Re: Tendulkar’s Commitment To Team India
Do not agree. Although it would be very harsh to criticise Tendulkar here because he was the top scorer in both innings - the other batsmen in particular Raina and Laxman should have also taken responsibility - to say that he has never played for records or does n’t care about his average would also be wrong.
However if someone had said that to me about Viv Richards I would have believed it unreservedly because the guy just never played for personal records or averages…period. Not that I think that there is anything wrong with that. Call it hunger, motivation or plain selfishness, all great sportsmen need to be a bit selfish to accomplish their goals (cf. Akram). Gavaskar desperately wanted to break Bradman’s the then record of 29 test centuries. I remember Kapil playing on well past his prime just so he could stay ahead of Hadlee! Border was record obsessed, so was Miandad to a degree, so was Warne, so is Ponting to a degree, so are most cricketers
Remember how angrily Tendulkar (194*) reacted when Dravid declared the innings in the Multan test against Pakistan
Don’t be so naive. Just because Akram has said something in a paper does not mean he cannot hold a different opinion in private :). Most great sportsmen will not (and should not) talk ill of a fellow great player in public esp. when their positives far outweigh their negatives…unless you are ofcourse Botham and Ian Chappell