TENdulkar - The Even(T) Man

Pre script: This is slightly unconventional but some serious thought has gone behind this article. Hope you guys like this.

One of Tendulkar’s successful years in Cricket is 2010. He scored the first double century in One day internationals and also won the ICC Cricketer of the year for the first time. He also scored more than 1500 runs in 14 test matches captured the pinnacle of test cricket by completing his 50^th ton. Though, there are many theories which are attributed for his success in 2010, the primary reason is his name, he is 10dulkar and not some 11dulkar or 12dulkar. So, it was only natural for him to come good in 2010.

Had the BCCI, know this little secret, the ICC would have obliged to conduct the World Cup in 2010 and India would be the World Champions by now. Ok, let bygones be bygone's and let us talk about the future.

Since the World Cup is around the corner, this article will talk only about it. This is Tendulkar’s sixth world cup and it gives us some assurance that he is going to win the cup for the sake of the billion fans. No, this isn’t some tarot astrology, but a scientific analysis which proves that Tendulkar is going to win this World Cup. More of this later, but first, we need to look at Tendulkar’s performances in the past World Cups.

ODD Man Out

The World cup in England (in 1999) was his third World Cup. He had a torrid time off the field as he lost his father during the World Cup. He flew back to India and returned to join the squad and scored an unbeaten 100 against Kenya. That was it; he did not even score a half-century in the rest of the tournament. The Indians promptly packed their bags and returned home.

The World Cup in West Indies was a disaster, not only for Sachin but for billion supporters as well. India lost 2 of its 3 matches in the first round (Sachin scored 7 and 0) and was out of the tournament. This was Tendulkar’s 5^th World Cup.

From the above theories, we can conclude that Tendulkar doesn’t perform well in the ODD tournaments because he is Tendulkar and not 7dulkar or 11dulkar. Simply put, Tendulkar performs only in the EVEN tournaments because TEN (as in TENdulkar) is an even number.

The ZERO phenomenon

There is another head crunching number which haunts Tendulkar. The ZERO. Whenever Tendulkar gets our for a duck, the Indians pack their bags and leave. So, if Tendulkar gets out for a duck in any of the matches in the first round, we can be assured that the Indians aren’t going to proceed any further.

The Even Factors

In 1996, Tendulkar played his second World Cup. His first World Cup in the sub-continent and relished the occasion. Tendulkar scored more than 500 runs and finished as the leading run scorer. In the 7 matches, Tendulkar reached 3 figures twice and also had 3 half-centuries. Unfortunately, the Tendulkar juggernaut was stopped by the Lankan Lions in the semi-finals.

Tendulkar’s 4^th World Cup was played in South Africa. Tendulkar savored the occasion by scoring heavily. He surpassed his highest score in World Cup and also scored 6 half-centuries. He was the top scorer by a mile and finished the World Cup with close to 700 runs. But, this was again a case of so near yet so far for Tendulkar. It was the Aussies turn to stop the Indian steamroller. Tendulkar took India to the finals of the World Cup but could not clear the final hurdle. India lost the finals and the elite trophy still eludes Tendulkar.

Third time lucky?

This is Tendulkar’s 6^th World Cup and if the even parity is taken into account, we can conclude that he would certainly take the team one step further. So, in the 1996 WC it was the semi finals , in 2003 it was the finals and now he would lead the team to the much awaited World Cup victory. From the above analysis, it is quite obvious that Tendulkar is going to be the top scorer and India is going to win the World Cup.

Post Script: if you think, why his first WC isn’t taken into account, I belong to the ancient Greek school of thought that “1” is neither odd nor even :P