A thirteen-year wait ended for me on Wednesday. A wait for the first double hundred in ODIs. I had watched an utterly dehydrated Saeed Anwar of Pakistan get to 194 in the Pepsi Independence Cup match against India at Chennai. And he had a runner.
Ever since that day one was wondering who would be the first to do it. Zimbabwean Charles Coventry came close to it with another 194 against Bangladesh in 2009.
Sachin Tendulkar was the obvious one, Adam Gilchrist the next. When Sehwag came on the scene he became the marked one. In fact, Sehwag got nauseated about the hype over the ODI double-ton and it worked counter productive for him.
From past pronouncements, Sachin's typical response to his feat would be, "It's not about records. It's about loving the game and enjoying being out there in the middle. That is extremely special to me and far bigger than breaking records or creating new ones. Creating records happens after you've gone on the cricket field, but you've got to find a reason to go on the cricket field, and for me the reason is very clear....
"From the age of three I've loved this sport and I've never thought about scoring the most number of centuries or runs in international cricket. Everyone enjoys breaking records, I'm enjoying it too, but that is not the reason for playing cricket...
"When I started playing, I always wanted to be regarded as one of the best and the idea was that when I stopped playing, people would remember my name. Being regarded as one of the best players is always a good feeling, and that drives you, it refuels you completely. You want to be on top of your game all the time and push yourself harder and harder. There's a huge responsibility and it is a great challenge. I love that."
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