IPL Betting: The day Tendulkar spoke out

Indian Premier League - IPL / Ralph Ellis / 05 May 2011 / 1 Comments

Tendulkar greets Indian Prime Minister Pratibha Patil at a tea party to celebrate India's World Cup win

"So if Tendulkar’s uncharacteristic step into the world of controversy has helped fire up Mumbai for the rest of the IPL, it’s worth taking note."

The Mumbai Indians continue to be the all-conquering side of IPL 2011 but after a rare defeat to the Rajasthan Royals, Sachin Tendulkar for once made the headlines for a reason other than scoring runs. What happened there, asks Ralph Ellis.

Nobody likes a graceless winner. It's bad enough getting on the wrong end of a scoreline without the bloke who's just beaten you rubbing your nose in the dirt.
But what we all hate most is a graceless loser. When the big team gets beaten, and instead of just offering congratulations and going away to lick their wounds they come out with a load of moans and excuses . . . well, that really gets your goat.
But if you think I'm about to have a pop at Jose Mourinho, you're wrong. On the other side of the world it is India's World Cup batting hero and overall demi-god Sachin Tendulkar who has got everybody having a grumble.

The Little Master's Mumbai Indians side had been eating up the Indian Premier League until last week, when they suddenly got shot out for just 94 away to the Rajasthan Royals. Tendulkar had a grumble about the Jaipur pitch, and the row hasn't stopped rumbling since. Shane Warne accused him of being a bad loser, while one of the senior Rajasthan cricket officials went on twitter to claim "Mumbai is known on the Ranji circuit as the most graceless side, showing off their pedigree in IPL too". That's sparked all sorts of demands for apologies from Mumbai, and the Indian papers are having a field day taking both sides of the argument.

Now we all know a bit of siege mentality is a great thing for a team. It's one of the ways when you've got the best players that you keep them on peak form, convinced the rest of the world hates them. We've seen it plenty of times over when Sir Alex tells us that Manchester United never get any refereeing decisions, while the rest of the League would tell you that they get everything their way. So if Tendulkar's uncharacteristic step into the world of controversy has helped fire up Mumbai for the rest of the IPL, it's worth taking note.

Mumbai are currently [2.62] favourites to win the competition, and a bit more fire in their bellies will be no bad thing for those who are backing them. They have already shown that on Monday by bouncing back from the defeat against Rajasthan with a comfortable win over Pune Warriors, with the big-hitting middle-order batsman Tirumalasetti Surman hitting 36 off 16 balls. They are [1.59] to follow that up by beating Delhi Daredevils on Saturday, which on home territory should be a formality.

With their side including Tendulkar, who is [2.28] favourite to be IPL top run scorer, and Lasith Malinga who is now [1.1] to be top wicket taker, you can expect them to go on dominating the competition. Just don't expect anybody else to be pleased about it!

Five things you might not know about Tirumalasetti Surman

1.Born in Hyderabad in December 1983, his father was a keen cricketer who has guided his son's career

2.Spotted by Hyderabad's veteran coach Eddie Aibara, he broke into junior cricket as a 13-year-old, and scored 1,000 runs in all competitions at the age of 18

3.Aged 20 he was on standby for India's World Cup squad after impressing a year earlier in the U19 World Cup, but didn't get to play.

4.He says his batting hero is the Australian Damien Martyn, on whom he modelled his aggressive style

5.He began this season as the highest uncapped scorer in the IPL with 544 runs, causing controversy that he left Deccan Chargers to join Mumbai

Comments (1)

1. freakz | 05 May 2011

   she is president not pm