Criticising Tendulkar the in thing

[Sanz]

I am not saying anything here.

@Pratyush - Bouncer is a troll, dont pay too much attention to him.

 

[PhoenixFire]

A lot of Indian fans seem to forget what Tendulkar has done for their team over the past ten or so years, and they would do well to remember it.

 

[Sanz]

Seriously though, Pratyush, there was a pretty good discussion of that CricInfo article 'Whither Tendulkar' in the India vs Bangladesh thread I think. I don't have time to find it now, I'll dig it up later.

Serious question would be - Would you take a 122 with a strike rate of 50 in the series against Eng ? I would be more than happy If Tendulkar scores 4 centuries with a strike rate of 50 or less.

 

[silentstriker]

Serious question would be - Would you take a 122 with a strike rate of 50 in the series against Eng ? I would be more than happy If Tendulkar scores 4 centuries with a strike rate of 50 or less.

Four centuries in 3 Tests? Yea, that'd be something....

 

[Richard]

Bouncer is a troll, dont pay too much attention to him.

Storage and elements...

 

[atisha_ro]

being over-popular can be a curse - the higher you are the farther you fall - but Indians are well known for their art of exageration, up there for making Sachin an avatar of who-knows-what god of the thousands of gods they worship, and down there for attacking cricketers' houses after a poor match (ask Dhoni).
Sachin is obviously not gone - the centuries in Bangladesh do prove he's still alive - but age might ask its taxes on him by now. Some would have to understand that he's as human as anybody - and maybe he himself needs to be a bit more humble.
This said, I like to see him play his game.
And we share the same birthday - April 24

 

[Ikki]

In the end, it comes with the territory. Every major sport star has his fair share of unfair criticism. With disproportionate criticism, comes disproportionate amount of adulation as well. I think most stars realize this, and Tendulkar is certainly not unique in this regard.

Spot on. The higher they're lifted the quicker they're hurried down.

 

[honestbharani]

I will reply point by point without quoting so that we don't end up in a multi quote endless discussion given you are at work and I am also a bit busy.

The first point.. Whether it was right or not for sending Tendulkar down isn't important. I didn't give my opinion on which number suits him best either. My point mainly is that it isn't right to criticise him about being choosy about batting positions when he has agreed to bat lower down the order.



1. We don't know if/how big tensions Ganguly-Tendulkar had over it as we aren't sitting in the dressing room. 2. I thought it wasn't some thing discuss worthy as well as we were talking of recent batting aspect.

Second point regarding Chennai fans booing Dravid because Tendulkar batted at 4 - that isn't Tendulkar's fault.

Third point regarding fans being extremely passionate about Tendulkar - there have always been Tendulkar fanatics but that doesn't mean by large people cannot criticise Tendulkar. Endulkar headlines were written all over the media not that long ago for instance.

He has agreed to bat lower down the order, I never denied that. But it has also been obvious that he has only reluctantly agreed. Now obviously, not everyone is going to be happy batting at different positions but the thing is, I think Sachin could have handled it better. It is what he says in interviews, his body language when he is not batting at his favorite positions... He makes it obvious that he doesn't like batting in certain positions... That is what I feel is an area he could have done better..


Fans booed Dravid for Sachin's demotion because, again, as I pointed out earlier, he makes it obvious that he doesn't enjoy batting at those positions. But to be fair, I think the Chennai crowd will boo Dravid even if Sachin batted at 4 voluntarily, but I think the mass of the boos would be lesser.



And, of course, there have been Endulkar headlines... It is what they call "being anti-". You criticize the man who has the most fan following... The "contrary" phenomenon or whatever it is named... It makes them read ur column, it makes them read abt u, it makes them read ur other columns... It is another way of cheap publicity. Doesn't mean his fans have become any less hysterical or anything........ I mean, these folks think Sachin did nothing wrong w.r.t the Ferrari import duty case.

 

[Pratters]

He has agreed to bat lower down the order, I never denied that. But it has also been obvious that he has only reluctantly agreed. Now obviously, not everyone is going to be happy batting at different positions but the thing is, I think Sachin could have handled it better. It is what he says in interviews, his body language when he is not batting at his favorite positions... He makes it obvious that he doesn't like batting in certain positions... That is what I feel is an area he could have done better..

Fans booed Dravid for Sachin's demotion because, again, as I pointed out earlier, he makes it obvious that he doesn't enjoy batting at those positions. But to be fair, I think the Chennai crowd will boo Dravid even if Sachin batted at 4 voluntarily, but I think the mass of the boos would be lesser.

It is not as if when he is coming to bat at number four, he is showing as if he is pooing in his pants. If he has agreed to bat at a particular position, I have no reason to question his committment on it. About what he says - he is one of the best behaved people out there who carries himself very well. Except that outburst against Chappell, which I felt he could have done without, don't see much wrong the way he projects himself.

Doesn't mean his fans have become any less hysterical or anything........ I mean, these folks think Sachin did nothing wrong w.r.t the Ferrari import duty case.

As have said, Tendulkar fanatics exist. That isn't that important. I find fans, friends of mine criticising him various things which can be extreme criticisms. So it isn't that it is just in the media. Fans do it too. You cannot contradict the point I was making by bringing up Tendulkar fanatics.

