KARACHI, Sept 30: Sachin Tendulkar's decision to lead his team off the field during the second one-day international has left a very bad taste in the mouth of excited cricket followers.
Minor incidents like this do happen but they should be avoided rather than taken to the extreme by trooping out the players from the field. After all, this was not a simple match. The revival of cricket relationship between Pakistan, India largely depends on this series and Tendulkar would have been wise had he a shown little more flexibility.
One doesn't want to defend the stone-throwing incidents, but the bottom-line is that the skipper has to be diplomatic, the only quality lacking in Sachin Tendulkar.
Stones were thrown on the Pakistan team when they played the World Cup quarter-final in Bangalore last year and the crowd behaviour was not satisfactory when Pakistan took part in the Independence Cup specially at Madras when alcoholic bottles were sent flying at them. But never the Pakistan team was brought out of the ground though they had the similar problem which pointed out by Tendulkar on Tuesday - the safety of his players.
It might be because the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had briefed the players in detail about how they have to tackle the angry or violent crowd. Disposed skipper Ramiz Raja should also be credited for presenting a very good picture of Pakistan - both on and off-the-field.
Way back in 1989-90, a Pakistan Under-19 team toured India and the hostile Nagpur crowd threw bottles, stones, missiles, projectiles etc. But Salahuddin Ahmad, who was the manager, ordered his team to stay there. Salahuddin invented a novel method by sending a message to skipper Moin Khan to take Test match fielding so that no stones could reach the slip or gully cordon.
That intelligent move by Salahuddin not only helped the fielders counter the spectators, it paid dividends when Pakistan won that one-dayer by more than 50 runs after having scored 321 in the first outing.
Tendulkar's attitude from the time when the first stone, in fact a bone, fell near Debahish Mohanty when Pakistan were 172 for three in 32 overs was not very positive. The Indian skipper looked furious and it appeared that he was not willing to continue play.
And when a small stone fell near Saurav Ganguly with Pakistan racing towards the 300-mark being 265 for four in 47.2 overs, Tendulkar decided that enough was enough. He was not only unhappy with stone-throwing but also appeared in a state of panic with the flow of runs that were blazing from the willows of Inzamamul Haq and Moin Khan.
What is even more interesting that when Tendulkar came to the post-match Press conference, he admitted it was a minor issue. ``No hard feelings. Some of the spectators got over-excited a bit.''
The question arising here is why didn't Tendulkar think the same when he was leading his team out of the ground.
The Commissioner of Karachi, Mir Husain Ali, said probably a couple of stones might have been left when the enclosures were cleaned. ``But I don't think that it was necessary to curtail the innings of the Indian team,'' he told Dawn.
Pakistan coach Haroon Rasheed said Sachin Tendulkar complained to the umpire that a big stone was thrown at Saurav Ganguly. ``On the contrary, we were told by officials that nothing of the sort happened.
``I think that Sachin (Tendulkar) might have felt under pressure because we could have scored quite a few runs in the last three overs. In addition to this, I felt the attitude of Sachin was not very positive because he was protesting to the umpires against smaller things,'' said Haroon.
Haroon said Tendulkar has reached a stage where there is nothing new to him. ``Sachin has led quite a few times now and he should realise and under the crowd of Pakistan and India.
``Sachin should have been matured enough to handle these situations. I don't think big stones were thrown in because I don't find anything on the field. Yes, small stones might have come in but these are minor things and the captain should be a little more diplomatic,'' stated Haroon.
Whether the people who threw those stones onto the ground regret their action or Sachin Tendulkar might review his decision to walk out, in the score books it would go down as another match between India and Pakistan marred by violence. The four stoppages consumed 19 minutes and the match had to be curtailed to 47-over-a-side.