Sachin Tendulkar : The end is nigh.....

booth70

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/india/9519443/Sachin-Tendulkar-facing-calls-to-retire-from-Indian-cricket-legends-and-supporters.html

No Indian selection panel will be brave enough to drop him....so it will be up to the little man himself to decide when to go

Its the manner of his dismissals recently against NZ (all clean bowled.....remember what happened to Dravid in his last series against Australia...bowled 7 times out of 8 if I remember right) that shows age is catching up with the little master:(

Hopefully SRT is staying on for the right reasons....time for the next generation to take Indian cricket forward and if it means getting beaten at home by England and Australia in the coming months while doing so...so be it!

Le_Dieux

booth70 wrote: »

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/india/9519443/Sachin-Tendulkar-facing-calls-to-retire-from-Indian-cricket-legends-and-supporters.html


Hopefully SRT is staying on for the right reasons....time for the next generation to take Indian cricket forward and if it means getting beaten at home by England and Australia in the coming months while doing so...so be it!

England are in such poor form themselves, can't see them even bothering India - perhaps the ideal time for the little Maestro to play Himself back into some form?

Giggsy11

He didn't play cricket for so long, not playing ODIs are also not helping him as match fitness/sharpness is very different from nets.

I don't think the mode of dismissals are any indication of whether Sachin is done or not.

Here is Ganguly's take on it and tbh I agree with him completely.

Tendulkar getting bowled is nothing new; he has been dismissed this way even at his peak.

“We should not forget that he is getting older. I notice that he is moving well, and his fitness and hunger for the game persists. He knows more about his game than all of us.”

“Having known Sachin for such a long time, I would like to believe that a return to form will happen.”

Ganguly also spoke of how playing all three forms could be helpful to players.

“I have always noted that Sachin uses the shorter format of the game to stay in form for Tests. At the start of the season, I believe such a stint will help,” he said.

Re the bold part, I agree with that. He always had this tendency to bring his front foot across and miss the delivery to either get out bowled or LBW. Cronje, Razzak gave him hard time in the late 90s when he was at his majestic best.

Giggsy11

Re that article, what a lol worthy headline.

Azhar said reflexes are not as quick as they were.

Gavaskar said feet are not moving well (which I agree with)

and rest all, Dhoni, Ganguly said Sachin is not done.

Dhoni wrote:

The good thing is that whenever people talk about his form, he comes up with a brilliant performance.

"I'm waiting for that. I don't really get worried about that."

Ganguly wrote:

I honestly feel the time has not come for him to go," Ganguly said. "He is a legend and takes pride in his game and no one knows his game better than him.

I remember after 2007 WC how the media whores like Kirti Azad, Saba Karin and all other ex players said Sachin should retire and all that nonsense saying he is the reason India are losing games. But since then for 4-5 years (combined) he scored most runs than any player.

Whenever he plays badly, media whores keep repeating same ****, I don't believe fans call him to retire (except Ganguly or Dhoni fans) who for some strange reason are always against Sachin.

There are many people like me who believes Sachin can still contribute a lot to the team and should carry till he thinks he can't do it anymore.

djimi

Giggsy11 wrote: »

There are many people like me who believes Sachin can still contribute a lot to the team and should carry till he thinks he can't do it anymore.

Whether or not he should retire now is debatable (Im not sure that he is finished yet but at 39 you have to question how many more times is he going to be able to play himself back into form, and how long will it take him after each slump). But to say that he should carry on until he thinks he is done is ridiculous. Usually the last person to see that they should retire is the player themselves, and if he has gotten to the point where is offering less than the player who would come in to replace him then he should be dropped. The good of the team always comes before any individual, even if we are talking about one of the greatest there has ever been.

I have to admit that I dont follow Indian cricket enough to know who is waiting in the wings, but if there are players there who can come in and score runs for India now then they have to be considered.

Giggsy11

djimi wrote: »

Whether or not he should retire now is debatable (Im not sure that he is finished yet but at 39 you have to question how many more times is he going to be able to play himself back into form, and how long will it take him after each slump). But to say that he should carry on until he thinks he is done is ridiculous. Usually the last person to see that they should retire is the player themselves, and if he has gotten to the point where is offering less than the player who would come in to replace him then he should be dropped. The good of the team always comes before any individual, even if we are talking about one of the greatest there has ever been.

I have to admit that I dont follow Indian cricket enough to know who is waiting in the wings, but if there are players there who can come in and score runs for India now then they have to be considered.

Not really, only Sachin knows well about his body and whether he can handle top level cricket anymore. Not anyone, not journalists, fans, pundits or anyone. Only he knows and by going with ex players words, he will be the first to step down when he knows he can no longer contribute.

Yes the good of team comes before individuals and Sachin was never a problem for team, that's one of the biggest reason why many believes he can continue for few more series/months.

