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'Tendulkar felt let down by Dravid's declaration' - Rediff Cricket
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
Who wouldn’t want to make records? That’s not the point.
Do they want to make them at the expense of the team’s success? That’s a different story.
For the record I am not a Sachin worshipper. He is absolutely awesome but nobody is immune to criticism. But its absolutely ridiculous to suggest that he plays for himself ONLY and doesn’t care about the team. It’s actually so ridiculous that I shall stop bothering to comment on it
Cheers
