Sachin, Lionel and my Father

In 2011, I watched Sachin Tendulkar bat on a summer afternoon in Nottingham. He came to the crease, at Trent Bridge, with India 13-2 needing an improbable 478 for victory, in the second of four Test Matches, against England.

He struck a chanceless and gorgeous half century, consisting of eight middle-of-the-bat boundaries, as the crowd began to bristle with excitement at the prospect of witnessing Tendulkar’s hundredth hundred. No cricketer had scored one hundred international centuries. Tendulkar had turned 38 since hitting his 99th, and there was no guarantee he would reach the pioneering landmark.

In ran Jimmy Anderson, from the Radcliffe Road End, and struck Tendulkar on the pad. Out. His dismissal left India 107-7, and England on the brink of a comprehensive victory and an unassailable 2-0 series lead. But the reaction of the English crowd was one of total disappointment. Everyone in the ground wanted to witness Tendulkar write history.

I remarked to my father, the following day, that I hoped Tendulkar would one day reach the milestone. “Why?” came the response, much to my surprise. I was caught off-guard and didn’t quite know what to say. I was in, I suppose, a rather auto-pilot mode of wishing Tendulkar to achieve the hundredth hundred. But my father had other ideas, “he’s still the same player, whether he gets it or not.”

On the eve of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final, I have been thinking of that brief conversation with my father and if it matters, or not, whether Lionel Messi wins a World Cup.

The question, I suppose, raises the distinction between a player’s qualities and a player’s achievements. Messi has never won the World Cup at senior level, and to do so would bolster his achievements. But would it necessarily bolster his qualities?

In the 2022 World Cup already, he has given performances of staggering quality and bewitching skill. He has led with courage and nerve, taking Argentina to a fifth major final in the last eight years. Does it matter, or not, if he wins on Sunday?

For many, clearly, it matters. And, presumably, for Messi himself it matters greatly. But as Argentine journalist Sofi Martínez put it so eloquently to Messi on Tuesday night: “the happiness you’ve brought to so many people, the way in which you’ve left your mark on our lives, means more than any cup possibly could.”

Messi has now played 1,002 matches at senior level - a sufficient number, surely, for us to draw some pretty concrete conclusions about his qualities as a footballer. His numbers are stratospheric: 791 goals, 350 assists, and 41 trophies. But they scarcely paint the picture. Pep Guardiola once said that it is better not to talk about Messi’s brilliance, but instead to simply watch him play and enjoy it.

That is what I intend to do on Sunday when Argentina may win, and Argentine may lose.

Six months after his innings in Nottinghamshire, in a One Day International against Bangladesh, Tendulkar worked a single into the leg side, in Mirpur, to bring up his century of international centuries. It is a staggering achievement, which may never be repeated. But my suspicion is that Tendulkar's stature and respect within the sport would remain undiminished had he retired on 99 international centuries. Much like Don Bradman's reputation as a batsman is unaffected despite falling just four runs short of a three figure Test Match average.

I am inclined to believe that whatever happens at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday, people’s minds – one way or another – are already made up on Messi the footballer. Whether you like him as a player, how you regard him, where he stands on your pantheon – will the contest in Qatar carry enough weight to sway your judgement, 18 years after Messi began performing at the top level? Using my father's logic, it should not.