Opinion Sachin who

The online Indian outrage machine kicked into overdrive on Thursday, when tennis player Maria Sharapova, knocked out of Wimbledon, failed to recognise Sachin Tendulkar. And so what if only a handful of Commonwealth nations are interested in India’s national obsession? And that Sharapova, from Russia and brought up living and breathing tennis in the US, would have had little occasion to pay heed to bat hitting ball when it didn’t also come with pitchers, home runs, a healthy dose of steroid-use allegations and stadia full of hotdogs. The former women’s world number one had blasphemed, decided thin-skinned Tendulkar worshippers, and was appropriately put in her place on social media, with a torrent of abuse directed her way. Who is Maria Sharapova, they asked, apparently unaware of the irony in posing that question in vehement retaliation to a supposed slight by her.

Exemplary trolling attempts have seen injured Tendulkar fans take over her Facebook page. Others have created memes, linking up the two great sporting controversies of our times (or the last two weeks). In one image, Sharapova admits she does not know who Tendulkar is. The next image is of Uruguayan striker and sometime vampire Luis Suarez, claiming “This is why I bite people”. Sadly, rather than the valiant defence of Tendulkar’s not-at-all fragile reputation these crusaders imagine they are mounting, all they have done is expose the inferiority complex and desperate need for validation from the Western world that still riddles the country.

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Well, now at least Sharapova is unlikely to ever forget Tendulkar, or deny knowing him. Mission accomplished, perhaps — except that for the rest of the sporting fraternity who dare not forget his name, Tendulkar will forever remain that guy that Sharapova didn’t know.