Group Captain Sachin Tendulkar!

Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will be conferred with the honorary rank of Group Captain this afternoon by the Indian Air Force. The image here is the cover of the invitation card for the event. I hear plans are also afoot to fly the Little Master in a Sukhoi, maybe later this year from the Lohegaon air base.

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47 thoughts on “Group Captain Sachin Tendulkar!”

  1. Ya its my pleasure to give comment!
    My INDIAN AIRFORCE honour My SACHIN TENDULKAR!!! Its GREAT! Thank u….! I love My INDIAN DEFENCE and My Sachin!!!

  2. i dont get why people are obsessed with this man. so he can play cricket.. big deal. There are many more scientists and people in other fields who are more deserving than this. for all i care.. hes just an ordinary man with good cricketing skills.. nothing more

  3. whats the use of all this "tamasha"? the IAF should instead concentrate on acquiring new helicopters and fighters at a time when it's strength is at an all time low

  4. As long as it is an honorary tile, who cares, they can make him the grand air-marshal for all I care. The real titles go to the IAF men and women.

  5. What next? A Lt Col Kapil Dev is already there. Commodore Katrina Kaif???/ No offence to the cricketer, but is the commission an advertising ploy????

  6. Ranks are most precious thing for a defence person.It takes years hard work and dedication to the profession to get one rank.Even Honorary rank should not be given to anybody except active defence personal.Value of the Rank should not be lowered by giving it to civilions .

  7. Amal @ 7:36, I couldnt agree more. 21 years of blood sweat and toil to make it to select Gp Capt (if you make it). I have nothing but admiration for Sachin as a cricketer, but for chrissake, don't make a mockery of those in uniform.

  8. Seems everybody and their brother is getting a ride on the Sukhoi these days. How do I, a common Indian taxpayer, who paid for these planes get a ride on one? Or is it, like most things in our country, limited to a privileged few with specific last names?

  9. Ah! At last there is at least one post not infested with that RAT guy. He was making a mockery of himself.

    IAF usually doesn't give this honour to civilians, as far as I remember there aren't any. I guess Sachin deserves this honour.

  10. The ranks are not there to be distributed on honorary basis. Yes i agree that he excelled in his field but there are so many other celebrity who can match tendulkar to quote Amitabh/ Aamir in cinema, Sushmita/ Aishwarya in beauty peagent, Sonia/Advani in politics etc. When is the next time IAF would be considering them for honorary post

  11. Excuse me but I cannot stand the pessimism and the vitriol on this forum. I am guessing some of these comments might be from disgruntled Pakis (get a life none of your cricketers deserve any honor) but I believe a significant number are from Indians. Well whoever asked why Sachin is getting this honor it is because the IAF chose to confer it. It's none of your business. If the Air Chief Marshal can stomach calling Sachin a Group Capt. you being a fucking nobody, having done nothing of any repute for the country cannot and should not question him. To people who question what has Sachin done for the country I ask what have you, other than being a keyboard warrior on the internet? For his bit he has been the foremost cricketer in the world for the better part of the decades. And imbibes pride in the masses. Not to belittle the Group Captains in the IAF who are heroes of the highest stature in my eyes, but there are quite a few Group Captains in the IAF and a lot more in air forces around the world but there is only one Sachin Tendulkar, the little master. Just for the record I am not a huge Sachin fan, more of a Saurav Ganguly guy. to anon @ 11:11 PM yes it is limited to people with last names that signify a contribution of some sorts to the country or if you are called Shiv Aroor 😉 (sorry Shiv couldn't help a dig at you, you had that Gripen ride didn't you you lucky dog :D).
    Bjt_Jaggernaut

  12. IAF has become a clone of Bollywood. Soon we will find cheap gay Bollywood stars dancing on top of Su30MKIs. This just shows how cheap our IAF has become. There is no value for any ranks in IAF. He is a cricketer why award him any ranks? Next we will hv Air Commodore Sallu Khan and Gr. Captain Kareena Kapoor?

  13. Knowing the runt that he is, I wouldn't be surprised if he uses this opportunity to cadge flights on IAF transports without having to shell out his own moolah. The Indian tax payer paid for his forgone custom duty on the Ferrari which was anything but a gift. He was the brand ambassador for FIAT (owners of Ferrari) then, and it suited him to receive his payment for his endorsement as a gift. The blighter plays only for himself, make no mistake about that.

  14. Bijeet Mukherjee, if you say it is none of my business, then it is none of your business to talk back. It works both ways.

