Sachin Tendulkar on Friday said the International Cricket Council should thoroughly investigate the spot-fixing scandal that has plunged the game into a crisis and take action against players who are found guilty.
“ICC should make a thorough probe in the spot-fixing scandal and take appropriate action if the players are found guilty,” Tendulkar told reporters.
“If the allegations are true, they will certainly bring disrepute to the game,” he added.
The furore follows a British tabloid’s sting operation on a bookie who allegedly paid money to Pakistani trio of Test skipper Salman Butt and pacers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir for bowling no-balls during the Lord’s Test against England last week.
The three players in question have been suspended by the ICC pending an inquiry and have also been left out of the Pakistan team for the Twenty20 and ODI series against England starting on Sunday.
Speaking about the scandal, Tendulkar said he has not come across any instance of Indian players being contacted by a bookie in his playing career.
“In my 21 year of international cricket, I have never heard of an Indian player being approached by bookies,” Tendulkar asserted.
Walking down the memory lane, Tendulkar said he would not forget the first press conference of his career after he earned his first man of the match award in the second Test of the England tour in 1990.
“It was at Old Trafford. I was very awkward and I did not know what to do as that was my first press conference. I asked my teammates what kind of questions I might face and how should I answer them. The coach then was Bishen Singh Bedi and he told me don’t get nervous, be confident and do whatever you want,” he said.
“I have been a shy guy and most of the time I prefer to look down when I speak to somebody. I would not look up at the eye of the other person. But I think I have changed though not much. I have now a sort of comfort level,” he confessed.
“When I was young there were problems initially as people think I am snobbish as I don’t speak out much. They think I am not interested in the things happening around,” he added.
Sachin said his first tour of Australia in 1991-92, where he scored two Test centuries, has been one of the most satisfying phases of his career.
“There were phases in my career in which I felt I was doing really well. The first tour of Australia in 1991-92 was one such phase. Then I though I was satisfied with my performance in from 1994-96. I had done well in 2003 also, the World Cup that year was memorable. The last three years also I think I have done well,” he said.
Tendulkar said it was easy to lose head when a cricketer achieves success at a young age but he had been guided well by his family and has never been complacent in his career.
“It is easy to lose your head. You have been dreaming to get something for a long time and you get it. Naturally, it will have some effect on you.
“But I think I have never been complacent. There was time when I was 16-year-old I could have been affected but from my childhood I have been told by my parents not to take anything for granted. So my approach has been if I score a 100 then forget it and think of scoring 150 in the next match,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment