It pays to be a Tendulkar?

It’s not often that one finds Sachin Tendulkar at the centre of controversy. But for the last couple of days, social media has been up in arms against the legendary batsman with charges of nepotism. As the West Zone U-16 squad for the inter-zonal tournament was recently announced, Sachin found himself in the eye of a storm as his son Arjun was drafted into the side ahead of Mumbai wonderkid Pranav Dhanawade, who recently made headlines by slamming an unbeaten 1008. Pranav is the son of an auto-rickshaw driver.

As there are two sides to every story, there have been a good number of people supporting Arjun, rubbishing the memes comparing the two young cricketers. One such meme claimed that Pranav was not picked for the “India U-16 team”. In fact, there is no such team picked by the BCCI selectors.

Helping hand from dad

Charges of nepotism have plagued Indian cricket for a long time. The issue rears its head from time to time at all levels:

Stuart Binny became the butt of all jokes on social media when he was picked for the 2015 World Cup down under when his father Roger was still a member of the selection panel.

In 2011, the selection of Tamil Nadu batsman Anirudha Srikkanth into the squad for the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia had raised several eyebrows as his father Krishnamachari Srikkanth was then chairman of the BCCI selection committee.

Arjun Yadav, son of former Hyderabad Cricket Association secretary and BCCI president Shivlal Yadav, Jaydev Shah, the son of former BCCI official Niranjan Shah, Mihir Hirwani, the son of former Madhya Pradesh selector Narendra, have been some of the cricketers who faced constant criticism for their surnames.

Another case in point is Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the former left-handed batsman from Maharashtra. Hemant Kanitkar’s son Hrishikesh’s selection for the Indian team in 1997 had raised a few eyebrows. He went on to represent India  in 34 ODIs without too much success as his average of 17.84 reveals. Kanitkar’s inclusion in the Indian team, many felt, owed itself to a powerful Mumbai lobby.

Back in 2003, Brijesh Patel’s son Udit’s selection in the India U-19 team for the Asian Cricket Council U-19 championship had stirred up a hornet’s nest. Udit, an off-spinning all-rounder, it was alleged, made the grade only because of his father’s good offices.