#TFGtake: Why is Kapil auditing Sachin now? Spare us this needless & pointless exercise

KAPIL DEV'S sudden criticism of Sachin Tendulkar is like questioning Lord Rama's contribution to Ramayana -- unnecessary and pointless.

Two years after retiring from the sport, Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar still manages to stay in the limelight. Whether it's the Cricket All Stars series or his off-the-field activities, Sachin is always around. And we're not complaining. Watching him enjoy his post-retirement life is fulfilling enough for us.

But when one cricketing hero starts questioning the contribution of another in the context of Indian cricket, one really can't help but wonder what the exact reason behind it could be. Honestly, there shouldn't even be an argument about Tendulkar's monumental career, his numbers do the job.

However, India's first World-Cup winning captain and perhaps the greatest all-rounder, Kapil Dev begs to differ. In what came as a surprise to everyone at a recent gathering in Dubai, Kapil slammed Tendulkar, saying he got 'stuck' with Bombay cricket and that he did not do justice to his talent. He further went on to say that Sachin did not know how to make double or triple tons and he should have spent more time with someone like Vivian Richards. 

The buck didn't stop there. Kapil also said that if he had spent some more time with Tendulkar, he would have told him to 'go enjoy yourself, play like Virender Sehwag'. Now this is where it gets weirder. Undoubtedly, Sehwag's hundreds were bigger than those of Tendulkar. But is getting 'daddy hundreds' the only criteria to ascertain a player's contribution to the game?

For the record, both Tendulkar and Sehwag have six double hundreds each in Test cricket. Both have scored a double ton in ODIs as well. As for triples, Sehwag definitely rules the Indian roost, since no Indian ever got one. Tendulkar has 100 international hundreds, has played 200 Test matches, and has scored more runs than any other cricketer on this planet. Still not good enough? Not for Kapil, who himself overstayed his welcome in a bid to achieve a personal milestone at the fag end of his career. He obviously sees things from a different perspective than a million others in this country. 

As a matter of fact, Tendulkar did attract criticism for slowing down during his 100th ton that came against Bangladesh. In his defence, it is what pressure of a billion people can do to a man stuck on 99 centuries for a year. But after having done so many firsts for your country, is it fair to say Tendulkar batted for his own hundreds and not the team?

In cricket, nobody plays for his own self because the team comes first. Kapil, who has shared the dressing room with Tendulkar for at least half a decade should know this. But just to put some perspective, here's a fun fact: Tendulkar has been dismissed 28 times in the nineties across all formats. How many times did the man walk, and how many times was he a victim of bad umpiring? If personal milestones affected him, he would have had more than a hundred hundreds by the end of his career.

Most cricket fans of this generation who grew up watching Sehwag-Sachin batting together for India would count their blessings. It is always easy to grab eyeballs by pinpointing Tendulkar and his shortcomings, and a lot of people have done it over the years for reasons best known to them. But is it really needed, especially when both cricketers have done more than their part for India and are now happily retired? We love Sachin and Sehwag for their own, unique contributions to cricket that have brought us unmatched joy. And Kapil for all his grand achievements. Let's not take that away from them through loose talk, and rather cherish those wonderful memories.

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