Hi Sampath,
Read your article for the DNA a few days ago. Was moved to write a response.
I’m someone who likes celebrity bashing as much as the person in the next cubicle. And Sachin, while someone I respect a lot, is not my favorite sportsperson, or even cricketer. Some of the questions you put forth were quite relevant, things I have groused about in the past. But the way you put them forth appears churlish, and quite frankly incendiary – meant to irritate than get any serious answers. This kinda demeans the intent, assuming that intent was to get straightforward answers to legitimate questions.
What I inferred from your queries was hurt mostly, and rejection, either personal or of some idol of you own that you felt got slighted because of the demi-god status that Tendulkar commands in this country. Personally, I find that kind of adulation quite reprehensible, but man, this is no way of getting even.
Inline below my response to each of your questions. Just as someone who likes, but does not love Tendulkar, but certainly doesn’t like the tone behind your questions.
1. In 1999-2000, Indian cricket was rocked by the match-fixing scandal. You were a key member of the team that was captained by Mohammed Azharuddin, and Ajay Jadeja was your teammate. But you didn’t say a word. When asked why you remained silent, you said: “The only reason I did not speak about it is that I didn’t know anything about it. I would have given a statement if I knew something.” So are you lying, or are you being a cretin when you say that you had no clue about match-fixing going on?
[] Ok, assume Tendulkar did know something about this. What would you have wanted him to do? Come clean and confess everything to the board and the media? Come out with a grand – I knew about it, but kept quite because of the seniority if the player’s involved? Sure, he could have said that, but what would that have achieved? He may have had doubts, but what if that was all he had? You think he was the only other player in that team? Why single him out for a question like that? Because of the stature that he has now? What about back then when all he had was a desire to play and just do well? And have a career? He should have given all that up to confess what he might have suspected?
And dude, if he is a cretin for thinking about his career, then I’m sure you and I are too. How many times have we witnesses wrongdoings in our immediate neighborhood and kept quite because it would have, in our minds at least, ‘served no purpose’ or do more harm than good? Cretin? Really?
2. The whole world knows that you (and subsequently MS Dhoni) are the reason the BCCI has been stonewalling the ICC’s move to make DRS (Decision Referral System) mandatory in all international fixtures. What exactly do you have against the DRS? Is it that, without technology, the benefit of the doubt (especially on LBWs) goes to the batsman, and you, knowing that there will be far more LBWs with DRS than without, don’t want technology messing with your averages and milestone-hunting?
[] I have a problem with the DRS too, and not because it will affect my own stats, but for the reason that it is, as of now, not a system without glitches.
Sure it helps catch out the LBWs a lot more efficiently, but Hotspot is known to be error-prone, and the Snickometer is not used, so what real value is the DRS adding? DRS is a system that has provided huge advantages to a certain type of bowler. If the umpires wise up and pull up their game, there really is no need for the damn thing anyways. Games have been won and lost on bad decisions before, but they are being won and lost due to Hotspot errors too.
And if Tendulkar has Dhoni’s ears on this, he probably has a lot to say on several issues regarding the team, eh? And according to one of your later questions, he was a bad captain. Does that mean he’s a better captain in proxy??
3. You are richer than anybody can ever want to be. Why then are you forever, and shamelessly, asking or accepting favours from the government? Be it having to change the law (Customs Act) so you don’t have to pay duty on an obscenely expensive luxury vehicle, or petitioning the government to relax the FSI regulations for your bungalow in Bandra, why can’t you just graciously accept the rules that apply to everyone else instead of cashing in on your celebrity status to seek favours?
[] This I have to agree with. But like any person who likes to take advantage of his position, he likes to do things the shorter route. Wouldn’t you use your good offices with the man that counted for a few perks every now and then? I do.
4. For most, nay, all, of your adult life, you have been a very influential person, with access to the highest corridors of power. Yet, not once in your life have you ever taken a stand on any issue — not even on sporting ones. Do you then seriously expect to make a meaningful contribution to any of the debates in the Rajya Sabha? If not, why did you agree to become a Rajya Sabha MP?
[] Again, good point. No logic behind this decision. Tendulkar’s only defense probably is the one most failed celebrity politicians have made (Dara Singh, Amitabh Bachchan) – that they wanted to make a difference, were swayed by the sweet talking politicos that got them to agree, and that it seemed the right thing to do. Also, knowing Sachin (a man with great talents, thought out intelligence not being one of them), someone must have said the magic words – Attendance is not mandatory.
5. And having become a Rajya Sabha MP, you say ‘cricket comes first?!!’ What were you thinking? That being a Member of Parliament is a nice hobby or what?
