Sachin Tendulkar condemned in Indian press in comparison to Muhammad Ali

Sachin Tendulkar condemned in Indian press in comparison to Muhammad Ali
JUNE 8, 201611:56AM

IF CRICKET is a religion, Sachin Tendulkar is a God.

The Little Master’s divinity as a uniting force that transcends the game of cricket has never truly been questioned — until now.
It took the death of sporting icon Muhammad Ali to give Indian commentators the conviction to share their views on Tendulkar’s shortcomings — which are blatantly exposed when the 43-year-old is compared to The Greatest.
The controversial chorus rallying against Test cricket’s most prolific run-scorer was led by The Indian Express’ Sandeep Dwivedi, who wrote Tendulkar has “breached the trust” of the millions of fans that powered his position as India’s most-loved son.
“What Ali was to the world, Tendulkar is to India,” Dwivedi wrote.

“Ali understood the power and responsibility that accompanied this love. He knew he could push the envelope and get away with it. His fans appreciated that Ali’s courage wasn’t confined to the ring — even without gloves he could take on the non-boxing heavyweights. They were so indebted to Ali for being “anti-national” and talking peace during those frenzied days of war, that they didn’t mind his occasional misjudgements.
“Tendulkar too has that license, but either he isn’t aware of it or is too conservative to use it. He has told friends in private that he avoids taking stands since he doesn’t want to get dragged into controversies or offend people. But not speaking out and wasting a mandate that he has so diligently earned like Ali, is a bigger breach of trust.


The modern sporting legend.Source:Getty Images

“Tendulkar has been a silent spectator during every emotive or divisive controversy India has grappled with.”
Dwivedi slammed the Test great for claiming to be a passionate Ali fan without ever having the principles to follow in the fight star’s footsteps.

sachin tendulkar ✔ @sachin_rt
My hero since childhood. I always had a wish to meet you some day but now it will never happen. RIP "The Greatest”
4:56 AM - 4 Jun 2016

Tendulkar was criticised for offering cheap support without having the courage to back it up.
“It’s said that sportspersons are the product of times,” Dwivedi wrote.
“Ali lived in an era of war, experienced brutal racial bias and suffered due to civil unrest. All this made him an outspoken rebel.
“Today’s sports stars can lose a million dollar contract for a politically wrong utterance. There will be those who will find fault with comparing the sensibilities of an upper class Brahmin who grew up in times of peace and the optimism of post-liberalisation India to an underprivileged black from a period of social unrest who had to deal with the chaos within and around him.

“It’s a lame defence of the present day stars. If Ali was the outspoken outlier, Tendulkar is, almost, the establishment man.”
Ali was famously sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for his refusal to be conscripted into the US Armed Forces in 1967 after his claim of being a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War was denied.

A true legend.Source:AP

He narrowly avoided a prison sentence after a four-year appeal process and was unable to box for more than three years after being stripped of his boxing license by the New York State Athletic Commission.
The Hindustan Times’ Pradeep Magazine wrote Ali’s career embarrasses all modern athletes in regards to the true social impact of their careers.
“Muhammad Ali was a hero to even me, an incomparable icon who puts to the shade all the (Sir Donald) Bradmans and Tendulkars of this world,” he wrote.

“Ali, the boxer, may have been pursuing a sport that exploits the baser sentiment in human nature but it is Ali the man, all that he symbolised and the price he was willing to pay for his convictions that made him arguably the greatest sportsperson the world has seen.
“For us school-going kids in the early seventies, Ali just barged his way into our subconscious not as a boxing champion but as a man who stood for the underdog and fought for all the injustices of a world dominated by the Whites and the West.

“Ali is the one whose fight with the establishment and standing up to the wrongs of a society and a nation, even at the cost of his career, has in many ways diminished many other legendary sportsmen in other disciplines in our eyes. We expect them, just like Ali once did, to speak up and not count the costs of rebellion. That is why Ali is a hero, a superman for even those who care little for a sport called boxing.”

www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/sachin-ten...95b1a07f932da3c85a3e

Descendant of an African Slave

A Pugilist refusing his Country's war on a foreign Nation.

Embraces Islam and tosses his slave Label


compared to Sachin : a Bat and Ball specialist ? ??

