Australian tabloid labels Sachin Tendulkar 'shameless political animal' for slamming Aussie cricketers, Greg Chappell

The Courier Mail, an Australian tabloid, has launched a scathing and crude attack on batting legend Sachin Tendulkar for criticising Greg Chappell, as well as for taking Harbhajan Singh's side on the 2008 'Monkeygate' controversy.

In a piece which holds back no punches, one Mr Robert Craddock, writing for the tabloid, calls Tendulkar a 'ruthless force of nature'. He goes on to say that 'Tendulkar, as confirmed in his just-released autobiography, is a highly political animal, a dangerous enemy who knew the bottomless power he possessed and used it shamelessly — and secretly — like a master puppeteer when it suited his team’s cause.'

The piece describes Tendulkar's appearance as that of a 'lamb' rather than a 'lion' and goes on to say that 'But when his autobiography was released worldwide on Thursday the choir boy ripped open his robes and pulled a loaded gun from a holster.'

The article then slams Tendulkar for keeping quiet when his 'opponents were in the ring' and labeling his words 'hollow'. It concludes by saying that 'we may never think of him as kindly but at least we got to meet the real man'.

There has been a lot of angst even in the serious Australian press over Tendulkar's remarks. The coverage though has been selective, choosing to focus only on aspects of the autobiography which slam Australian cricketers, as if that is all the autobiography is about. On the other hand, tabloid articles such as the one above are being given a lot of space, as have refutations by the under-fire Greg Chappell. The Sydney Morning Herald has especially gone into overdrive, slamming Tendulkar, choosing to believe Greg Chappell's version of events in an article titled 'Is Sachin Tendulkar rewriting cricket history?