We need to understand that Ollie Robinson did the tweets many, many years ago and he is sorry about it: Sachin Tendulkar

England’s right-arm seamer Ollie Robinson will always remember his maiden game for England in the international circuit but for all the wrong reasons. Robinson shone brightly with the ball in his debut Test match against New Zealand at the Lord’s as he picked four wickets in the first innings and followed it up with a three-wicket haul in the second innings. However, the 27-year-old’s impressive performance was overshadowed by his decade old tweets that resurfaced on social media.

The tweets included comments suggesting Muslim people were linked to terrorism and derogatory remarks about women and people of Asian heritage. One noteworthy point here is that Robinson wrote such things when he was just 18 year old. Ollie also issued a public apology for his deeds as a teenager and promised to never do something like that again. However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) didn’t take the pacer’s apology into consideration and suspended him from all forms of international cricket.

The harsh decision by the ECB was criticised by many in the cricket fraternity. The new addition to this list is former Indian captain and batting legend Sachin Tendulkar. Backing the seamer, Tendulkar reckoned that people need to understand that Robinson made these tweets many years ago and he is truly sorry for his actions. Sachin believes that people should be fair to the seamer and he should be soon allowed to play for England again.

For an athlete, if you are left out of an event then that itself is a big blow: Sachin Tendulkar 

“We need to understand that he did that many, many years ago and he is sorry about it. They left him out in the second Test in spite of doing well and he realises what he had done… he apologised and also said that this won’t happen again. We need to be fair to him and at some stage he should start playing,” Sachin Tendulkar said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

Further, Tendulkar argued that Robinson is a changed man now and it’s time to move on from that controversy. The Indian veteran added that he isn’t proposing that a player shouldn’t be given a penalty for his misdeeds but leaving an athlete out from a match is itself a big blow for them.

“You have to move on. If the players apologise and are sorry about it, not as a formality, but from the bottom of their heart then we should move on. I am not saying don’t reprimand them or whatever that penalty is. That has already happened. For an athlete, if you are left out of an event then that itself is a big blow,” the former Indian skipper concluded.