Saying that he is 39 so any injuries, he will take months to recover and he doesn't have that much time.

Re form, it only takes only 1 game to be back to form.

djimi

You would hope that he would know when to step down, but it wouldnt be the first time that a player tries the delay the inevitable. I hope that is not the case; there is nothing worse that watching a once great player struggle as they get too old. But if he is still going and he is not gettting the scores then I hope someone steps in to make the decision for him.

Giggsy11

djimi wrote: »

You would hope that he would know when to step down, but it wouldnt be the first time that a player tries the delay the inevitable. I hope that is not the case; there is nothing worse that watching a once great player struggle as they get too old. But if he is still going and he is not gettting the scores then I hope someone steps in to make the decision for him.

Yeah if that's the case then someone should make the decision but I dont think any selector or BCCI member has balls to drop Sachin. There will be huge drama here and they can simply forget playing games in Mumbai and to an extent in any South Indian stadiums as most of the people turn out to watch him and even when he is not playing people chant his name.

If he is not scoring then hopefully he will call it a day before anyone dropping him. Like you said there is nothing worse than watching great player struggling and becoming big elephant in the dressing room.

booth70

He dosen't play first class cricket anymore and he is not part of the T20 squad so he is now going to have a two month break before England arrive......so basically he'll be trying to play himself back into form against arguably the second best bowling attack in the world at present.....at 39 as much as I would like to see him do that I simply can't see it happening:(

He missed a golden chance to bow out on a high after India won the world cup in 2011.....unfortunately! for him he was on 99 centuries at that time!!... Since then he's made no significant contribution and I reckon he's now kind of hoping that he has one big series before he calls it a day

Let's pray that he scores a few runs against England and Australia at home and goes out on a high:)

Giggsy11

booth70 wrote: »

He dosen't play first class cricket anymore and he is not part of the T20 squad so he is now going to have a two month break before England arrive......so basically he'll be trying to play himself back into form against arguably the second best bowling attack in the world at present.....at 39 as much as I would like to see him do that I simply can't see it happening:(

He missed a golden chance to bow out on a high after India won the world cup in 2011.....unfortunately! for him he was on 99 centuries at that time!!... Since then he's made no significant contribution and I reckon he's now kind of hoping that he has one big series before he calls it a day

Let's pray that he scores a few runs against England and Australia at home and goes out on a high:)

Scoring 100 against Aussies before bowing out would be epic finishing to his career, after all he scored most runs and 100s against them.

heykevin

still there is lot of cricket inside him .he is great and he will remain great let him decide when he has to go....

djimi

heykevin wrote: »

still there is lot of cricket inside him .he is great and he will remain great let him decide when he has to go....

He wont remain great if he keeps playing shots like the one that got him out in this test...!

His form this calendar year is woeful and at 39 he is going to have to show some improvement fairly quickly if he expects to hold onto a test place. He averages 17 in his last 5 tests. Its nearly two years since his last test century. This idea that he can decide when its time for him to go is silly to be honest; if it was any other player they would not be playing. I love the guy but watching him play shots like he played on Thursday is just sad at this point.

booth70

Amidst all the double centuries and centuries plundered in Brisbane and Ahmedabad in the last week or so only two scores stood out for me.....Ponting's duck and Tendulkar's 13

At their ages surely these two greats have to start scoring some runs soon to justify their places in their respective teams

booth70

Pointing 4 Tendulkar 8

Pointing managed to salvage his career against the Indian pie-chuckers last summer but is getting found out by South Africa while Tendulkar continues to go from bad to worse

Ponting bowled by a beauty from Kallis yesterday and Tendulkar bowled (again!!) by a beauty from Monty today......that was the left handed version of Warney's ball that got Gatting many years ago:)

Looks like both of them will not retire gracefully......:mad:

Rascasse

The commentators were saying that Sachin has only averaged 24 in tests this year. Apparently it is for him to retire, he won't be dropped by the selectors.

There's no shame (and still buckets of money) if he decides to retire from internationals and continue with IPL.

booth70

Ponting 0 , 4 , 16

Surely he has played his last test.....hasn't he:(

and by the looks of it SRT has one last chance coming up in the second innings.....

Tombo2001

The most iconic sportsperson of our era, maybe alongside Usain.

I hope he plays until he's 60.

Le_Dieux

booth70 wrote: »

Ponting 0 , 4 , 16

Surely he has played his last test.....hasn't he:(

and by the looks of it SRT has one last chance coming up in the second innings.....

By all accounts, He got a huge standing ovation walking off after being bowed. Perhaps He has played His final test. Been a great sportsman.

djimi

Tombo2001 wrote: »

The most iconic sportsperson of our era, maybe alongside Usain.

I hope he plays until he's 60.

Why? So you can watch a once great player struggle and continue on as a shadow of the batsman he once was?

