உடுக்கை இழந்தவன் கைபோல ஆங்கே
இடுக்கண் களைவதாம் நட்பு.
( Iudukai izhandavan kaipola aange idukkan kalaivadhaam natpu ) Kural - 788
Translation in English: (True) friendship hastens to the rescue of the afflicted (as readily) as the hand of one whose garment is loosened (before an assembly).
Meaning: As swiftly as the hand moves to seize a slipping garment, Friendship acts to assuage a friend's distress.
It was a fantastic day of cricket, a rare event where chasing a low total seemed to be equally gripping and competetitive at the highest level. Two well matched teams locked horns in battle and the team that kept its nerve emerged the winners.
A small incident that disturbed me a lot happened on the last ball of the eleventh over of the Indian Innings at Melbourne. Stuart Clark bangs one in a touch short and Sachin Tendulkar charges down the track and swings across the line, there is a bit of a noise and Adam Gilchrist takes it clean. The moment of joy in the Aussie camp is short lived due to the stony face of Rudi Koertzten. Sachin then on 24, bats further and adds 20 vital runs to the eventually successful chase.
As a die hard fan (Almost any young Indian Male is.) I have always wanted Sachin to convert those starts to fifties and the fifties to hundreds and the hundreds to massive scores. In the days of umpires ruining (This has happened on more than several occasions) a fantastic innings and bringing the master's knock to an abrupt end; I have cried and cursed more than my parents can imagine. I have fought with my friends at school when someone said Sachin should walk if he edges one to behind the stump. My selfish glee did not let me see the reputation he was building for himself. We have all witnessed that several times in the past. The master walks voluntarily even if the umpires have thought otherwise.
Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar will always be remembered for their integrity and the spirit of Sportsmanship that they displayed. More recently Adam Gilchrist, despite wearing the baggy green, joined this bandwagon of very few rare cricketers.
I am not questioning Sachin's integrity (no one can actually question that or his commitment to Indian Cricket). I am not opening an argument that the boot hit another one to produce the sound at the exact moment the ball passed the bat. I am not verifying the accuracy of the snickometer or the quality of the video transmission and its audio synch. I am just wondering if probably Sachin knew that he had edged it, then in the age of India slowly moving away from the mode of depending entirely on Sachin, why did he not walk. Even in those days where oppositions thought that getting Sachin's wicket literally sealed the game, Tendlya used to walk. He used to walk even when there were no other recognized batsmen left.
This also brings to my memory the incident involving Murali Karthick, where he edged one and did not walk in the home series last year. The Aussie Captains comment that it would have been nice if he had walked drew a lot of criticism in the Indian Press. Ricky Ponting's track record, past deeds and integrity drew heavy criticism.
This brings us to the point where we can ask, "Are we justified in asking the Australians to set a better example by walking?” Is it that because they are a professionally run unit and are successful that the whole world points fingers and treats Sachin in an entirely different manner.
I don’t want to be a Nakeeran for just the selfish reason of safeguarding my life from the assault of other Die hard Sachin Fans. Probably in a nation where cricket is the religion and Sachin being God, he gets off the hook for a rare change in attitude.
All cricketers are equal before the eyes of the Indian Press, but a few are more equal than others!