[]Hehe…refer to earlier response
6. Why is your captaincy record so abysmal? If your cricketing intelligence is so great, and if you are a thorough professional, and if you are a nice guy, how can you not be even an average captain, like, say, Anil Kumble was? You’ve got to have something that the other guys don’t have for you to be such an extraordinarily poor captain. What could this be? You ever think about that?
[]Ouch, painful that. I bet Tendulkar regrets this more than anything else. Its taken him a while but he finally realizes captaincy is not good for his soul. You may consider that selfish, but consider two things – 1. A captain is only as good as his team and 2. A non-performing captain especially one whose form is important to the team, more than his captaincy skills, will not survive, thus relieving him of the captaincy as well as the place in the team. Tendulkar chose his form and career, which is not much different from what several others would do. And in one sense, it is the selfless thing to do. He will never be remembered as a great captain, which is like the epitome of any professional cricketer's career (Shane Warne was the best captain that never was), but at least he contributed in the only way he could.
And what, might I ask, does being a nice guy and thorough professional have to do with being a good captain?? Anil Kumble was a good captain, more than average intelligence(of the cricketing kind too), as was Rahul Dravid. But if your personality is such that it inspires less fear than say a Ganguly does, you cannot succeed at this very difficult task. You either need aggressive forcefulness like Dada or calm, imperturbable, zen-like demeanor like Dhoni.
7. Against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup this year, you crawled to your 100th hundred (114 in 147 balls on a flat track against a bovinely gentle attack) at 4.5 runs an over, and actually slowed down in the slog overs when the team’s interests dictated that you score faster. And it was because of your milestone obsession that we lost the match to Bangladesh, which cost us a place in the final. This is not a one-off incident, but the culminating irony of a long career marked by the relentless deployment of individual talent for individual glory, though last I checked, cricket was a team game. Now that you’ve got every record in the book, will you, at least in the last remaining matches of your career, either stop playing for records, or stop paying lip service to how you are a team player — because it’s too brazenly hypocritical to do both?
[]Tendulkar these days is a shadow of his former self, so that has to be taken into consideration when you talk about his recent form. In the match that you mentioned, he did crawl – but that was needed to get rid of this persistent thorn in the craw – the 100th ton. It was people like you and I that couldn’t stop talking about how long the damn ton seemed to be taking. As he said later, it was as if he hadn’t scored the first 99. An unsaid sentiment seemed to be he wished he hadn’t scored that many. I’d like to see you work under the kind of stress that you and I can only write about, that he’s had to undergo in this mad, mad country. It had been the in thing to joke about this on twitter. You think he hadn't read a couple hundred of those? Actually, you and I contributed to that slow 100. Who’s ‘brazenly hypocritical’ now?
8. Why is it that when the chips are down, and India is chasing, you never (save the Sharjah hundreds way back in 1998 on a flat track) ever take India home? Don’t say, ‘check the records’ — because the records tell me very clearly that you’ve never single-handedly (like Dravid did in Adelaide or Laxman did while batting with a number 11 to take India home against the Aussies) taken India past the finishing line in your 22-plus years of international cricket. And what kills me is that you had the ability to do exactly that — if Yuvraj could, Laxman could, and Dravid could, so could you. But you never did. You just cannot bat for the team under pressure, is that it? Or is it that you never cared for the team as much as you claim to?
[]This is a grouse I’ve had too. Too few of his innings have been in winning games. But then, can we blame all those losses on him? Or should we instead focus on why the others chose to under perform in those instances (so, so many of them). Isn’t it more logical to assume, that when there are match-winning innings played, more often than not, the one heroic innings has overshadowed the poor performance of 3 or 4 other batsmen, including Tendulkar. I haven’t looked at the records, but of the colossal number of runs made, and made against all kinds of opposition all over the world, surely you can find more instances of ‘performance under pressure’ than you would in a standard cricketing career? Tell you what, speak to a friend of mine – Ajay Menon, who I had this discussion with, and failed. Let me know if you want a debate, and I’ll send over his e-mail id.
9. I’ve been pondering this one for ages. How did you become such a boring person — open your mouth and everyone goes to sleep?
[]Jeez, get over yourself. Not everyone is a Shane Warne, or presumably R Sampath. You obviously are the smart witty one that regales the room in every room you find an audience in. Being a boring guy myself, I say to you – good for you. You guys need us to be the listeners, don’t ya? Lappin' up all those smarties you keep puking out?
10. This is an easy one. Do you like journalists who suck up to you?
[]Sure he does. And he might not like you. But then you’ve called him a cretin, selfish, blatantly hypocritical, and boring. And now you want the love??
