Firstly this article is not about bashing the great man or prolonging the retirement circus going on in the media. This article may not ooze with love and support for the champion batsman but i just want to state some facts..I love him. For me he has been the greatest cricketer I have seen all my life.. But there have been few things that have been pricking me off late.
---> I dont think its fair on the team that the master picks and chooses which tournament to play.. Dada in his recent interview clearly hit the nail on the head when he stated that its unfair on the team that Sachin picks and chooses the odi's. I think we have reached a time where he has to decide if he strongly believes that he could contribute to the team.It unsettles the team. If you see the statistics in the last 2 years Sachin has played only 18 odis of which 9 games were world cup games. I frankly believe he does not have anything to offer to the NOTE 'the odi team'. Rahane, who had a decent home series against england is now nowhere to be seen as sehwag,gambhir and Sachin are back in the team.I think it was unfair on Rahane that he was a tourist in australia and now has not found a place in the odi team even for the asia cup.The master has nothing left to prove in the odi arena and there should not be a stage where everyone starts considering him to be a liability. Sure he might make his hundredth 100 and india might win the asia cup and many of us might bang our chest and then say ‘The champ is back’..but thats not the point here.
----> If u have been following the CB series there was a particular incident that caught my eye.. The match against oz at Gabba where he was hit on the helmet by a bouncer from lee. The last time i remember Sachin being hit on the helmet in an odi was way back in mid 90's in a game at sharjah when he was hit on the helmet by a vicious bouncer by the great Wasim Akram. Not to mention two balls later he off drove the same bowler to the boundary is a worthy mention.But what happened in this series has been painful to watch .I don’t agree with this theory of Sachin not being a great fielder.Since he has failed with the bat loose talks have now emerged that he is a liability on the field. Sachin himself has stated that he does not see himself playing the next worldcup. So i guess there has to be some plan to the whole soap opera thats been dragging on.
There has also been a section of the media that Sachin has been made the scapegoat here. There were shouts on the topic that Jadeja,Rohit and Raina need to be ousted as well. Well I still believe that these youngsters deserve a chance . we know that they are talented and they will come good. When stalwarts like Sachin,Dravid,Sehwag and Laxman who are in their 3rd or 4th tour down under have failed miserably dont you all think these first timers deserve another chance. Throwing them out of the team will be a knee jerk reaction.
My opinion is Sachin should quit the odis as he has nothing more left to prove in the odis. I want him to play the tests atleast for next 2 yrs and prolong his career as thats where I believe India is going to struggle with the transition thats going to take place in the team. So his presence is mandatory in the tests. I dont justify the retirement circus in the media. They are chameleons who wil do a u-turn when the master completes his 100 100's which i believe will come as he has proved me wrong time and again.
We want his career to be remembered as a whirlwind love story that almost everyone of us must have experienced in our teens which we still rejoice it through some lovely memories and we dont want his career to end like a stale marriage which we regret of going through with it.
P.S. The above piece is written by an ardent Sachin fan who still dreams that one day when he has a baby boy will name his kid Sachin.
