Endulkar ?

Indian cricket team was beaten convincingly by South African team in recent one day international tournament in South Africa. There is nothing new in India loosing in the foreign territory. In fact, India won extremely rarely in the bouncy pitches of South Africa, West Indies and Australia. So, I ain’t going to waste my time in talking about how India should have played and how they could win the last game. It’s pretty useless. Come next summer and we will be beaten again and the excuse will be the bouncy pitches again. I mean, for sweet mother of Moses, why can’t we make a one lousy bouncy pitch somewhere in India and let all the cricketers practice on it? But that’s too easy to do and plus, who is going to sponsor such a useful practice.

What disappointed me most was the way Tendulkar played against the south African fast bowlers. He is supposed to be the best thing that happened to cricket since Bradman retired. And, yet instead of leading by example and fulfilling his talents (and the prophecy!) he meekly surrendered himself to Pollack and Co. What is more infuriating was that none of the newspapers or cricket website minced a word against Tendulkar. He featured in none of the reason behind India’s debacle. Why? Are we biased for him? Is he still a little wunder-kid for us? Or is it is just that he is beyond the realm of mere mortals and hence, can’t be considered as reason for defeats. If that’s the case then forgive me for making such a blasphemous statement but we will be better off without Tendulkar. He ain’t making any difference as a batsman anyways, so, let’s give a chance to some talented kid and hope that he will score runs consistently or at least, when it’s needed.

He made a comeback in Malaysia tournament with a blazing a hundred. Everyone went ga-ga over his return and since then, nothing! We lost Malaysia cup. We lost mini-world cup. And we are kicked like a football in South Africa and I am yet to see a single necessary knock from Tendlukar. In the mean time, Lara is scoring runs as if there is no tomorrow and Ponting is on rampage against every bowler and Yousef Yohana, well, I hate that bastard. In all the debacles, Tendulkar is the most senior player in India team ( 17 years of experience.) and yet, he failed to lead by an example. Instead, Suresh Raina who is just 19 (i.e. two years more than Tendulkar’s international career.) is taking heat for the defeat. Comically dark ! Because, that kid lost his place in the team.

I am not against Tendulkar in any way. In fact, I am his greatest fan. His talent, his hunger for runs and his commitment to the cause definitely puts him in the rarified air of greatest cricketers. But cricket is a team game and we are talking about a team that represents India and we can’t get sentimental because it’s about India’s prestige we are talking about. But deification is just part and parcel of being famous in Indian public life. Usually, a person is deified when he is close to being a liability to the public. And it becomes hard for that person to bid adieu to his public persona. He not only hurts himself in this process but cause damage to the country in one way or other. We have numerous such examples, primarily in politics. Of course, Tendulkar was deified long ago and justifiably so. But, a century in ten or eleven matches is not something we expect from him. It’s probably adds up to his incredible statistics (I am sure he doesn’t care about statistics and is more concerned about winning) but if he doesn’t score valuable 50 or 60 in must win crunch matches then for me, his talent ain’t worth for place in India team.

He is great. No doubt about it. I still see the replays of his ferocious onslaught against Australia in 97-98. And, that’s why a lot more is expected from him. He definitely did justice to his talents and filled the vacuum in 1990’s. He surely is a real hero to the young generation. His hard work, his commitment to India, his clean image and middle class attitude is something that every one should try to emulate. But I would like to see him as hero for years to come. Even after his retirement I want to see him as an inspirational figure. But if he continued to play, even after ceasing to be a factor towards India’s victories then, it may sound too harsh, but that blemish won’t go away with all the hundreds he scored in his life.