Lady Luck Elusive for Tendulkar

Cricket360.com hopes that the trio of bad decisions that Sachin Tendulkar has faced in three consecutive ODIs, in this ongoing India – Sri Lanka series marks the end of his bad luck. Bad luck is supposed to come in threes after all, so hopefully we will see better decisions for India’s most beloved batsman in the next ODI.

The past three occasions that Tendulkar has gotten out LBW, have each been bad decisions and have been described variously in the cricket news as ‘dubious’, ‘shocking’, ‘umpiring howlers’ and as just rank bad umpiring. Certainly not the kind of umpiring that one expects to see in international cricket. Even coach Gary Kirsten was seen shaking his head in incredulity at the repeatedly poor decisions that Tendulkar has been subject to.

In each of the three instances that Tendulkar has been adjudged out leg before wicket, TV replays and the Hawkeye has shown that the ball had been going down leg and would have missed leg stump on each of those three occasions. While these could well be honest mistakes made by the umpire the repetitive nature of the mistakes is enough to make anyone wonder if umpires Gamini Silva and Kumar Dharmasena have some sort of axe to grind against Tendulkar!

However Tendulkar certainly did not think so, as on each occasion he has walked from the crease, with dignity and the sort of fortitude that youngsters to the game would do well to emulate. In Tendulkar there is much to emulate apart from just his tremendous batting ability: there is his temperament, his great respect for the game as well as his team mates and opponents, his non confrontational nature, and his exemplary behavior both on and off the field. He has rarely if ever been in the cricket news headlines for the wrong reasons!

If Tendulkar has managed only 5, 6 and 7 runs respectively in these past three ODIs it is thru no fault of his own, but rather than rail against his bad luck he has simply dismissed this with characteristic levelheadedness, saying “I want to look back and count the number of bad decisions I have received over the past six years. There have been so many.”

So we at Cricket360 hope that the bad luck that comes in threes has come and gone, and we see some classic pyrotechnics from our master blaster next match!