IPL 2010: Sachin Tendulkar reigns supreme as the captain of Mumbai Indians. Should he play the Twenty20 World Cup too?

To say that Sachin Tendulkar scored a match-winning half-century against Chennai in a key match would probably have as much impact as yesterday’s headline, such has been his form this season, the IPL included. But hark! I am giving you advance notice here of headline stuff that could emerge over the next few days because the aforementioned half-century is likely to stoke a national controversy.
Anything pertaining to Tendulkar is, of course, automatically of national importance in India. He is the most enduring superstar of the country, matinee idols Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan included. He may also not belong (yet) to the rapidly growing dollar billionaire club, but in terms of public acceptance, personal credibility and brand equity, he is easily the richest Indian.
But I am labouring the point. If you don’t know the impact that Tendulkar has on the Indian psyche, get a one-way ticket to some other planet – and ensure that no Indian has reached there earlier. Even so, this season the tumult over his performances has been exceptional.
For instance, shortly after Thursday’s match in which he sent Dhoni’s team packing back to Chennai with their tails between their legs, Raman Sundar, COO of the IPL tweeted, “Sachin for knighthood? How many yeas do I hear?” You can argue that IPL’s administrators are too easily given to hyperbole, but it is pretty much in consonance with the mood of the nation in the past six months or so.
Earlier, when he became the first batsman to score a double hundred in One-Day Internationals, Tendulkar had provoked a debate that had engaged almost the cricketing fraternity across the globe: is he now a greater batsman than Bradman? That debate has since been transformed into other issues that have vexed the nation.
One of these is whether Tendulkar should be given the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, usually the preserve of Prime Ministers, Chiefs of the Defence Force (who have won a war or two), or a saint like Mother Teresa, the only naturalised Indian to have been bestowed this. Political parties of diverse ideological strands have tried to appropriate this agenda, which has spilled over into the cyber world and inspired serious online activity across the Indian diaspora.
But the headlines of the next few days may have nothing of the issues mentioned above, rather with a more core concern: Should Tendulkar be included in the team for the Twenty20 World Championship to be held in the West Indies in May?
Debate over this has been building up gradually through the season, picked up momentum after the first couple of matches, and after Thursday’s game will reach a clamour because the team is to be announced on Friday.
Tendulkar himself has said that he will not play the tournament. He’s skipped the earlier two T20 ICC Championships too and says he sees no reason to change his mind. But his two illustrious predecessors, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev believe he should when he is in such roaring form. This has snowballed almost into a debate of national proportions again.
Essentially, there are three kinds of sentiments floating in the environment. One which feels that Tendulkar is too old for T20 and should not go even if he wants to (minuscule), another which believes that he should go only if he wants to, and the third which says that that he should go for the sake of the country even if he doesn’t want to.
Meanwhile, a source close to some of the national selectors said that these worthies would speak to Tendulkar once again to check out his current feelings on playing in the West Indies. And while I was at the CCI on Thursday’s match, a source close to heavyweight tycoons who have been splurging zillions on the IPL asked me, “Don’t you think he should go?”
Do you?