Washington Sundar debuts in T20; Sachin could not at Rajya Sabha

At   Wankhede, Washington Sundar at 18 years and 80 days,  became the youngest to represent India in a T20 International.   He was handed over his cap by Sarandeep Singh.   Washington opened the bowling and was successful in having Mathurage Don Kusal Janith Perera caught and bowled – how important is it to succeed in one’s debut match ??  Do you know who was the first player to debut for India in a T20 and who was that  in ODI International ?? 

When Sachin Tendulkar made his Test debut, he was player no. 187 – he went on to play 200 tests for India scoring 15921 runs with 51 hundreds / 68 fifties and 463 ODI – 18426 runs with 49 centuries and 96 fifties.   A player by name Alan Sippy scored 127  against Gujarat and must have felt elated thinking of a green future……..  in that Ranji match in the WZ league in Dec 1988, Rajput made 99; Sippy 127 and a small boy of 15 made a century on debut – those who played alongside could hardly have imagined his meteoric rise but sure would have seen the difference in class which catapulted him so high.  That was young Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.  He did not have to wait long and in Nov 1989 made his debut at National Stadium, Karachi against Pakistan in Test 1127 under the captaincy of Krishnamachari Srikkanth, who had a good tour as a Captain but a very ordinary one as a batsman.    In that Karachi Test,   Salil Ankola, Shahid Saeed and Waqar Younis all made their debut in the same test alongside Sachin.  For Salil Ankola and Saeed that was to be their only test.

Master batsman, Sachin Tendulkar who made runs at will, struggled to make his debut speech at Rajya Sabha, despite being a  member since five years and is a year short of completing his term. According to Rajya Sabha procedures, “Any member desirous of raising discussion on a matter of urgent public importance may give notice in writing to the Secretary-General specifying clearly and precisely the matter to be raised. Provided that the notice shall be accompanied by an explanatory note stating reasons for raising discussion on the matter in question. Further that the notice shall be supported by the signatures of at least two other members.”   There is no need of a formal motion before the Council nor voting for a shot-duration discussion. “The member who has given notice may make a short statement and the Minister shall reply shortly. Any member who has previously intimated to the Chairman may be permitted to take part in the discussion.”

It sounds simple yet things have stopped Sachin’s   first attempt at initiating a debate.  He has not been successful here nor has played any long innings – the ace batsman  last appeared in the Parliament in August this year, just two days after Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Agarwal had raised the issue of absenteeism among the nominated lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha and criticised the former cricketer and Bollywood actor Rekha.

And when the day of reckoning finally seem to arrive, Sachin just stood there smiling as the Congress raised a massive ruckus over PM Narendra Modi's comments about Pakistan and ex-PM Manmohan Singh. The  master blaster could not drive his way – scoring on the  topic of the 'right to play and the future of sports in India'. A frustrated chairman of the house Venkaiah Naidu tried several times to quieten the opposition MPs, telling them their protests were not going on the record and asking them to show respect to the Bharat Ratna awardee, who is the only cricketer (current or former) to score 100 international centuries. Mr Naidu, finally, had to stop live telecast of Rajya Sabha before adjourning the Upper House for the day, and in the process calling off Sachin's debut speech.

Jaya Bachchan, Rajya Sabha MP was to ask :  He (#SachinTendulkar) has earned name for India at the world stage, it is a matter of shame that he was not allowed to speak even when everyone knew it was on today's agenda. Are only politicians allowed to speak?:

So from 2012, the master blaster could not initiate a debate, though having asked  questions relating to sports infrastructure and employment for sportsmen and has used 98 per cent of the funds allotted him as an MP for social welfare.

                Now to answer the Q at the start – in Leeds in 1974, India played its first ever ODI and that way all the 11 were debutants – in such a scenario, the procedure is to allot the cap in alphabetical order – S. Abid Ali was no. 1; Bishan Bedi 2; Farokh Engineer 3; Sunil Manohar Gavaskar 4.

In T20, India debuted at Johannesburg on Dec 1, 2006 against South Africa – no1 was Ajit Agarkar;  MS Dhoni 2;  Harbhajan Singh 3; Dinesh Karthik 4; Zaheer Khan 5

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

24^th Dec 2017.