The tragedy of overly building up Tendulkar

Call it a Sisyphean tragedy of the Indian kind, a tragedy still in the making, slowly, imperceptibly. As Tendulkar’s body becomes vulnerable to the ravages of age — eyesight weaker, hand and eye coordination a little out of sync — he will increasingly fail to intercede for the Indian team, as happened so frequently on the last tours of England and Australia. Yet our abiding faith in the god of cricket will lure us to hope as the diminutive champion steps out on the field to bail out his struggling team. Should he get dismissed cheaply, as is likely to happen more frequently than before, the fickle among us will cite parliamentary records to wonder why taxpayers should bear the expenses of a rich man who is mostly absent from the Rajya Sabha, as is likely because of the crowded schedule of Indian cricket.