warne vs tendulkar!!

This is neither Chennai test nor the Mumbai test where turning out for their countries these champions crossed swords. This is something deeper, something more intriguing and layered; this is a study which shows how these two players, within themselves,  embody every trait and every character that is needed of a modern day cricketer to succeed. There is no winner in this contest and there are no trophies to be taken home;it's just an entire gamut of personality traits put on display by these giants of the game. The thought crossed my mind when i saw two headlines on the day following Tendulkar's 50th test century:

• the first sang paeans about the god-like status of the little man and quite rightly so,
• the second published pictures about Elizabeth Taylor dumping Warne after a whirlwind romance

& then i came across a third when i found out about a potential Shane Warne comeback into the Australian team after their national team's ashes debacle.

They can't stop talking about him,down under! Can they?

While all these headlines and the following expert talks made sense it struck me no matter how different these 2 individuals were what stood out was the ability of their mental faculties to overcome whatever problems their lifestyle would bring upon them.

To be very honest the likes of Tendulkar are rare, once in a century ( if i am not exaggerating) and that's got more to do with his off field behavior than his on-field heroics.Such control and abstinence is near impossible in today's media frenzy and amidst such craziness for that little scoop and byte.Tendulkar always knew the weight of expectations would fall on his shoulders after making his entry into a pedestrian Indian team of the early 90's and decided to handle it by keeping away from the trappings of supercelebritydom. He stayed away from the hype and the hoopla and the big crazy parties and the bunch of sycophants who vanish with the first signs of trouble. 

On the other hand,  big pretty cars and prettier WAG's were always Warne's cup of tea;he always knew how to wriggle out of a situation in an unmichaelclarkesque fashion and come on to the cricket field and turn on the heat & to that effect i don't see a reason why should warne not be marketed as the "model cricketer" as often as Tendulkar is. Why should he not be targeted as a role model for cricketers coming up in the post IPL universe where there is money at every nook and corner of the game. Warne's significance is even greater here as a case study on him would have a much deeper impact on a cricketer who gets KAMBLIED. One look at Yuvraj Singh and you might argue he needs Warney lessons to find his bearings and tuck back that ever-increasing waistline.Abstinence is good but control over one's temptations is even better. One might even argue India might have been able to save the likes of Vinod Kambli and Laxman Sivaramkrishnan had Warne  occurred 20 years ago. To know your biggest temptations, to give in to it and then come out and perform like a champion is a hallmark of a genius and Warne should definitely get more credit for that than he actually does. Not to forget Warne did it every time, well most times than not and almost on all big occasions; who can forget his 4 wicket burst in the 2003 world cup semi-final and final.

So what if Warne's flawed and corruptible, he is certainly doing better than the likes of Tiger Woods (he btw didn't win a single tournament this year!!!) and Wayne Rooney, he was the best in the business by a long shot and probably will remain forever &  guy does deserve some credit for taking your eyeballs off Tendulkar with his escapades even when the little master has just completed his 50th test hundred. That's an accomplishment in itself.