(Risky) Opinion: Why I won’t miss Tendulkar
We all chose our heroes, and I would never tell someone they are wrong for having Sachin as their idol. He just isn’t mine. For some reason Sachin has never meant that much to me.
This week I have been accused of being lazy, malicious and of hating India. I have been threatened and called names. I am a hater. I am an idiot. I am an arsehole. I have been told that I bring this on to myself.
And why have I been accused of all these things? I have had the audacity to question a cricketer.
Sachin Tendulkar is unquestionably one of the greatest players to ever pick up a cricket bat. He has loads of runs, loads of hundreds and loads of records. So why do I question him?
Well, the first reason is that I don’t like being told I can’t say something. I have been this way all of my life. When I was at school my favourite question was ‘why?’ As I have grown I have got more restrained but my internal monologue is still enough to get people strung up in some countries.
So here are my issues with Sachin Tendulkar. The first is his fans. It isn’t Sachin’s fault that he is loved, but there are people who follow him that have less sense of humour than a fundamentalist religious convert.
You joke about him being bowled, again, and people questioned your parents marital status when you were born. They ask you what you have done with your life to have the audacity to make such a sickening joke. This makes me want to do it all the more.
The second is again not Sachin’s fault, but it annoys me nonetheless. It is the way that he cannot be questioned. Indian columnist G Sampath wrote a piece with 10 questions that he wished someone would ask Sachin, but which journalists would never pose to the great man. His inbox was flooded with hate mail.
When a public figure is given such an impenetrable aura I am not sure that is healthy for a country, the sport or a national cricket team. We should be able to ask questions of anyone who is a public figure, especially someone who has began a career as a politician.
The third is personal landmarks. These should come in the process of winning games for your team, not at the expense of it. Sachin’s 100th international hundred came in a game that India lost to Bangladesh.
In October of last year I predicted that Sachin would play 200 Test matches. Sure enough his last game will be his 200th in a hastily arranged series against the West Indies. You can be positive that the last game will be in Mumbai in front of an adoring crowd.
Those that say Sachin isn’t about records will tell you he only has 49 ODI hundreds, and he did not go on to a round 50. If reports are to be believed Tendulkar was told his time was up with ODIs, and sure enough his last hundred was also his 100th.
The best way to judge a cricketer is by the matches that he wins for his team. The greatest players are not those who have the best numbers, but those who are at their best in a clutch position.
While Sachin has won his fair share of games for his team but I would have Steve Waugh, Rahul Dravid or Andy Flower ahead of him. This is not because I dislike him, it is because I judge players by standards that are mine alone.
When Tendulkar was carried off the field on the shoulders of his team mates after they won the Champions League T20 final I cringed. The man had contributed virtually nothing to his team in the tournament but he was the one who got the attention.
We all chose our heroes, and I would never tell someone they are wrong for having Sachin as their idol. He just isn’t mine. For some reason Sachin has never meant that much to me.
I know how good he is, I was in the crowd in 1996 when he scored just about the best hundred I have ever seen vs England at Edgbaston. He scored 122 out of 219. The next highest score was 18. He was a class apart as he has been for the majority of his career. Despite his brilliant talent he is not my hero.
Perhaps this says more about me than Tendulkar. I like my heroes flawed. I like the ones that say things they shouldn’t. I like to see them fight their personal demons, I rate them higher for succeeding despite themselves.
Sachin Tendulkar will be gone in a few short weeks. I don’t think I will miss him.
<b>Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek)</b>