The proposal to name the North West stand of the Brian Lara Cricket stadium after Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has drawn criticism from some quarters in local cricket.
Tendulkar one of the game’s greatest batsmen has played 200 Test matches, the most by any player in the history and scored 15,921 runs, at an average of 53.78. The batsman also holds the record for the most number of runs in Test cricket and the most centuries. Despite the Indian batsman numerous accolades, however, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) Azim Bassarath, one of the critics of the move, believes the honour should have gone to a local cricketer.
“India have so many stadia and I don’t know any of them have stands named after any of our West Indian greats so why must we name a stand after Tendulkar. I thought there would be stands named after Ian Bishop, or Larry Gomes or Gus Logie or even the late Rangie Nanan. Not Tendulkar,” Bassarath told the T&T Guardian.
According to Chairman of the Sports Company of T&T Michael Phillips the decision was taken with the full support of Lara.
“Our decision to name the stand after Mr Tendulkar was done on the advice of Mr Brian Lara. We have included Mr Lara in our decision making process in terms of how we roll out the launch and management of both the stadium and the academy,” Phillips said.