What exactly has Rohit Sharma done to deserve Arjuna?
An Arjuna award for you, Rohit Sharma? You can't be serious!
I was flabbergasted, I am afraid, when I first learnt that you have been nominated for the prestigious award, and now that you have been conferred the award, I just can't reconcile myself to the fact that you have. So while I can imagine that you, Rohit Sharma, must have been over the moon having received one of the top sports awards that the country has to offer, please excuse me for not willing to be a part of the celebration.
Why, you ask? The reasons are many. First and foremost, what have you done really special in the last couple of years, apart from the two double centuries in one day internationals (ODI), which would qualify you for such a coveted prize? Yes, two double hundreds in ODIs is special. Nobody else has so far been able to do it, and when you consider that one of them was against the mighty Australians, it really is a stellar feat. But the sad part is, Rohit Sharma, you haven't done anything else of note. Oh, forgive me, I almost forgot. You scored a Test century on debut and another one in the next match. You got a hundred against Australia in the opening match of the tri-series Down Under, just before the World Cup. You got another one in the World Cup quarter-final against Bangladesh, which the world knows you wouldn't have got had it not been for messrs Aleem Dar and Ian Gould, who perhaps thought you must have one more chance.
Why do you get so many chances, Rohit Sharma? I feel jealous and I am sure many of your teammates would also, except perhaps Ravindra Jadeja! I bet Cheteshwar Pujara would have something to say about this. But then on hindsight, Rohit Sharma, why shouldn't you be getting all those chances? Even your record-setting 264 - the highest individual score ever in an ODI - was't accomplished without the proverbial "second chance" and more. Can you recollect, Rohit Sharma? The Sri Lankans dropped you twice, the first one being when you had just started your innings and were batting on four. Real butterfingers, those Lankans! But that hardly matters, does it? You should get the chances that you have got. After all, you are talent personified, you are the "prince", the "chosen one". The pundits have recognised your rare talent. It is for us lesser mortals to crib about life. You need not worry, you have the right to the chances that you get. After all, does anyone have the talent that you have? No way!
But you know, what the problem is? After a point of time, just being talented, without delivering results is not enough. Enjoy the chances that you are getting now, Rohit Sharma (and the awards!) but mark my words, sooner than later, karma will catch up with you, and you will be left to rue the way you chose to fritter away your "talent", as did Vinod Kambli. He was also enormously gifted, and he also got many chances to prove his worth (maybe not as many as you!) but couldn't do justice to himself.
His great school mate Sachin Tendulkar, on the other hand, made a name for himself. In an advertisement for sports goods maker Adidas (see video), Sachin tells us how his coach used to keep a one-rupee coin on the top of the stumps while Sachin took guard, with a challenge thrown to the bowlers that whoever got Sachin out could take home the coin, and if they failed to do so, Sachin would keep the coin instead. Sachin says that he had collected 12 such coins and adds that they are as valuable as any medal he has received. "Whatever level you reach, getting better never stops," says Sachin, and nothing can be truer.
Do you want to follow Kambli, or Sachin? The choice is yours Rohit Sharma.
You could also perhaps draw inspiration from the legendary character from the Mahabharata, after whom the award you were so happy to receive is named. Arjuna. The best archer of his time, Arjuna would see only the eye of the wooden bird placed on the branch of a tree, and nothing else. Such is the concentration required to be the best.
Can you raise yourself to that level, Rohit Sharma? I know you have it in you, but can you translate you talent into results? Your centuries and double centuries have, sadly, been exceptions, rather than the norm. Please don't mind me saying this, but giving you the Arjuna award at this point is a serious disrespect to the legendary archer. It is also a sad commentary on the the judgment of the BCCI and the government to have you as an Arjuna awardee. It only goes to show that the authorities listen to their hearts and not their minds while choosing candidates for this prestigious award. They like to go for the glamourous individual, the crowd favourite, often ignoring real achievers in the process. This is precisely what the government did in giving the nod to tennis star Sania Mirza over paralympian HN Girisha for the country's highest sports honour - the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. Again, some players have had to wait for eternity to lay their hands on the Arjuna statuette, unlike you Rohit Sharma. For them life hasn't been so easy. For instance, the ace footballer IM Vijayan, who weaved his magic throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, but got an Arjuna only in 2003, a few years before he retired.
As things stand, if the government keeps giving away prestigious sports awards like the Arjunas like candies, I am afraid, they may soon be considered as valuable as the trophy I got for coming first in sack race in class three! But now that you have got the Arjuna award, can we expect some results from you? Let me tell you that we are not going to be satisfied by your 20s and 30s, and neither should you. If this award doesn't fire you up, nothing would. Can you prove that you are indeed a deserving recipient of the award? Really hope that you don't take too many chances in doing so, because if you end up exhausting your quota of chances, don't blame us. Then again, if you are the team management's favourite child, who cares?