Isn’t Sachin Tendulkar still India’s best batsman? This is one question all his critics must answer.
The chips are down for the master batsman at the moment—it has been the longest spell of flops for him indeed!—and the critics have brought out the knives in graceless hurry. Even his former team mates, who basked in the reflected glory of the great feats of the man, are out to nail him.
Cricket is a heartless game; it respects no greatness. Fans are a fickle entity; they have little sense of loyalty. There are enough closet foes around to throw you off the pedestal when you are down. Sachin would be noticing the bitter facts for the first time in his two-decade long career. For most of this period he was busy scoring runs, breaking records and making the country proud.
Sachin would be noticing the bitter facts for the first time in his two-decade long career. Reuters
No, we are not using nostalgia to defend him here. We are not even suggesting that Sachin must be allowed to hang around in view of his greatness and past achievements. He himself would hate it. But the critics have been vicious in their attack on him. They have put up the silliest of arguments to run him down. He needs to be defended with counter-arguments, which stands valid in case of other senior players too.
The veteran war horses are unwanted baggage, a burden on the team, the critics ranted after the disastrous series against Australia. They are tired and have lost the fight in them. They have no hunger for cricket left in them. Replace them with young blood and you will notice a dramatic change in performance, they said. All their recent performances under tough conditions were quickly ignored.
Look at the One-Dayers. The young team is not exactly working wonders. Barring Virat Kohli and to some extent MS Dhoni, no one else has delivered. Rohit Sharma, the ‘next big thing’ in Indian cricket is yet to strike a purple patch. The team has failed with the bat and the ball miserably and yes, the batsmen don’t good enough against either bounce or pace. The youthful energy has not translated into victories for the team.
Yet, critics would love to blame Sachin. True, he has been in terrible form but how many other batsmen have performed better than him so far? His neatly compiled 20s and 30s carry the signature of his class. He has his skills in tact. He still comes across miles ahead of his younger team mates. It defies logic why critics must pounce on him with such ferocity.
The aging players have poor athletic abilities and cost the team at least 20 runs while fielding, goes another argument. Captain Dhoni made this point recently and it is being parroted by many others demanding the axing of the seniors. It a fashionable understanding of the game where primary skills turn subservient to secondary ones. This is not to underestimate the importance of fielding in the modern version of the game but to highlight the avoidable overemphasis on it.
The argument defies simple common sense. When the team is losing by a narrow margin, the talk of fielding makes sense. But when the margin is over 100 runs or an innings, the basic failure has to be in batting and bowling. India’s dismal show in Australia is not the result of lack of athleticism on the field; it is the result of poor skills with the bat and the ball. It was evident the way our batsmen faced the Aussie fast bowlers of the and our bowlers fared against their batsmen.
The insistence on fielding is a big load of non-sense. It is possible Dhoni hinted at Sachin Tendulkar among others while making the statement. He would be better off focussing on batting and bowling first. As for Sachin, he should rest assured that the latter is as good for One-Day cricket as he is for Tests.
Now, what are the specific grouses against Sachin? Is it that he is too old to play cricket or is it that age has rendered his skills ineffective? Neither stand up to closer scrutiny. Forget his greatness and his contribution to Indian cricket, he can stand his ground on the basis of his skills anytime. He stands taller than any of his teammates on this aspect. The bad phase will pass.
And critics, please, keep your hands off him.
