachin's low productivity in recent decades to his failure to understand the importance of his batting on the mood of the Indian people. ‘If he knew how much his wicket breaks our hearts, he would never have throw it away 633 times. He has to understand, cricket is not just a sport.’, opined cricket fanatic and heart patient Tejas Arora. When asked to elaborate exactly what cricket is, Arora responded awkwardly with ‘Huh?’
Records show that there have been vast periods during which Sachin has failed to make any runs, especially when India is not playing any cricket. To this, Arora responded ‘A player of his ability should not fail to score just because he is not playing a cricket match. I suspect it’s just an excuse. And what exactly are we ordinary Indians supposed to do when he’s not batting? Go to work? Spend time with the family? Common, give me a break’ he said, pun apparently not intended.
