Please note this is a humour article – work of pure fiction
In what is a diplomatic embarrassment for President Barack Obama, national icon Sachin Tendulkar has been refused an American visa. No reasons were given for the refusal, but it seems the American government believes Tendulkar’s presence in the United States will majorly bring down the country’s productivity.
It may be recalled that Barack Obama, a few years ago, stated: “I don’t know about cricket, but still I watch cricket to see Sachin play. Not because I love his play; it’s because I want to know the reason why my country’s production goes down by five percent when he’s in batting.â€
Sachin Tendulkar was too shocked and did not offer any comments, but a close friend of Tendulkar who was in his Perry Cross house in Bandra (West) when news came of the US refusal said: “Sachin was stunned. Just two days ago, he was a VVIP guest for the dinner in honour of Barack Obama. He met the US President and exchanged a few pleasantries. The news about the visa refusal thus came as a shock to him.â€
It may be recalled that Washington denied Narendra Modi visa in 2005 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. However, after becoming the Prime Minister of India, Modi visited United States in 2014 on the invitation of President Obama, boosting of bilateral relations between India and the US.
External Affairs Minister Ms Sushma Swaraj is likely to take up the matter with her American counterpart. According to information available, if Washington remains inflexible and does not give Tendulkar visa, then Tiger Woods could be denied Indian visa. Woods, it may be recalled, inked a four-year endorsement deal with Hero MotoCorp for a whopping Rs 250 crore.
If there is one man who is more worried than Tendulkar, it is Hero MotoCorp vice-chairman Pawan Munjal!
(Surdlock Holmes snoops around to ferret out stories that reporters from mainstream media fail to unearth. He prefers to conceal his identity for professional reasons)
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