The Tendulkar Puzzle

[Sachinism]

by Shyam Dasgupta I have been a long-standing critic of one particular aspect of Sachin Tendulkar. Yes, however much you hate me for it, it exists. I don’t like the fact that he gets to pick and choose the tournaments he plays in. It affects the Indian team. It affects the players. Whether you like it or not, it’s true, and I have had Team India players telling me this. Look at the present scenario; I am not bothered about India losing the match so terribly to New Zealand. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that India is playing this series without a second opening batsman, a partner for Virender Sehwag. Dinesh Karthik is there; a player who doesn’t know if he is coming or going. Gautam Gambhir is injured. It was known before the team was selected. Why not ask (or even request or plead with) Tendulkar to play the tournament? He was fit enough. Of course, Tendulkar is only one part of the problem. The bigger problem, as always, are our selectors. If Tendulkar and Gambhir are both out, why not hold on to Murali Vijay? Or any other young Indian opening batsman – so many of them did well in the IPL, like Naman Ojha. The selectors are mostly stupid in their ways, but if they are forced to first check with Tendulkar before naming teams, shouldn’t they at least try to plug the hole? From Team India’s point of view now…Tendulkar plays one tournament, he doesn’t play the next. His replacement knows that Tendulkar will play the 2011 World Cup come what may and his place will be taken away. More importantly, at a stage when the team should be trying to get its balance and combination right, how do batsmen three, four and five adjust? Gambhir, for example. When fit, he opens in Tendulkar’s absence, and bats at number three otherwise. Unfair, isn’t it? Players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and others come and go depending on Tendulkar. Unfair, isn’t it? It’s stupid to suggest that we shouldn’t be lenient towards Tendulkar. Sure, we should be. But let’s at least get a structure in place. Let’s tell him that his 100th international century will happen sooner or later, but he should be playing the ODI format if he wants to play the World Cup. To keep one man happy – a little genius of a man of course – we are messing a lot of other things up. And that can’t be good. http://cricketaakash.com/Blogger_shamya1.aspx

[Lord]

wat foolishness?does he expect him to play every tournament at 37?didnt seven players rest from Zim tri series?why is Bhajji not there in this series? n no,it isnt messing things.one spot in WC squad is open n whoever does well will get it.so actually its giving them chances to nail it.

[Karan114]

Players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and others come and go depending on Tendulkar. Unfair' date=' isn’t it?[/quote'] On the contrary, players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma get even more opportunities to establish themselves in the side if they are good enough through weight of runs because an extra slot is available in the XI.

[Ram]

The dude’s so full of fail. He exposed himself in the FIRST line when he writes ‘…….and I have had Team India players telling me this’.. People who really have access to our players, or at least access that matters, will not boast about it like that. By access, I guess he means he lives in the same city as some of our cricketers do. :fail: But even if you ignore that slip, the article’s so full of preposterous and silly insinuations trying to masquerade as well thought out criticism. The dude’s obviously never played a game of even semi-professional nature, else he wouldn’t be making the ridiculous pronunciations like he’s doing here. Our cricketers are professionals, they’re paid some of the best salaries and earn millions of dollars to do exactly whats asked of them – adjust quickly to the demands of high-level sport. Injuries happen, players opt out, that’s just the way the game works. If you cannot even understand that fundamental aspect of sport at the highest level, there’s no point trying to pretend as a sane critic. What next, its Ishant Sharma's fault that he got injured for the first ODI and Mithun had too little adjusting? Oh well, just another desperado trying to make a name for himself criticizing Sachin.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Tendulkar_Bhai]

No point even discussing this as its so stupid, doesnt make any sense, and we thought Manjkere was bad! Tendulkar is so effective I.E. LAST WEEK when he comes back that at this stage in his career he should be saving himself for the big games, i.e. the Australian series coming up AND WC 2011, all which are much more important than a 3rd rate NZ team. Plus it gives games and experience to other players, which is why i think even Dhoni should be resting at the moment.

[vvvslaxman]

I stopped at mentioning of Murali Vijay.

[f.b.m]

I stopped at 'players telling me this'.

[Roshanrocks]

I stopped at shyam das gupta

[SJS50]

The thread starter can be torn to pieces, word by word but its not worth the effort.

[vamos_rafa]

i dnt knw wat u wnt frm him...if he playes these series and scores thn u wud say see he's playing coz he wnts 100 tons... and lemme cite an example of pickin and chossing.. in 2006 wen we toured windies then sach ws goin thru a ruff patch and he consulted viv richards... an the 1st thin tht he told him ws tht ur a great player u have sm liberties to njoy....nw ur only playing coz ur njoyin it... u dnt need to prove nythin 2 ny1.... just pick and choose wat u wnt to do......

[Rajan]

he grabbed whatsoever attention he was so desperately seeking in his miserable life.ignore Shyam Das Gupta.full of nonsense.every line.

[anbuchelvan]

Some people including Snjay Manjrekar,Ian chappel ,Times of India(endulkar fame) and few sundries will criticize Sachin just for publicity or to please somebody.