For Indian sports fan, ‘Little Masters’ tread same route to World Cup glory | Football News – Times of India

For a generation that grew up adoring Sachin Tendulkar, Leo Messi was like a beacon of hope after the ‘Little Master’ left the stage in 2013. Different disciplines all right, but Messi, who isn’t much taller to Tendulkar in physical stature, had a similar towering influence on the Indian mindscape.
Just the way a Tendulkar century made our day while a dismissal messed it up, flashing images of a Messi goal the night before could keep us going through the drudgery of daily desk routine. And now, as Messi closes in on the greatest landmark of his one-and-a-half decade long career, we find similarities with the moment Tendulkar himself said was the highest point of his: winning the 2011 ODI World Cup.
It was Tendulkar’s sixth World Cup while this is Messi’s fifth. But before both the events, the world knew that it would be the last chance for both Little Masters. Both had gone through incredible highs and lows in the quadrennial showpiece before their last dance. Tendulkar made the 2003 final in South Africa and was the Man of the Tournament, but lost to Australia in the final. Messi’s title-round sojourn was in 2014, when he was stopped by Germany. The Golden Ball was scant consolation for his efforts.

Tendulkar’s 2007 World Cup humiliation, when India were ousted in the first round, was similar to Messi’s forgettable 2018 departure in the second round. One thought both might not get another chance, but life had different scripts written for them.
If we look back to the 2011 World Cup, the similarities of the Tendulkar ride with that of Messi’s is almost eerie. India had lost a group game against South Africa after Tendulkar scored a century, just the way Argentina faltered against Saudi Arabia despite Messi’s goal.
As the tournament wore on, Tendulkar buckled down, playing one crucial hand after another –a half-century against Australia in the quarters and a match-winning 85 that won him the Man of the Match award in the semis against Pakistan. Compare this to Messi: he scored one and set one up with a sublime assist in the quarters against Netherlands while in the semis, it was his brilliant run past Josko Gvardiol that helped him win the Man of the Match award after he had converted a penalty to rack up his fifth goal of the tournament.

The little bit of luck that Tendulkar got in that semis in Mohali is also similar to Messi’s –a seemingly plumb leg-before was overturned by DRS while Argentina got the penalty which they might not have got on another day.
Another notable feature of both the journeys has been the role played by their team members. Julian Alvarez in Qatar has been as spectacular as Yuvraj Singh in 2011, coming up with crucial contributions time and time again. “We want to win the World Cup for one man and that is Sachin Tendulkar,” Yuvraj famously said after he had won the Man of the Match in Chennai against West Indies. The Argentina players, time and time again, have repeated that this is a World Cup they owe to the left-footed magician.
It all seems written in the stars and probably we won’t be surprised if Messi has a quiet final on Sunday — a la Tendulkar at Wankhede — but Argentina have reached their final destination, making it a brilliant twilight for Messi.