India's cricket greats
have begun talking about a topic that was considered unthinkable a year
ago - Sachin Tendulkar's retirement from the sport.Or, at
least, the need for the record-breaking batsman to quit one-day cricket
to prolong his Test career, like former Australian captain RICKY POINTING did this week.
"Maybe his time has come," former World Cup-winning captain Kapildev said of the "Little Master" on the news channel.
"Every player has his time. Age is not on his side as it was earlier." Tendulkar, who turns 39 in April, is not only the world's leading
batsman in both the Test and one-day formats, but also the
longest-serving international cricketer, having made his debut in 1989. Fans have been left on tenterhooks as Tendulkar, who has scored a
record 51 Test and 48 one-day centuries, struggles to reach the
unprecedented milestone of 100 international hundreds.
Tendulkar, who turns 39 in April, is not only the world's leading
batsman in both the Test and one-day formats, but also the
longest-serving international cricketer, having made his debut in 1989.
Fans have been left on tenterhooks as Tendulkar, who has scored a
record 51 Test and 48 one-day centuries, struggles to reach the
unprecedented milestone of 100 international hundreds.
"Sachin has to ask himself whether it's helping
him as a one-day player or if it's helping the Indian team," Ganguly
told a new channel.
"If Sachin can't get an answer to these questions, he has to go. "Tendulkar, who has played a record 458 one-day internationals, has
turned out in just 18 ODI matches in the past two years, including nine
in India's triumphant World Cup campaign in February-April 2011.
He still managed to record the first ever double-century in ODI- 200 not out against South Africa in February 2010 - and was the star
performer in India's World Cup win with 482 runs, second only to Sri
Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan's 500.
"It affects everyone's form
if Tendulkar keeps coming in and going out of one-day tournaments,"
Ganguly said. "I said after the World Cup that Sachin needed to look at
his one-day career because he had achieved everything in one-day
cricket."Ganguly dismissed batting legend Sunil Gavaskar's
suggestion that the selectors should talk to Tendulkar about his one-day
future.
"I don't see any of the selectors stepping in," Ganguly said. "They are not going to stand in front of Sachien Tendulkar and say 'Listen little champ, you need to go'. That is never going to happen."
The Indian daily urged former players to lay off Tendulkar, saying the decision to quit or not should be left to him.
"A lot has been said - especially by former sportspersons who
themselves stayed on well beyond their use-by date - about Tendulkar's
ODI career," the paper wrote.
"Whatever the intentions, these
gems of seemingly timely advice are clearly uncalled for. Sachin has
served the country with exceptional pride and genius for far too long
and he deserves the right to choose his own time of departure."A poll published by the Times of India on Thursday revealed that 57
percent of 47,000 respondents wanted Tendulkar to quit one-day cricket
and 41 percent urged him to continue.
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