Shoaib has a right to be heard
Pritish Nandy, writing in the Mumbai Mirror , says, as brilliant as Sachin Tendulkar is, he doesn't deserve a Bharat Ratna
Nikita Bastian
25-Feb-2013
Pritish Nandy, writing in the Mumbai Mirror, says, as brilliant as Sachin Tendulkar is, he doesn't deserve a Bharat Ratna. Nor can we take away Shoaib Akhtar's right to be heard, no matter how outrageous his views.
A not exactly accurate quote about Sachin attributed to him by some sections of the media ensured that his book launch in Mumbai never happened. Two political parties took credit for forcing the cancellation. The CCI gave some feeble excuse. This is increasingly becoming the tragedy of today’s India. There’s simply too much of free floating outrage — that politics finally exploits.
Even if Shoaib was critical of Sachin’s ability to play fast bowling or win a match, I would have loved to hear why. It’s an interesting point of view and every point of view has a right to be heard, engaged. If we disagree with Shoaib, as I am sure many of us do, we could have argued with him, disproved him. In any case, cricket history doesn’t bear Shoaib out.
Nikita Bastian is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo