How Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell series was ‘manufactured’

Tags: India, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, retirement

Published on: Oct 16, 2013

After all the speculations, it’s official now. Sachin Tendulkar will play his farewell Test at his home ground, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

After all the speculations, it’s official now. Sachin Tendulkar will play his farewell Test at his home ground, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The first Test of the series against West Indies (Tendulkar’s 199th) will be held at Eden Gardens from November 6-10 while the Mumbai Test will take place from November 14-18. At the outset, it looks like a fairly-tale ending for a giant of the game, irrespective of what he does in the last two games. There can be nothing better for a cricketer than to sign off in front of his home crowd. However, what takes a bit of sheen off the event is the fact that the ‘farewell’ has been manufactured.

The West Indies tour on India was not on the FTP until a couple of months back. In fact, India were set to visit South Africa for a long tour, from November to January 2014. This was as per the itinerary announced by Cricket South Africa (CSA). However, the BCCI objected to the tour schedule stating that they hadn’t been consulted over the same, and stated that they were happy with the itinerary put out. While BCCI’s reservations over the schedule being announced without their approval can be understood, they blew things out of proportion.

The announcement of the West Indies series came out of the blue. If BCCI claims that CSA had wronged them by breaking protocol over series scheduling, they have done the same to their African counterparts. A solution could have been worked out had BCCI been serious about the full tour going ahead, but it is no secret that the BCCI is involved in an ego clash with one man from the ‘opposition’, CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat in this case.

Even though CSA released the schedule for the India series without any consultation with the BCCI, the latter did not have a logical reason to reject the same. At best, they should have asked the CSA for an apology. Instead, they went ahead and modified their own schedule, bringing a home series against West Indies into the picture. If BCCI would have agreed to the itinerary released by CSA, India would have been playing their warm-up game in Potchefstroom on November 18. In all possibility, that will now turn out to be the last day of Tendulkar’s glorious international career, that is if the Test goes the distance.

One can only be happy for Tendulkar that he is getting to end his career at same city where he started out as a child prodigy. His request for the same has been granted and no one has the right to grudge him. But, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the BCCI has tried to ‘arrange’ an easy farewell for the master, against a weak opponent. The series is being played by sacrificing, to some extent, a much more significant one – the South Africa series was to be India’s biggest challenge since their disastrous tour of Australia a couple of seasons back.

By no means can anyone blame Tendulkar for the recent developments leading to his farewell. Then again, it is difficult to look away from the fact that a personal development has overshadowed a team’s cause. Tendulkar has arguably been the greatest player in the world. But, giants like Lara, Waugh and Ponting walked away without even being asked about their farewell wish. There was no reason to grant Tendulkar a staged goodbye. --By A Cricket Analyst

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