Why does everyone love to hate Sachin Tendulkar?

These days Sachin Tendulkar must be waking up and rubbing his eyes in disbelief. Not a day seems to pass without some sort of comment being directed at him.

If he gets out for a duck, he gets abuse on Twitter, Facebook and the like. The media wants him gone/retired. If he joins the Rajya Sabha, people say he doesn’t know what he is getting into.

If he gets to the Order of Australia, people come out and say he doesn’t deserve it.

Tendulkar must wonder where all the love has gone. Till just a short while back, all he got was unabashed admiration but now there seems to be a torrential flow of hate in his direction. How and why did this happen?

“Sachin is very newsworthy. Whatever you say about him— pros or cons, gets you in the limelight. This is just not with fans or critics or journalists— it’s also about fellow cricketers. In the past there was only absolute adulation for Sachin and now there are critical references to him because he’s not in form and doesn’t score enough runs. And India not doing well in the last few months is paramount.”

Where cricket criticism is concerned, Ayaz thinks it is fine. But over the Order of Australia controversy, he thinks it is to do with Australian chauvinism: “The recent criticism smacks a little of misplaced Australian chauvinism. I haven’t heard anything against Brian Lara (who received the same honour in 2009). That the knives are out for Sachin only does not make sense. Maybe they’re still smarting from the m0nkeygate scandal.”

Check out the video for the full conversation between Ashish Magotra and Ayaz Memon.