This is too silly to even read ... :-[

well not quite too silly..doh it seems so.

what doh deh expect from Sachin a Brahmin..to take the positions and represent the interests of the social classes he has never been na part of ::confused:: ::confused:: ::confused::

that is idiotic! 

and if Sachin did do that, what wud have been the social cost to him ::confused::

I wud bet that even this very commentator here would have been all up in Sachin's face for the 'betrayal of his class'

the Indian elites wud prolly have broken Sachin were he so inclined.

Muhammad Ali's very life was on the line on all sides, from all angles.  wud he have survived vietnam..very unlikely.  what were the consequences of his opposition and refusal to fight ::confused::  they cud have popped his neck for such 'betrayal' in extreme response

assassination and lynching were more likely as ordinary americans looked to do what the government did not for 'Ali's betrayal of his nation'

indeed jail time and loss of career seemed the least likely of all outcomes..indeed a combination of all was a definitely possibility..trial and jail and assassination in there..or later out on the streets.

tALK ABOUT A ROCK AND HARD PLACE!

Sachin was never anywhere close to that.  what could he have done likewise..seek to lead a movement for a better life for the Indian downtrodden  ::confused::

movements like building social infrastructure to clean up India and encourage a level civilized life...building public toilets and washrooms into into all buildings everywhere would go along way in that direction.

but those are political issues and Sachin were he keen on that kind of life cud have been building towards that all along, by taking strategic positions on his way through to now, at which time he would declare his political ambition, join the party of his choice... or create a new one and take off.

Sachin had a different life but he could have contributed positively.  he chose not to.  he is a different kind of person.  so be it.

if India seriously wants a Muhammad Ali I think there are a lot of candidates for such consideration. but I don't think Indians really rate that kind of life so wont much-up that type of Indian. and at any rate a lot of them are demonized and killed by the Indian authorities as communist or otherwise radical, when they fight the issues of the ordinary people.

this article is useful for the kind of hypocrisy it demonstrates.  there are no Indian heroes like Ali or Malcolm..real dudes and the author feels the lack.  but there are Indian heroes of the sort from what I have read of Indian life but they get no press in India..because Indians don't see such as Heroic..or have been taught that heroism is something quite different from the Ali type.  that type in India earns only obscurity and death..official assassination

I am sure Sachin is fully aware of this dichotomy and will not sacrifice himself for the nonsense in this article.  Sachin knows what that means and will not be caught out by it

Tendulkar is maintaining the status quo of the Indian.

Dont Rock The Boat: we saw it in Guyana during a 26 year Dictatorship 

Interesting comparison and what I got out of it is the use of lack thereof an influential position.

India has adequate inequities to address and Sachin is well positioned to take a stance which, from the article, he does not seem to.

Ali refused to fight in Vietnam and suffered terribly for it but it was a worthwhile stance as whilst blacks were still treated abominably, they were gladly ushered to fight and die for said country that treated them as less than citizens.

Of course Ali offended many but it gave rise to a consciousness and lead to change in mentality.

 

Tendulkar was/is not a soldier..nor was Bryan Lara.

Viv was more of a soldier in his youth.  he is the opposite of that now.

the only cricket soldier I ever knew, a man for whom action and words were a unity was Frank Worrell.  and Frank too ultimately became a knight of the round table

Mail votes Worrell as a better Cricket's Ali

or Constantine.

Frank may have become a Knight of the Round Table : BUT there were no cause to Fight  :-\

so early in the Game !

you missed the point.

becoming a knight of the round table is a compromise of class and racial interest by Worrell and Richards.  all these men are in reality and in truth  is opposed to the system of which such awards are nothing but bribes to help it stay in place.  that is the same system that enslaved us, indentured us, exploits us to this day.

that is the system that Worrell fought tooth and nail in the second half of the 19-forties, only to join up fully once his goals were achieved.

and there was nothing for players to fight early in the game of cricket

you mus' be having a bad day ketchim..on which you have forgotten your history momentarily ::confused::. 

cricket was born of and in an elitist social system and so it is itself exploitative in nature and practice

there was always injustice in cricket and the game produced rebels all along the way relative to the social distress and exploitation put on ordinaary players by the elite controllers of the game everywhere

That article's HAAS SHEET!  Everyone forgets that Ali supported a Islamic cleric who wanted blacks to
kill all whites.  He's been sanitized because his sickness silenced him for the last twenty five years of his
life.  Otherwise I'd really wanna  hear his answer to why his religion led to 9/11, islamic terrorism, etc.  Being someone who considers boxing a relic of barbarism, he was never a hero to me.