Sachin will pull off a few surprises in RS

The oath has been taken, the papers have been signed and probably the greatest batsman of all time is now officially part of the Indian Parliament.

Sachin Tendulkar, a person who hardly makes his opinion heard suddenly finds himself in a place where taking no stand is also a position.

We spoke to cricket writer and expert Ayaz Memon over the role he will play in the Rajya Sabha, and he seemed pretty upbeat about this new role that Sachin will play.

“Everybody is thinking about what Sachin is doing in the Rajya Sabha but I think he might pull off a few surprises. He is someone who is very reticent and even though he is always in the public gaze, he is cocooned in himself. But don’t be surprised if he raises a few issues in the Rajya Sabha.”

Memon also speaks about how Sachin will need to acquaint himself with the ways of the Parliament. But in politics, you can rarely make sure a decision makes everybody happy.

“I think Sachin has mentally prepared himself for this. He will stick to his basic expertise which is cricket and sports. But it is a six-year term and by the time it ends he will be 45-years-old. So one can expect him to take on a lot more than just cricket.”

Ayaz is also of the view that Sachin enjoys a hero’s status in the sport and any stand that he takes is sure to carry a lot of weight.

“An easy example would be that Sachin may say the Twenty20 format could work for the Olympics. Immediately the BCCI and the cricket world gets excited about this… these are the type of things that could happen with Sachin in Parliament.”

On Sports Talk, we also spoke about how MS Dhoni wants to join the army after retiring from cricket and Ayaz is pretty excited about what is happening in the sports fraternity.

“Dhoni is also an unusual guy… he was a ticket collector before playing cricket and could be in the army post retirement. So I’m being bombarded with surprises from the sports fraternity!”

Watch the video above to listen to the full interview.