 

[Sanz]

Not a Great Tendulkar Fan (I am sure some of you know that), but dont understand why Tendulkar should be batting in the middle order (ODIs) ? His batting avg. while opening is close to 50 compared to his middle order avg. of 32 something.

If he had that much success as an opening batsman, why should he not try to convince his team captain that it is not the greatest move he(captain) is making esp if is to accomodate the likes of Uthappa/Sehwag/Gambhir even if it is at the risk of being accused of not being a good team mate or reluctant to give up his position.

 

[sirdj]

If you screw your gf, it doesn't give you the right to slap her.

So who does have the right to slap her?

Are you trying to say that Tendulkar's performance should never be criticised? People who judge Tendulkar and criticise him are doing it based on standards set by Tendulkar. He looks worse than he did when he was a 16 yr old making his debut. This kind of performace would have still been OK if it had been any other batsman but not Tendulkar.

Whether you like it or not a cricketing god has been dislodged from his pedestal. And people are just pointing it out.

Isn't scratching around against the lowest ranked test side about at bad as it gets for a top order batsman of one of the better test sides in the world let alone someone of Tendulkar's pedigree.

 

[sirdj]

A lot of Indian fans seem to forget what Tendulkar has done for their team over the past ten or so years, and they would do well to remember it.

You will be surprised when I say that most of Tendulkar's criticism comes from the stats about exactly how many matches has India won because of him.

Tendulkar has done a lot for Indian cricket but has not much won matches for India like say a Lara or a Ponting.

 

[tooextracool]

I've always felt that Tendulkar would hve done everyone including his own career a favor by opening the batting in tests over the last few years when there has been a serious concern with one or both openers spots. Unless you are the best batsman in the side, i dont think you should be putting yourself down for a particular position, and instead of players like Dravid, Karthik and other inexperienced openers being made to open the batting, one would think as a senior player he would have stepped up and opened for India given that he is one of the few players that has the technique to do so.
On the other hand im not sure why he batted in the middle order in ODIs as i firmly believe he is a better player as an opener in ODIs as well.

 

[R_D]

You will be surprised when I say that most of Tendulkar's criticism comes from the stats about exactly how many matches has India won because of him.

Tendulkar has done a lot for Indian cricket but has not much won matches for India like say a Lara or a Ponting.

The age old debate.... anyway the ODI games are won by batsman and Sachin has probaly won more matches than anyone else.
As for test matches, they are only won when you have bowlers who can 20 wickets in a match which unfortunately hasn't been the case with him. Lara's had bowlers throughout the 90's.
There have been times when he could've done more better but its all just a big exxageration on his part. There have so many times when Lara has failed to step up but you don't see people see him being critising but Sachin certainly seems cope everytime thou. Same could be said about Ponting too but usually even if he fails someone is able to step up.

 

[Pratters]

Are you trying to say that Tendulkar's performance should never be criticised?

Nopes.

 

[GIMH]

If you screw your gf, it doesn't give you the right to slap her.

Pratyush rolling out the ***ual metaphors of late

 

[Richard]

You will be surprised when I say that most of Tendulkar's criticism comes from the stats about exactly how many matches has India won because of him.

Tendulkar has done a lot for Indian cricket but has not much won matches for India like say a Lara or a Ponting.

No, he just hasn't played the obviously match-swinging hands that those two have. And he hasn't possesed bowling attacks to win matches away the way those two, of times, have.

 

[sohummisra]

Serious question would be - Would you take a 122 with a strike rate of 50 in the series against Eng ? I would be more than happy If Tendulkar scores 4 centuries with a strike rate of 50 or less.

The serious answer would be, I cannot really answer that question given no context. What if we were chasing 250 in 50 overs and Tendulkar scored a 240 ball 120? I would not take that!

 

[sohummisra]

I've always felt that Tendulkar would hve done everyone including his own career a favor by opening the batting in tests over the last few years when there has been a serious concern with one or both openers spots. Unless you are the best batsman in the side, i dont think you should be putting yourself down for a particular position, and instead of players like Dravid, Karthik and other inexperienced openers being made to open the batting, one would think as a senior player he would have stepped up and opened for India given that he is one of the few players that has the technique to do so.
On the other hand im not sure why he batted in the middle order in ODIs as i firmly believe he is a better player as an opener in ODIs as well.

I don't think Tendulkar should ever have considered opening the batting in tests given that he is more of a strokemaker. The job of the specialist opener would be to see off the new ball so that Tendulkar can come in, get settled, and play shots without the ball moving too much? Why? Because Tendulkar was (/is?) better at playing those strokes than anyone else in the team.

 

[silentstriker]

I don't think Tendulkar should ever have considered opening the batting in tests given that he is more of a strokemaker. The job of the specialist opener would be to see off the new ball so that Tendulkar can come in, get settled, and play shots without the ball moving too much? Why? Because Tendulkar was (/is?) better at playing those strokes than anyone else in the team.

I don't know about that. It is possible that he could have averaged lower if he had opened, but for most of his tenure, opening has been a weak position in the Indian Test team and it usually does not take long for our middle order to be exposed. He could have provided more stability up front, and even if he did slightly worse, the team might have been better off as the middle order would have had more solid starts.

Of course, this is all conjecture, and that bridge has been burned now. Right now, he has to find his Test form, and quickly too. I have been a very vocal supporter of him, but England tour IMO is his last chance to show that he belongs in the Test side.