Sachin Tendulkar will forever be known as the ‘God of cricket‘ and is the epitome of a cricketer who could do no wrong. He is arguably the most respected former cricketer of this country and no matter which generation of the family you belong to if you watch cricket, you have to be a Tendulkar fan. 

Here are five Sachin Tendulkar controversies that his die-hard fans would probably want to forget: 

1. Accused of Ball-Tampering

Imagine waking up one morning and reading in the newspapers that Sachin Tendulkar has been accused of ball-tampering. During a Test match between India and South Africa in 2001, match referee Mike Denness accused Sachin Tendulkar of ball-tampering when the Indian cricketer could be seen working on the seam was in the film captured by the cameraman. Upon further inspection, it was found that Tendulkar was simply cleaning the seam. The only mistake Tendulkar committed was to not inform the umpires before doing so. 

Tendulkar was fined 75% of his match fee and was even suspended for one Test.

2. Selling The Ferrari Gifted To Him

In 2001, Tendulkar received a Ferrari 360 Modena which was handed to him by Formula One legend Michael Schumacher. The gift in itself stirred up a controversy as the government wanted to exempt the cricketer from paying the 120% import duty. 

However, the car brought even more hate to the master blaster when he decided to sell the gift to a Surat-based businessman Jayesh Desai in 2011. 

3. Unhappy With Declaring At 194*

During a 2004 Test match between India and Pakistan in Multan, Sachin Tendulkar was in form and batting at 194* on Day 2. He was slowly working his way towards a double century and thought he had another over to achieve the feat. However Rahul Dravid, who was the captain at the point, declared India’s innings, without letting his teammate reach the 200-run mark.

In his autobiography ‘ Playing It My Way’, the cricketer wrote about his angst with Dravid’s decision.

“I assured Rahul that the incident would have no bearing on my involvement on the field, but off the field, I would prefer to be left alone for a while to come to terms with what had happened,” Tendulkar writes in the book.

4. Vinod Kambli’s ‘Sach Ka Saamna’

This isn’t Tendulkar’s own fault, rather his childhood friend and Indian teammate Vinod Kambli’s shocking statement on a television show in which he said that Sachin could have done something to protect him from his self-destructive behavior which caused him to lose his spot in the national team.

“When I needed him the most he was not there that’s why I said it in the show. If you looked at the facts I don’t know why I was dropped from the Indian side,” Kambli even addressed his statement, according to an India Today report.

5. Changing His Statement During ‘Monkeygate’ Scandal

Probably the biggest controversy that surrounded the Indian legend and got him a lot of hate, especially from Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist. When Harbhajan Singh allegedly racially abused Andrew Symonds during a 2008 Test, in the initial days, Tendulkar took a neutral path and said that he didn’t hear anything. However, eventually, he changed his statement. Now he said that he heard Singh and Symonds having a heated discussion and that Harbhajan said “Teri ma ki”, and not “monkey”.