Read your article for the DNA a few days ago. Was moved to write a response.
I’m someone who likes celebrity bashing as much as the person in the next cubicle. And Sachin, while someone I respect a lot, is not my favorite sportsperson, or even cricketer. Some of the questions you put forth were quite relevant, things I have groused about in the past. But the way you put them forth appears churlish, and quite frankly incendiary – meant to irritate than get any serious answers. This kinda demeans the intent, assuming that intent was to get straightforward answers to legitimate questions.
What I inferred from your queries was hurt mostly, and rejection, either personal or of some idol of you own that you felt got slighted because of the demi-god status that Tendulkar commands in this country. Personally, I find that kind of adulation quite reprehensible, but man, this is no way of getting even.
Inline below my response to each of your questions. Just as someone who likes, but does not love Tendulkar, but certainly doesn’t like the tone behind your questions.
1. In 1999-2000, Indian cricket was rocked by the match-fixing scandal. You were a key member of the team that was captained by Mohammed Azharuddin, and Ajay Jadeja was your teammate. But you didn’t say a word. When asked why you remained silent, you said: “The only reason I did not speak about it is that I didn’t know anything about it. I would have given a statement if I knew something.” So are you lying, or are you being a cretin when you say that you had no clue about match-fixing going on?
[] Ok, assume Tendulkar did know something about this. What would you have wanted him to do? Come clean and confess everything to the board and the media? Come out with a grand – I knew about it, but kept quite because of the seniority if the player’s involved? Sure, he could have said that, but what would that have achieved? He may have had doubts, but what if that was all he had? You think he was the only other player in that team? Why single him out for a question like that? Because of the stature that he has now? What about back then when all he had was a desire to play and just do well? And have a career? He should have given all that up to confess what he might have suspected?
And dude, if he is a cretin for thinking about his career, then I’m sure you and I are too. How many times have we witnesses wrongdoings in our immediate neighborhood and kept quite because it would have, in our minds at least, ‘served no purpose’ or do more harm than good? Cretin? Really?
2. The whole world knows that you (and subsequently MS Dhoni) are the reason the BCCI has been stonewalling the ICC’s move to make DRS (Decision Referral System) mandatory in all international fixtures. What exactly do you have against the DRS? Is it that, without technology, the benefit of the doubt (especially on LBWs) goes to the batsman, and you, knowing that there will be far more LBWs with DRS than without, don’t want technology messing with your averages and milestone-hunting?
[] I have a problem with the DRS too, and not because it will affect my own stats, but for the reason that it is, as of now, not a system without glitches.
Sure it helps catch out the LBWs a lot more efficiently, but Hotspot is known to be error-prone, and the Snickometer is not used, so what real value is the DRS adding? DRS is a system that has provided huge advantages to a certain type of bowler. If the umpires wise up and pull up their game, there really is no need for the damn thing anyways. Games have been won and lost on bad decisions before, but they are being won and lost due to Hotspot errors too.
And if Tendulkar has Dhoni’s ears on this, he probably has a lot to say on several issues regarding the team, eh? And according to one of your later questions, he was a bad captain. Does that mean he’s a better captain in proxy??
3. You are richer than anybody can ever want to be. Why then are you forever, and shamelessly, asking or accepting favours from the government? Be it having to change the law (Customs Act) so you don’t have to pay duty on an obscenely expensive luxury vehicle, or petitioning the government to relax the FSI regulations for your bungalow in Bandra, why can’t you just graciously accept the rules that apply to everyone else instead of cashing in on your celebrity status to seek favours?
[] This I have to agree with. But like any person who likes to take advantage of his position, he likes to do things the shorter route. Wouldn’t you use your good offices with the man that counted for a few perks every now and then? I do.
4. For most, nay, all, of your adult life, you have been a very influential person, with access to the highest corridors of power. Yet, not once in your life have you ever taken a stand on any issue — not even on sporting ones. Do you then seriously expect to make a meaningful contribution to any of the debates in the Rajya Sabha? If not, why did you agree to become a Rajya Sabha MP?
[] Again, good point. No logic behind this decision. Tendulkar’s only defense probably is the one most failed celebrity politicians have made (Dara Singh, Amitabh Bachchan) – that they wanted to make a difference, were swayed by the sweet talking politicos that got them to agree, and that it seemed the right thing to do. Also, knowing Sachin (a man with great talents, thought out intelligence not being one of them), someone must have said the magic words – Attendance is not mandatory.
5. And having become a Rajya Sabha MP, you say ‘cricket comes first?!!’ What were you thinking? That being a Member of Parliament is a nice hobby or what?
