When Tendulkar should play
Usually quite Sachin Tendulkar has reacted to recent comments of former team mate Sanjay Manjrekar. I doubt if he would have even bothered to make give a statement had it not been a player with whom Tendulkar had played a lot of his cricket.
In the piece, Manjrekar mentions:
But my guess is that Tendulkar seems reluctant to play any international cricket unless he is physically and mentally 100% fit. A state he will never ever be after 16 years of international cricket.
Not true. Tendulkar has played despite pain. The issue here is not whether Tendulkar is 100% fit or not but who should decide when Tendulkar should make a return to international cricket. Should it be Tendulkar himself on the advice of the doctors/physios or a former player who cannot expect to understand how Tendulkar’s body is functioning right now?
If Tendulkar decides to ease his way into international cricket by playing a few non-international games or delaying come backs, there shouldn’t be issues with it. As far as we all know, Tendulkar loves his cricket and is always raring to go. I don’t think we can cast aspersions on a player for him selecting when to make a return to the competitive international cricket arena. The men that count - the selectors always have the option of not selecting a player if they feel the concerned player is taking things for granted and missing crucial matches without legitimate reasons.
The Tendulkar of today gives me the impression that his main focus is not to fail! And he wants to give himself the best shot at that. By competing only when he feel he is in his prime, physically and mentally.
He is also stating through the piece that Tendulkar should play more often like Lara has done in the past. Now, people have the right to their opinions. However, they cannot try and make decisions for others. Not the least while making guesses. Maybe he could have tried to know Tendulkar’s side of the story before writing on the given topic. Maybe he could have given advice to Tendulkar in private if he felt it was that important.
The timing of Manjrekar’s comments when Tendulkar has finally made a come back to international cricket is poor as well as right now the issue of Tendulkar missing matches is over for the short run at least.
Tags: Indian Cricket.
