HE’S had museums named after him and tributes from some of the biggest names in world sport, but surely Sachin Tendulkar has now received the ultimate honour.
A veteran Australian musician has recorded a song about him.
Sydney-based author, journalist and singer Phil Dye has teamed up with Australia’s famous India cricket supporters’ group, The Swamy Army, to release ‘Sachin Tendulkar – God of Cricket’ in honour of the retiring Indian legend.
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Featuring catchy lines such as “First at Old Trafford, then onto Sydney, then to the WACA, he’s played them all,” it might not win an ARIA award for songwriting but it’s already struck a chord with cricket fans.
The anthem has attracted almost 10,000 likes on Facebook, and has been downloaded by cricket fans from Sydney to Mumbai.
OK, so it’s not quite the Bollywood musical tribute that was recorded last week, but it still shows just how deep the feeling is for Tendulkar across the world.
“Sachin is an icon around the world and the fact that the first ever anthem to him came from Australia shows just how popular he is,” Swamy Army CEO Gurnam Singh said.
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“Phil first wrote the song a while back and we gave advice about Sachin’s history. The anthem is now on hundreds of Indian fan sites and been on countless Indian radio stations.”
It’s unclear if a revised version will be recorded should Tendulkar fulfil the dreams of a billion Indians and hit a hundred in his final Test, but the chorus line of “Sachin Tendulkar, he’s the best of all” is sure to resonate with many fans regardless of his final score.
It’s also sure to be stuck in your head for several hours.
So have a listen to it now in our video at the top of the page, or better yet, download the song from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sachin-tendulkar-god-cricket/id731608945?i=731608999