    We are tax payers and it is our business as to how the got is run. and the IAF, like it or not, is part of the govt.

    the IAF should do better things than reward people like sachin who has not contributed anything SELFLESSLY to our country. What has he done? play cricket.. but has he done anything that benefits the country without him gaining anything? NO , the soldiers DO, they risk their life so that people like sachin can mint their money.

  15. @ all sachin bashers here good god. what has he done ? play cricket?
    Maybe you guys who wrote all of those stupid comments could have played cricket and captured the imagination of a billion people( a few less i guess , judging from your comments) for almost more than 20 years. That is so much less work than being a soldier, who by the way also gets paid by the tax payer, so it is not without reward.
    In fact this honor does not do anything to the IAF or its officers. I believe people are intelligent enough to know that this is just an honorary title, like all of those people who get honorary Phds( trust me it is very difficult to get a Phd the normal way, especially in engineering).
    So all of the real Group Captains will always be the real group captains, and maybe you are being petty about this because you dont deserve to be an officer in the armed forces( officers are supposed to be wise gentlemen).
    Thanks.

  16. @ arun @ 605 PM….
    you dont get a PhD (Honorary) in Engineering coz u are good @ say…playing the guitar…not even if u the best the world has seen

    Give him all the sporting accolades..for those he deserve…

    Officers being gentlemen…of course they are…they will salute him n will do so without making a fuss about it…..

    And if we as a nation feel cricketers are the bigger heroes than our soldiers….sigh…what a state of affairs…

  17. Nice comments but other than one post everyone is missing the business intent of making SRT a Group Captain.

    The IAF wants to attract talented & bright youngsters to fly the $80 Million Sukhois and MMRCA's. What better way to do it than rope in the *best* role model in the country currently? The IAF cannot match the pay of some other industries so it is playing the glamour card. What's wrong with that? And, instead of paying Sachin 100 crores (or whatever his current endorsement rate is), the IAF has done something better-given him an honorary title (i know he did not earn it-everyone knows that, right) and created publicity for the IAF.

    So all keyboard warriors (including myself), rest easy and learn to see a publicity stunt/recruitment drive and don't get too emotional about it. Hopefully we get the right youngsters applying to IAF to fly the next generation fighters/bombers-which India desperately needs, a machine is only as good as its pilot.

    Peace!!!!

  18. "Little master" Sachin is not the role model for people who aspire to join the forces. So he the wrong guy for advertisement.

    Sachin is the role model for cricket enthusiasts.

    The world of cricket is world of entertainment which is quite different from the world of armed forces. This just shows how low our armed forces have fallen. This could have never happened a few decades back when the best and the brightest aspired to join the forces. Just bcoz someone is a good cricketer, actor or a sitar player, is that a justification to award honorary titles? Why not award commodore and brigadier titles to Amitabh Bachan or Ravi Shanker?

  19. Next we will posthumously award "honorary defense minister" title to Silk Smitha for her groundbreaking contribution to Indian Cinema.

    Looking at our current "President" it seems anything is possible in this country.

  20. sachin is a moron.. indian cricket is the only sport indians ever play.. and even that they are not the best in the world… there are hundreds of other sports but noone in india cares.. cricketers are like gods to many indians.. they will lick their feet if they were asked to.

    i am an indian, and i like cricket, not love it.. sachin is not as great a player people hype him up to be.

    nevertheless, he should not be getting honorary titles.. why doesnt the airforce give honorary titles to greater defence scientists? sachin doesnt do anyone any charity.. he makes money and so he plays well.. if noone were to pay him do you actually think he would play for the country? i think not..and what the heck is it with his girly voice??

    such titles should be given to those who deserve it. playing cricket, even being the best in the world is not reason enough to give them titles.as many have suggested, maybe they can give it to bachchan and ravi shankar, maybe aishwarya for being "the most beautiful" (though i dont agree)..

    giving titles out to such people decreases the value of such titles.. just like the "sir" title the queen gives out now is nothing more than a ritual with no meaning.

  21. to the anon@8:52 PM moron who thinks sachin is the best role model for those who want to join the IAF. so would YOU join the iaf if you sachin in an ad for the IAF? I wouldnt.. hes a cricketer..not a pilot..only uneducated people are swayed by celebrity endorsements without knowing anything about the product. I would never buy a product just because it is endorsed by sachin or anyone else if i am not interested in the product itself. the same with the iaf..

    the problem in india is, they dont know much more obeyond cricket. look how its done in the UK and US, the actual roles of p ilots and others are advertised to make people enthusiastic, not some cheap shot using a cricketer or a film actor.

