Perhaps it's not wise to be opening up this can of worms here again, but so be it. I was at a friend's place last night, and somehow we began watching the Tehelka match fixing tapes from back in the day.
One of the reasons people like me, and in general most of India, love Sachin Tendulkar and believe in his honesty so much is because of what happened in the dark phase of Indian cricket in the 90s.
The Indian cricket team was one of the mainstays of match fixing, with Azhar being the kingpin. All the top people agreed that everyone was up for sale, apart from Sachin... There was absolutely no way to tell which match was fixed and which not. Officials were simply questioning the idea of cricket, and most wondered how someone like Sachin was going to survive in this setup.
There were times when Sachin would get to hear from someone that tomorrow's match was fixed and India was going to lose, and so and so batsmen were going to throw their wickets away. And he would say to that official that I am going to win the match. And he did sometimes...
It has become so much better today, that people don't realize it. The one thing of which I am sure is that today the situation is much, much better.
Back then, Sachin was the only certainty, he was the only man everyone trusted. I know it sounds like I am making too much of a deal, but for a cricket crazy people like me, that was a huge thing. Until he was there, there was hope, not for India winning, but for India not completely succumbing to the monster that was match fixing.