Sachin disappoints

Ranganathan Sriram

The report finally comes out and names are taken. Villains are found and a couple of heroes too. Kapil cleared for lack of evidence and Sachin helping the investigators with his suspicions about Azhar are a couple of points of notice in the report. Hmmm.

Let us see now: Sachin suspected Azhar of crookedness and gave the information to the CBI. "Excellent" is the word that comes to mind and as I have already seen in a couple of chat rooms and message boards, he is one of the saviors of Indian cricket in this regard. A real hero if there ever was one. A coupe of people were also feeling sorry for Sachin for having being burdened with Azhar for so long, with knowledge of his crookedness. I hate to disagree with popular public opinion but you know what... I disagree.

How long is this match-fixing being going on? Is it an occurrence of yesterday and has India been losing matches coz of Ajju Bhaiya only recently? How long has Sachin suspected this? As one of the seniormost cricketers in the team and a virtual team leader in terms of respect that other teammates have for him, was it not his duty to have done something about it? Maybe talked to the Board about it? Maybe brought up this point in the Chandrachud investigations? Maybe… something? Anything?

Sachin was captain of the team two different times. First time he was replaced by Azhar himself and the next time after the Aussie Tour Down Under, by Ganguly. What does he do when he is captain on the Aussie tour? He simply puts his foot down (by all media reports) on the issue of Azhar being flown into Australia coz of the bad performance of the others. Where did our little champion who plays the quickies with such a straight bat learn to play the ugly edgy shots? Come on Sachin. Didn't that brilliant brain of yours tell you that was not a permanent fix? What use a bandage for a corpse?

A sensational expose to the media might have invited trouble for Sachin in terms of getting sued, underworld threats etc but surely talking to the BCCI was the way to go. It is an inept body for sure but it is the body in charge of Indian cricket at the moment. The sooner that changes, the sooner Indian cricket will recover but even for all its whimsical and unprofessional functioning, the BCCI should have been informed and further action followed up. Isn’t that what the “going by the book” theory would suggest? Sachin has all the shots in the book when batting but he seems to have missed out on this part somewhere.

A savior my foot! Didn’t Sachin depose to the Chandrachud committee and say he had no idea of match-fixing in Indian cricket? Or didn’t he just know then and now realizes he was wrong then? As for being sorry for Tendulkar for having the Azhar burden on him, well as far as I can see he could have put down the burden any time he wanted to. Being afraid of the consequences is always an issue but if that were enough excuse, no case would ever get solved, no social cleansing ever done and no criminal ever apprehended

Sachin Tendulkar is a powerful man in the Indian cricketing circles. Though tender in years, he is easily the most influential cricketer in India today if he wishes to wield the influence and it is sad that like so many others he decided to let someone else bell the cat for so long. I ask of Sachin: What if the CBI investigation had not come up? Would you have at some point of time tried to sound out the proper authorities of your suspicions or would you have kept quiet and gone on with your life?

Remember Basit Ali and Rashid Latif, those two Pakistani players who gave up their careers in their primes for what they believed correct. They could also have twiddled their thumbs and been afraid of the consequences but they choose to put honor before self. Cricketing skills and acumen wise they may be far behind Sachin but the respect I have for those two players is much more than what I today feel for Sachin Tendulkar.

Till the time people like Sidhu say, as he said on the Prabhakar-Tehelka tapes (assuming they were not doctored), "I owe so and so too much to say anything against him" and till the time players like Tendulkar who are icons and can do so much choose not to get involved in controversy and prefer to lead peaceful lives, murk will continue to prevail.

Sachin, finally all said and done, I am glad you told the CBI what you thought. I am glad Azhar confessed and some things seem to be clearing up. But had you said something before you had the CBI asking you to tell everything you knew, instead of Tendulkar the champion player, I would be applauding Tendulkar the Champion Indian person.

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