  22. @ anon 3.16 PM

    Firstly, I am sorry i cannot call you a moron. It would be insulting morons.

    I STAY in US and glamorous sports persons are used in US Army/ Air Force recruitment posters regularly. I could give examples -check out the 28th Aug TIME issue for an excellent article on impact of celebrity endorsement on army recruitment (don't look at the clock, i mean the magazine) but then for a person of your IQ to comprehend that would be expecting a monkey to solve algebra problems.

    I can't help but laugh at your lack of brain matter. Do you think half of corporate India would use Sachin to endorse their products if he did not make a difference in sales. If he did not, why, they would pay you to do your natural monkey act, and give you some peanuts.

    About your level of education, which leads you to say that only un-educated people are swayed by endorsements-i am really sorry to say that we do not have monkey schools in India (or US for that matter). Eat a banana (that's what you are good at) monkey. Wake up!! Nearly all high-end products are endorsed by celebrities/athletes. Why? Well, not your fault-We have to find monkeys to endorse stuff, you might understand then.

    Till then-do what monkeys do best-you should know that, right?

  23. You should use the right person for your endorsement. Sachin may be a good cricketer but he is not the ideal model for armed forces. Using him to sell aerated water, wafers and jams is OK, but using him as a model for IAF? No way.

    I read TIME, Newsweek, Economist etc. till date I have never seen any sports personality appearing for USAAF or US Army recruitment ads. (Btw, I am not anon 3.16PM).

    Awarding sports persons ranks strictly meant for the armed forces is demeaning and degrading to the men in uniform. This is simply making mockery of a very respected institution of our country.

    Such antics only lowers the stds of IAF.

  24. Sachin is anything but glamorous. If he didn't play cricket so well no one will give him a 2nd look.

    He is a role model only for cricket aficionados. There is much more to life than cricket. By your logic Amitabh Bachan and Aishwarya Rai must be the top most role models for this country as people are crazy about movies.

  25. @anon 12.16 AM

    Check out Page 71 of the Aug 30 TIME (U.S) edition.

    I fully appreciate your views. You are right that whether SRT is the right role-model is an open question.

    But at the end of the day-this is a recruitment drive and a publicity effort.

  26. Bijeet, Arun, Freespirit71..

    Lets not get down to the level of these arm-chair experts on whats wrong and what right.

    I dont even follow cricket anymore.

    There is only good from using Sachin as a brand ambassdor and giving him a honorary commision.

    I am sure that the powers that be in the Indian defence establishment know much better what is good and what is not, than most of us here.

    Let is rest folks.

    Honorary commisions in the armed forces and Honorary Doctorates awarded by many reputed universities in India and abroad are exactly that: HONORARY.

    Why the debate? Is ANYONE losing ANYTHING because Sachin is a Hon. Grp. Cpt. ?

    Get real folks and go vote. Or something.

    And do consider this:

    HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE PAID YOUR TAXES IN FULL WITHOUT USING ALL LOOPHOLES TO AVOID PAYING THE SMALLEST PAISE THAT ANY LOOP HALL PERMITS?

    Try not to be judgemental. The Indian Air Force is great. Sachin is great. And Sachin does make a great brand ambassador…like it or not.

    No go get a drink and relax folks.

  27. @anon11:22 PM

    You are really thick. Read the post. I didnt say he wont make sales, I said any educated person would not be swayed by seeing his pic on a biscuit tin and buy the product! Maybe you would.

    I stay in the UK, and here no celebrity comes on TV to advertise for the armed forces, just take a look at RAF ads on youtube and you will see what I mean.

    The only moron here is you. Go back to your ratshakers website and post all the garbage you want there.

    As for my education, I work in a very high profile banking position. I probably earn in a month what you do in a year. So shut your pie-hole and do what you do best, at your website.

    I know how marketing works and I have done such work myself. Incase you don't know, we target those who are easily influenced by packaging style, advertisements endorsed by celebs etc. I can tell you are not well versed in this field.

    If I want to buy a new motherboard for my computer or anything else, I read reviews on websites and see what people who HAVE the product has to say about it. I dont look at a pic of sachin and think "oh yea..this must be good because his freaking face is on the box!". You probably do.. good you do though, helps me make more money.

  28. I do not think that Sachin was in any dire need of getting this honor, however he gracefully could not have been in a position not to accept this offer as it would have been insulting to all concerned.