I prefer players to retire before the decision is made for them. One of the saddest sights in life is watching someone play beyond their sell by date.

djimi

Rascasse wrote: »

The commentators were saying that Sachin has only averaged 24 in tests this year. Apparently it is for him to retire, he won't be dropped by the selectors.

There's no shame (and still buckets of money) if he decides to retire from internationals and continue with IPL.

If you take out the new year test then I think he averages 16 from 11 innings.

He is lucky that he is playing in a team that can, to an extent, currently afford to carry him.

booth70

SRT......thanks for all the wonderful memories over the years.........but please put me and my fellow Indians out of our misery and retire at the end of this test match.....pleeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssseeee

Rjd2

They will persist with him for this series and for all he has done for Indian cricket I think that is fair enough.

If he does not fire in either of the next two tests then he has to retire.

Football Gambler

I think they will let him go out on his own terms. But if he doesn't quit when the time is obviously right, with Duncan Fletcher as coach and not being Indian, I doubt that sentiment will be allowed to get in the way for too long....

Rjd2

Football Gambler wrote: »

I think they will let him go out on his own terms. But if he doesn't quit when the time is obviously right, with Duncan Fletcher as coach and not being Indian, I doubt that sentiment will be allowed to get in the way for too long....

I think he could play until 50 if he wants, he is still God in India and still a commercial superpower, I mean when he retires test cricket in India will struggle even more for supporters, because like it or not that is the only reason many even show up these days, to watch their idol.

Dozen Wicked Words

booth70 wrote: »

Ponting 0 , 4 , 16

Surely he has played his last test.....hasn't he:(

and by the looks of it SRT has one last chance coming up in the second innings.....

Ponting retiring from Test cricket after the 3rd test against South Africa. Great player but he's clever enough to know when to quit

Dozen Wicked Words

He's dragging his heels about retiring. Maybe that's his right after the career he has had, and all he has done for Indian cricket. So he has quit from one day game but will continue to play Test Cricket. I actually quite like he has gone the opposite way to most and will carry on playing the long form of the game.

booth70

The fact that he has quit from ODI's only probably means that he is wants to be part of the Test squad that travels to SA for the Test series end of 2013.....but if he does not make any runs against Australia in February he should be DROPPED

Indian cricket will not move forward if players are retained in the team for sentimental reasons....reminds me of Kapil Dev during his quest to break Hadlee's record in the early 90's

Hopefully SRT will prove me wrong..... but he has looked a shadow of his former self in the last year or so.....I can't see the Australia series panning out any different for him from a runs point of view

Football Gambler

Rjd2 wrote: »

I think he could play until 50 if he wants, he is still God in India and still a commercial superpower, I mean when he retires test cricket in India will struggle even more for supporters, because like it or not that is the only reason many even show up these days, to watch their idol.

I agree that a lot only turn up to watch Sachin, regardless of result...... It will be interesting to see what happens now, I can only imagine Duncan Fletcher must want him out of the Test side to start rebuilding, and with him only retiring from ODI's, he is clearly stating he intends to carry on in the test side.

If all of a sudden Fletcher decides to quit, it could be that he can't implement his own beliefs and ideas on the team. The team needs rebuilding and to move on, and how can he do that with Sachin hanging around?

It's an impossible situation unless Sachin retires himself.

Football Gambler

booth70 wrote: »

The fact that he has quit from ODI's only probably means that he is wants to be part of the Test squad that travels to SA for the Test series end of 2013.....but if he does not make any runs against Australia in February he should be DROPPED

Indian cricket will not move forward if players are retained in the team for sentimental reasons....reminds me of Kapil Dev during his quest to break Hadlee's record in the early 90's

Hopefully SRT will prove me wrong..... but he has looked a shadow of his former self in the last year or so.....I can't see the Australia series panning out any different for him from a runs point of view

It's quite amazing really, I'm sure Ricky Ponting could have dragged things out a bit longer if he wanted, but he did what he thought was best for the team and quit.

Sachin seems to be hanging around hoping to come good again. Like you, I will be happy to be proved wrong, I really can't see it though.

It would be criminal if he stayed in the game too long and ended up looking like a punch drunk boxer, not knowing when to call it a day, and damaging his reputation in the process.

djimi

My fear for Sachin is that he will knock out a half decent score that will convince both himself and everyone else that he should stick around, and he will probably end up having another year like this one. Had he not scored that ton at the very start of this year I suspect the decision may already have been made for/by him by this stage.

booth70

The Indian middle order still looks fragile and survived the Australia series on the back of some superb opening partnerships but it would be great if SRT steps aside at this point

Dropping both Sehwag and Gambhir was a bold move by the Indian selectors but one which paid rich dividends........

SRT needs to move on so that India can groom other players in the middle order....he's past the age where he can play a meaningful innings for India anymore