Sorry Sachin...

It's been a long time coming. So, first of all, sorry for not saying sorry earlier. And thank you Raju Bharatan for this report. Well, not this one, but the one in The Hindu and The Sportstar that prompted this one. Thanks to Mr. Bharatan, we now know how hard it must have been for you to soldier on in the face of all that you were being subjected. What makes it even more preposterous is that this was being done to, arguably, the greatest thing to have happened to Indian cricket. (Those of you who haven't read the report should. It serves an object, and abject, lesson on how to de-motivate a man who has been, perhaps best, described as 'a gift to Indian cricket.')

Sorry for having expected you to perform in Australia despite all they put you through. A coach adept more at bluster than action. Threats, in a manner of speaking, to include Azhar despite your having made it very clear, repeatedly, that you had your doubts about 'their blue-eyed boy's' commitment. (And that's me putting it mildly. But, as they say, why flog a dead horse.) The farce that was the 'Mongia episode'. A secretary of the cricket board who 'wished' your team a 3-0 thrashing. The list just goes on. Sorry, but we thought all was hunky-dory with Indian cricket.

And since we're on apologies, some of us owe you one for being so merciless on your skills, or lack of them, as a captain. You see, little did we know of the kind of pressures you were dealing with. Like... tussling with the board over national pride versus tainted players. Having to accommodate a player who cared less and, worse, couldn't be touched for all the times he had let the team down. And a board that seemed solely concerned with cutting you, one of the most humble stars in a firmament of swollen headed megalomaniacs, down to size. (?) To think, we thought your failures had more to do with bad captaincy. Silly us. But then, we still let people get away with 15-page reports that prove nothing. You know how we Indians are.

So we'll take the easy way out. And continue to expect you to be Superman. After all, you're Sachin. And you're there to take care of everything. (Sorry.) In fact, we think you ought to do better with the ball! How can you not let us exploit you, completely. It's not enough, absolutely not, that we expect you to bat perfectly. (Every time.) And if you don't, then some of us even think it right to accuse you of being one of the match-fixers. Those of you who still think Sachin might be one of the 'bad guys,' read the report... not Jaddu's or Chandrachud's crock, Raju Bharatan's loving detailing of the Azhar/Sachin struggle and... and you'll wonder why Sachin didn't sell his soul. After all he's been through, I can't think of any cricketer in this team who has more reason to be bitter. Thank God, Sachin is God. A true gift to Indian cricket is what you are. (A gift that might have never been.)

Thanks to another shocking expose, I know now that the so-called 'master-move' to have you open the batting in one-dayers - yes, I know it's been a while since that 'now suspect' master-move decision was discussed - may well have been a devious plot aimed at spelling finis to your nascent career. (Let's all take a minute off to let that sink in.)

Apparently, the low-lifes' were convinced that your young shoulders didn't have it in them to handle stuff the spineless, them, spent sleepless nights over. But, they didn't reckon with the size of your heart. (Insert very bad word...What is it that makes men who owe so much to their countrymen, the fans and the game do the kind of things we're now beginning to hear of.) Sorry about the fact that the only thing we can do when we hear of such things is say sorry and look the other way.

Fact is, even if we have an idea about their backroom machinations we rather not have an idea about their backroom machinations. Well, you know how busy we are. We only have time to criticize. Or ask questions. Or write columns. Not... stand up and be counted. Sorry, but we are like this only.

Avinash Subramaniam

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