    So Sachin must have accepted this prestigious honor in favor of high esteem of all concerned people, organisations and the nation.

  29. India need not to be underestimated. They have sufficient power and long range accurate capacities of enough kilotons to irradiate Sino beyond recognitions for generations ahead.

    Brahmos can play its precise kill game on all Indian borders if the need be.

  30. @Anon 5.49 AM, I can understand using Tom Cruise or Stallone to mkt Armed forces via Hollywood movies. But it will be ridiculous to award Tom Cruise Grp Captain rank just bcoz his role in Top Gun gave a major boost to US Navy's recruitment drive.

    By this logic even Arny and Sly should get honorary titles.

    We are not a banana republic. Our armed forces have a very glorious history and their names are uttered with respect even by our enemies. We shouldn't sully that image by such cheap antics.

    If Sachin is awarded any other civilian award it certainly makes sense. But, giving him an Airforce Officer's rank is degrading our armed forces to the level of Indian Marriage Band Baja Party. Pure emotional aatyachar.

  31. well the only thing i want 2 say is 'someone who has become d best in his own field should certainly be honoured' . if u get jealous in doing so u r certainly not a good minded man

  32. well the only thing i want 2 say is 'someone who has become d best in his own field should certainly be honoured' . if u get jealous in doing so u r certainly not a good minded man

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  34. I don't support any outsider other than defence personnel, Sachin is great , but providing him with group captain doesn't bring the shame for the Indian Armed Forces, Who are these people they are legend in their respective field, Armed forces field are very different , I neither support Sachin or any other legends from other field given such a post. They earn a lot and live luxury life, while our soldiers keeps their eyes open day and night and really has a dream to reach these status, when they die no one remembers them, they are in the news only for few days then they are forgotten, If a legend dies , he is remembered every year. Shame! Shame!.

  35. Hi Folks,
    Interesting debate!
    Sachin is a great guy. A good person and a great cricket player. But he obviously does not deserve to be a Hon. Group Capt. in IAF.

    Similarly Mohan Lal an accomplished film actor from Kerala has become Hon. Colonel in Indian Army. He too obviously did not deserve this title.

    I do admire both these gentlemen for their achievements. I would admire and respect them even more if they return these ranks to the services. They should realize that military ranks should only be given to those who serve in the services, who sweated for it and probably shed blood for the nation.
    The Indian Armed Forces are now dishing out Honorary titles to such people who have performed well in civil life, earned name and fame, and made a pile of money in crores.

    Today the value and prestige of armed forces officers ranks have been reuduce to dirt.

    What will a youngster who might have had nursed a love for the uniformed service think today?

    Why join the armed forces, make your life difficult, earn a paltry sum at the end of the month, risk your life for an ungrateful country?
    Is it not better to put in all efforts to be a movie star or a cricketeer? If you do well you can rake in crores plus you could even get a military honorary rank. If you have the necessary connections you could even choose the rank and service.

    So then wise guys from marketing etc; your idea about using such guys as marketing tools for the military will eventually back fire.
    The young smart kids will soon realize the truth. Don't be an ass and join the armed forces. When these undeserving guys can get the coveted military ranks without doing anything for the defence of country, why should anyone be so stupid to join the services?

    Yes, folks. I too was such a stupid chap who took pride to join the NDA. I served this thankless, ungrateful nation for 21 years in the military.
    Now I see these jokers getting these ranks. Is it not all a big joke? Why is the nation's politicians and spineless military brass bent up on insulting the serving officers. Perhaps they have hidden agenda i.e. to destroy the confidence of the brave young officers of our military. The politicians have already taken the baby steps to destroy the IITs and IIMs from the grass roots.
    Would I like to motivate anyone to join the services?
    I would say No, don't be daft. Aim to be a good actor or cricketeer or a politician.
    The shame of CWG and IPL sagas are good examples. Make good money, fame, and presto you could even get a military rank!

    Alles Gutes Folks!
    A lively debate 🙂

  36. The other day i was casually discussing Sachin's achievement with my room mate who are working as software developers for a renowned IT firm and i did express view of disappointment with the honorary to the lil master.Although i consider him to be one of the greatest achiever of all times but i just wanted a logical explanation on this idea of IAF from them …………..and all they said was "He's a Maharashtrain, we are proud of him".

    I feel petty for my country…Dont take me wrong i my very proud of India, But i feel ashamed of my fellow beings..

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