Who Is Sachin Tendulkar? Don't Ask Tennis Champion Maria Sharapova
Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar at a press conference in Mumbai. Image by Ravindra Hande. Copyright Demotix (17/11/2013)
With two small words, Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova has managed to anger “god of cricket” Sachin Tendulkar‘s army of fans.
When asked if she knows who Tendulkar is during a press conference at Wimbledon late last month, the five-time Grand Slam winner admitted, “I don't.” Tendulkar had watched the tennis tournament from the Royal Box with other famous athletes like David Beckham.
Angry Tendulkar fans have flooded Facebook and Twitter, and the hashtag #WhoisMariaSharapova has been trending since the news went public. Her Facebook page was at one point receiving approximately 50 comments per minute.
Who is Maria Sharapova? This is Sachin Tendulkar who respects his game. Learn from him. pic.twitter.com/3sCZ8Ir8qN
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) July 2, 2014
Cricket legend Tendulkar retired after a 24-year career in November 2013. He was ranked by the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack as the second greatest test batsman ever after Sir Don Bradman. The cricketer was conferred India’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, for his lifetime contribution to cricket along with many other Indian and international awards.
Disgruntled Tendulkar supporters have labelled Sharapova a “cricket atheist” for the gap in her knowledge. Some have created memes, like this one of tennis great Roger Federer listening to Tendulkar humbly with crossed arms:
Dear Sharapova learn something from your tennis mate BTW who is Maria Sharapova pic.twitter.com/c252wm3Ehr
— Johar VMR (@SRTrendulkar) July 3, 2014
Others have defended Sharapova, saying her ignorance is normal being from a non-cricket playing country.
http://youtu.be/QtkpNOTrJCU
In the comments section of the above YouTube video, uploaded by Worlds Best News, Manish Bhatia commented:
I don't see what's the big deal. She didn't disrespect Tendulkar in any way. She did say they met before, but didn't know who he was. We have to realise that cricket isn't played at all in Russia (where she was born) and the US (where she currently lives).. Though she's guilty of having poor GK [general knowledge].
We are really a hypocritical bunch of people. We criticise her for not knowing Sachin yet almost none of us know the names of any Hockey player, even though it's our national game.
Facebook news page The Logical Indian encourage fans to stop attacking Sharapova:
The Logical Indian denounces the act of Indians trolling Maria Sharapova‘s Facebook profile, inundating it with profanity. Think people, think! Would Sachin ever want us to indulge in profanity on his behalf? Are we not indulging in behaviour that he would find extremely embarassing?
While Cricket is a popular sport in a handful of commonwealth countries, we must realise that it is unknown to most other countries.
There is no doubt that Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest cricketer to have walked the earth, and a living sporting legend. But why should a tennis player from Russia – a non cricket playing country be expected to know about Sachin?
So far, neither Sharapova nor Sachin have reacted on their Twitter pages respectively or spoken to the press about the matter.
27 comments
what is cricket? no one care in the world.it’s like only 4 countries play that stuff? ausies..packes…indies and the old fart brits? of course Maria won’t know.
32 countries play Tennis. 51 play Cricket. Get your facts right, else put your pig-face right up your ass.
@andyoomofo:disqus perhaps you should improve your knowledge .
tennis is played in 210 countries, but popularised only in 32 countries. i agree that 51 countries play cricket but popularised only in 12 countries.
even the citizens of usa and latin america dont know who is sachin. the indian cricket fans dont know how to speak in a polite way even they dont know their hockey players name, they are expert in blaming others.
there is only 195 countries in the world dumbass .
you should check international federation of tennis in wikipedia . including independent territories it is played in 210 countries . well there are 212 countries i think .
back to you dumb***.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 210 national tennis associations or corresponding organizations of independent countries or territories.[citation needed][1]
DUMB ASS 210 associations not countries there are 196 countries in world
Which 51 countries? Did you here any news about cricket on the other countries? Tennis news everywhere stupid ass
fuck u andyoo.
mariya bainna vadya var pathva medge patil vat baghtyat…..mag sangto sachin tendulkar kon te
Apparently angry fans of Tendulkar protested Sharapova’s ‘vicious’ lack of knowledge by burning posters of Anna Kournikova! Ha, ha!
Ahh!!…..Q THAK RA O……..
this shows the senti indians mental temperament besides cricket n sachin is not only thing happening around the …….very few countries in in world known to cricket..
PLZ GROW UPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!
Ahh!!…..Q THAK RA O……..
this shows the senti indians mental temperament besides cricket n sachin is not only thing happening around the …….very few countries in in world known to cricket..
PLZ GROW UPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!
Ahh!!…..Q THAK RA O……..
this shows the senti indians mental temperament besides cricket n sachin is not only thing happening around the …….very few countries in in world known to cricket..
PLZ GROW UPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!
Ahh!!…..Q THAK RA O……..
this shows the senti indians mental temperament besides cricket n sachin is not only thing happening around the …….very few countries in in world known to cricket..
PLZ GROW UPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!
Now I know who he is. Thanks to Sharapova.
I don’t care about cricket.
So are most people in the world except India and Australia and a few other countries
Yeah but still second most popular game…….interesting..right
Yeah but still second most popular game in th world………. interesting …right
Where did you find that cricket is the “second most popular game”? Do you know how many countries and how many people play cricket?
sachin is god and who is sharapova???? leave whoever she is but she knows well and she did intentionally to become popular and to attract media and to impress sachin lollllllllllllllllllllll