[]Hehe…refer to earlier response
6. Why is your captaincy record so abysmal? If your cricketing intelligence is so great, and if you are a thorough professional, and if you are a nice guy, how can you not be even an average captain, like, say, Anil Kumble was? You’ve got to have something that the other guys don’t have for you to be such an extraordinarily poor captain. What could this be? You ever think about that?
[]Ouch, painful that. I bet Tendulkar regrets this more than anything else. Its taken him a while but he finally realizes captaincy is not good for his soul. You may consider that selfish, but consider two things – 1. A captain is only as good as his team and 2. A non-performing captain especially one whose form is important to the team, more than his captaincy skills, will not survive, thus relieving him of the captaincy as well as the place in the team. Tendulkar chose his form and career, which is not much different from what several others would do. And in one sense, it is the selfless thing to do. He will never be remembered as a great captain, which is like the epitome of any professional cricketer's career (Shane Warne was the best captain that never was), but at least he contributed in the only way he could.
And what, might I ask, does being a nice guy and thorough professional have to do with being a good captain?? Anil Kumble was a good captain, more than average intelligence(of the cricketing kind too), as was Rahul Dravid. But if your personality is such that it inspires less fear than say a Ganguly does, you cannot succeed at this very difficult task. You either need aggressive forcefulness like Dada or calm, imperturbable, zen-like demeanor like Dhoni.
7. Against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup this year, you crawled to your 100th hundred (114 in 147 balls on a flat track against a bovinely gentle attack) at 4.5 runs an over, and actually slowed down in the slog overs when the team’s interests dictated that you score faster. And it was because of your milestone obsession that we lost the match to Bangladesh, which cost us a place in the final. This is not a one-off incident, but the culminating irony of a long career marked by the relentless deployment of individual talent for individual glory, though last I checked, cricket was a team game. Now that you’ve got every record in the book, will you, at least in the last remaining matches of your career, either stop playing for records, or stop paying lip service to how you are a team player — because it’s too brazenly hypocritical to do both?
[]Tendulkar these days is a shadow of his former self, so that has to be taken into consideration when you talk about his recent form. In the match that you mentioned, he did crawl – but that was needed to get rid of this persistent thorn in the craw – the 100th ton. It was people like you and I that couldn’t stop talking about how long the damn ton seemed to be taking. As he said later, it was as if he hadn’t scored the first 99. An unsaid sentiment seemed to be he wished he hadn’t scored that many. I’d like to see you work under the kind of stress that you and I can only write about, that he’s had to undergo in this mad, mad country. It had been the in thing to joke about this on twitter. You think he hadn't read a couple hundred of those? Actually, you and I contributed to that slow 100. Who’s ‘brazenly hypocritical’ now?
8. Why is it that when the chips are down, and India is chasing, you never (save the Sharjah hundreds way back in 1998 on a flat track) ever take India home? Don’t say, ‘check the records’ — because the records tell me very clearly that you’ve never single-handedly (like Dravid did in Adelaide or Laxman did while batting with a number 11 to take India home against the Aussies) taken India past the finishing line in your 22-plus years of international cricket. And what kills me is that you had the ability to do exactly that — if Yuvraj could, Laxman could, and Dravid could, so could you. But you never did. You just cannot bat for the team under pressure, is that it? Or is it that you never cared for the team as much as you claim to?
[]This is a grouse I’ve had too. Too few of his innings have been in winning games. But then, can we blame all those losses on him? Or should we instead focus on why the others chose to under perform in those instances (so, so many of them). Isn’t it more logical to assume, that when there are match-winning innings played, more often than not, the one heroic innings has overshadowed the poor performance of 3 or 4 other batsmen, including Tendulkar. I haven’t looked at the records, but of the colossal number of runs made, and made against all kinds of opposition all over the world, surely you can find more instances of ‘performance under pressure’ than you would in a standard cricketing career? Tell you what, speak to a friend of mine – Ajay Menon, who I had this discussion with, and failed. Let me know if you want a debate, and I’ll send over his e-mail id.
9. I’ve been pondering this one for ages. How did you become such a boring person — open your mouth and everyone goes to sleep?
[]Jeez, get over yourself. Not everyone is a Shane Warne, or presumably R Sampath. You obviously are the smart witty one that regales the room in every room you find an audience in. Being a boring guy myself, I say to you – good for you. You guys need us to be the listeners, don’t ya? Lappin' up all those smarties you keep puking out?
10. This is an easy one. Do you like journalists who suck up to you?
[]Sure he does. And he might not like you. But then you’ve called him a cretin, selfish, blatantly hypocritical, and boring. And now you want the love??
