Tuesday, May 24

A quote

Greg Chappell is now india's coach (and we all have something to say about it).

One of the first things we read about him, besides his committment to excellence, are his opinions on apna Sachin. It is interesting to see how the same quote has been interpreted by different editorials. First, what he has said:
"Everyone goes through different phases in their career;...He's been around for about 15 years and most of those 15 years have been extraordinary. He's had some down periods recently. He's had some injuries. He's perhaps had a bit of a crisis about what his role is in the team...";
"I just need to sit down with him and work out where he's at and where he wants to go, what expectations and goals he has. Hopefully I can motivate him and present him with some new challenges."


"I don't think he's ever going to be the player he was...You change. You're a different person in your 30s compared to when you're an 18-year-old. You just have to learn to play accordingly. In many ways you can be better, in many ways you can't be, because you're not as flexible in body and mind as you used to be. There are other things going on in his life that he didn't have as a young player. All he needs is to feel welcome, wanted and to have a meaningful role in the team.
..I'm sure he can bounce back, maybe not to the great heights he reached before, but bounce back and play an important role. To work with a player of that quality will be a privilege and an honour."


Cricinfo's report on these quotes is headlined "I am sure Sachin can bounce back".
Like the report, it is a simple statement of a quote. In fact, if anything, the headline would give you the impression that Chappell admits that Tendulkar is not at his best, but is also sure that he can regain his touch. Effectively, a positive statement.

Rediff's report was headlined(a bit dramatically)"Tendulkar may not regain earlier form:Chappell"
Again, this was just a simple quote turned to a headline, but the impression one would get is that poor ol Chappelli had just rubbed a lot of Indian fans the wrong way by devaluing their Master's worth. Pretty much a negative statement.
They have, since, said that if we (the readers) had thought Chappell was saying something shocking, we may be wrong because of Gaekwad, Wadekar and Mongia's reactions to this.
To be fair, Rediff did not make any statement. But I just believe the way headlines scream out at youwhen you are surfing plays a fair role in your interpretation of a report or, in this case, quotes. Since, they have gone on to make a bit more of an issue of this by asking us whether we think the new coach is being unecessarily harsh:
"Do you agree with Chappell's assessment of the batting genius? Or do you think that the new coach has started on the wrong foot by commenting on India's biggest sporting icon?"

'Batting genius', leading us to on the path that a (foreign, new, unfamiliar) coach is making a statement about or pride and joy, the great Sachin. 'Started on the wrong foot...commenting on India's biggest sporting icon"= how can Chappell start by a (negative) statement about our hero?

The guy made a simple remark which, to me, a lot of people wish a lot of other people would understand about Sachin and Indian cricket- that he cannot be the dominant force of the 90s, his role is different, he has changed as a person etc.

I guess this is a long post to make a small point, but it just seemed that the same quote has been habdled very differently in two different places.

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