THE ONE AND ONLY
SACHIN TENDULKAR (1973—) When God bats, or speaks, the country listens
Between September 27 and October 9, 2013, most Indian newspapers had details of the spot fixing investigation as front page news. Not so after October 10 when Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement and every newspaper had multiple pages dedicated to him. For the next few days, it was all Sachin. Every Sachin milestone was written about and televised, every person connected to him interviewed. One man literally brought the country to a standstill by his decision to quit playing cricket.
This was because the Sachin narrative was different. It was one of dominance and assertion, winning and achievement. It was positive rather than negative, overtly national as opposed to the covertly anti-national. Interestingly, Sachin’s influence in Indian cricket has not changed over time. Be it in the dismissal of Greg Chappell in 2007 or in the appointment of Ravi Shastri in 2017, Sachin continues to wield controlling influence backstage.
Chappell, during his period as head coach, tried taking on Sachin. He was forced to bat at No. 4, against his wishes, in the 2007 World Cup, a campaign that will rank as the worst in India’s cricket history. Soon after, Sachin reportedly spoke to then BCCI boss Sharad Pawar on Chappell’s ouster. It is very rarely that Sachin speaks with venom. But when he did, in April 2007, with Ganguly, Laxman, Zaheer and Harbhajan backing him, Greg Chappell was a dead duck.
He played a big part in Ravi Shastri’s appointment in July 2017 after the Virat Kohli-Anil Kumble fallout. Sachin met the COA (Committee of Administrators) boss Vinod Rai in Birmingham on June 4 and is reportedly the person who asked Shastri to apply.
That his documentary feature raked in close to Rs 60 crore (another world record) is testimony to Sachin’s continuing popularity the world over. Can he do more for Indian cricket in the coming years? Make a tangible difference? Perhaps he can, for when God speaks, the country listens.