The Media and Tendulkar

For years Sachin Tendulkar was the mainstay of the Indian batting line-up. To get straight to the point, he's always weathered criticism that he's never led a fourth innings chase or a giant rearguard action that resulted in an Indian win. Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have all cornered glory in such wins. In fact, Ganguly once scored a fourth innings 98* at Kandy and led India to a win in Tendulkar's absence. Tendulkar's runs in wins against England in 1993 or Australia at home in 1998 haven't really helped him tide over this criticism. His giant rearguard action when he scored a phenomenal 114* against England didn't register as a stellar effort. His century when he sheparded Sehwag to his maiden century was soon forgotten because it was followed by another second innings failure. In fact, most times when India folded for less than 150, Tendulkar was one of the mortals rather than the boy on the burning deck. Tendulkar by his sheer longevity has had more opportunity than most to play that defining innings. A player of his class could easily have cornered that glory several times. For all the entertainment that he has provided India, he has never seized that opportunity.

Having said that Sehwag, Dravid and Ganguly have always had the luxury of failing and that failure was never held against them. This was because there was always Tendulkar that the media could blame. This is important to remember because while the media always elevated Dravid, Sehwag and Laxman to God status, they never really blamed the trio for fourth innings failures or more rearguards because more often than not, Tendulkar would fail with them. A fair share of the criticism for losing to Pakistan and England in the final tests at home needs to be laid at the others, but our focus is always on Tendulkar due to his exalted status and due to the fact that he has consistently delivered runs. The giant wins that Kumble bowled India to before the advent of Dravid and Ganguly were based largely on huge first innings totals built on the back of Tendulkar's contributions. The problem with those wins is that they were smooth efficient wins. As someone has said, smooth, efficient and effective is often boring. The Tendulkar wins were dull, boring and one sided. He obliterated the opposition. Sehwag, Dravid and Laxman by contrast have led India to wins in more romantic circumstances. More often than not they contributed to the lousy situation first and when the world expected Tendulkar to stem the rot in the second innings, Dravid or Laxman or Sehwag would provide the impetus.

Does Tendulkar need to stay or go? He deserves to stay at least till the next World Cup. His one day batting remains fantastic. His test form has deserted him, perhaps for good. Unfortunately for him, there is no replacement on the horizon. None of the new middle order bats have the temperament for giant hundreds or a well-paced innings. They don't have the technique either. This includes Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao et al. What's likely to happen? He'll stay and not deliver. He will weather more criticism than his colleagues. His skills have not changed. His temperament has not changed. He is probably simply bitter due to the constant sniping and hence his attitude has changed. He is no longer allowed to play for India. He is being forced to play for himself. He will yet score the odd century or double. Perhaps even a triple. But is that defining innings in the offing? Maybe. Gavaskar's last test innings produced a masterpiece, yet India didn't win. Vengsarkar, Amarnath, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri et al. All failed. Yet Gavaskar was pilloried for not staying "till the end" to lead India to victory. Tendulkar too has faced similar criticism for his Chennai masterpiece against Pakistan. No one remembers that Dravid, Ganguly and others did nothing in that game.

Tendulkar will play a few more gems yet before he leaves the test stage. But he will continue to be a colossus in the one day arena.