Young Indian cricketers of the past two decades have miserably failed to a significant extent on money handling matters, as well as in matters of keeping their foot firmly to the ground when financial offers are just too lucrative. The monetary incentive that the young fellows receive for playing a Test match, an ODI and a T20 match are just phenomenal. Add to it the IPL madness and the Champions League T20. The commercial endorsements are additional. There are many cricketers who debut at the age of 20-23, and at such an age, if you are paid so much, then you are bound to lose your head.
The only cricketer who has been an exception to this thumb rule has been Sachin Tendulkar. Even after he has achieved so much for 20 years, even after Sir Don Bradman had compared Sachin to none other than himself, he is still as modest as a child. That is why he is still scoring centuries whereas somebody like a Yuvraj Singh is struggling even to make it to the Indian squad, forget the starting line-up. I mean, Yuvraj is a classic example of what one should not do when he is doing well. Instead of concentrating on the game itself, I feel the fame and the glory just carried him away until the latter got the better of him. Similar is the case with Sania Mirza. She was so carried away by the glamour and glitz of the Page 3 magazines that she forgot the game, which had catapulted her to stardom a few years back. Now there is nobody to cajole her except a defamed Pakistani cricketer. Sachin has never allowed that to happen to him though.
Athletes from other disciplines from our country are never exposed to so much money so quickly, although sometimes they achieve a lot more than cricketers. That is why they are much more consistent in their performances. Viswanathan Anand has been the World Champion in chess for so many years now, but he maintains such a low profile. It is really worth emulating. In women’s boxing, MC Mary Kom has won the World Championship for 5 times in a row in her weight category. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have continued to make India proud on the tennis courts year after year. Saina Nehwal, although she is just 20, is a role model for me. No matter how many tournaments she keeps on winning, she is so disciplined and modest. The kinds of words she utters in interviews are so refreshing. You feel that here is an young girl who is only concerned about her badminton and not about which brand she is endorsing.
I feel that cricketers should always take a lesson or two from other sportspersons in our country as well. In that case we would not lose talented cricketers from performing consistently at the international level. The BCCI should also conduct money-handling courses in the NCA for the young budding cricketers of our country, so that they do not get used to flash-in-the-pan performances and do not get carried away with money and fame. This kind of initiative is highly imperative in the current sporting scenario in our country.
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