Tendulkar responds to Manjrekar

Sachin Tendulkar has reacted strongly to a recent column by former team mate Sanjay Manjrekar saying that “I feel sorry that an ex-India player has made statements without checking the facts, and I find it surprising that he has made these statements without being in the dressing room and knowing the true situation.”

In his column for website www.indiatimes.com, Sanjay Manjrekar had stated that “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.”

Manjrekar also compared Lara with Tendulkar saying how the two reacted differently over similar situations.

“There was another moment too: Tendulkar deciding to give the 2005 Super Series Test a miss. I thought that was a great opportunity not to be missed at any cost for someone like him. What a great stage that was to show off your individual brilliance. Tendulkar said he had not fully recovered from the elbow injury. But just eight days later he was running down the pitch hitting Murali out of the ground in that knock of 93 against Sri Lanka in the ODI at Nagpur.”

Former Indian players have leant their support for Tendulkar and against the opinions raised in the piece by Manjrekar.

World Cup winning former Indian wicket keeper and chairman of selectors Syed Kirman said, “be it senior cricketers or commentators, it is wrong on their part to write without going into the fact of the matter.”

“It is unfair that people write columns on assumptions and presumptions. If one knows for fact that Sachin faked injuries, he can write with authority. Without knowing the reality, one should not express his opinion or views to the extent of hurting one’s feeling”.

Former Indian captain Ajit Wadekar was bewildered. “I don’t know why he has written this. I have seen it with my own eyes,” said Ajit Wadekar, former Indian Captain.

The piece from Manjrekar comes days after Tendulkar returned to the Indian one day side to play in the tri-series in Sri Lanka.