Sachin Tendulkar

[shankycricket]

Oh come on Adi! I have been defending him for ages but even you've got to admit that he is looking a rather pale shadow of his former self. No one can go on forever.
That said, I won't be surprised to see him score a hundred against England. But thats purely because of the kind of fighter that he is and not because he is in any sort of form at the moment. Well, lets hope for the best. Ideally, I'd love to see him carry on till the 2015 WC and win a WC away from home but that looks rather unlikely now, to say the least.

[meninblue]

Bad form will come to every player. Sachin's averages in previous 7 years:

2006 - 24
2007 - 55
2008 - 48
2009 - 68
2010 - 78
2011 - 48
2012 - 27

IMO just because he averages lesser in couple of odd bad years in a 20 year career, he shouldn't be dropped. Lots of players average below 25 or 20 in their bad form. If they had played 20 years then they would have seen more bad years than Sachin has seen. Also, because he is aged , he shouldn't deserve the chop. It is not Sachin's mistake that he keeps performing more often than not and the youngsters do not. Let them earn their places rather than gift Sachins place just because the others are teens. He knows his cricket well and has planned his career since he was a toddler. Once he knows his body is not supporting him or he is past a specialist batsman's form for long, he will retire. As for slow movers, Sehwag, Gautam, Zaheer, Ashwin are slow movers on field than Sachin . So if Sachin has to be dropped for fitness then drop the other slower movers first. There are lesser batsmen and fielders than him in our squad of 11 or 15. Get rid of them first before getting rid of Sachin.

[Gingerfinch]

Maybe age is finally catching up with him?

He's been batting in tests for 23 years now. The eyes and desire will go at some point.

[meninblue]

Age will definitely have some impact. But Sachin is a well oiled machine over two decades. It won't go down drastically within one year. Also he is taking rests in some series to lessen that impact. I think he will call it a day when he realizes his fitness is not up to the mark ant that would be the reason he retires. Form wise i doubt he is going to have a bad form over two years.

[andy]

IMO Sachin is nearly finished....his form is awful at the moment, and isnt showing any signs of improving. Its painful viewing at the moment..However he still clearly loves the game and enjoys running around in the outfield, but he must be thinking its almost over...

I hope he finishes on his terms instead of being dropped from the side.

[greyblazer]

A few may still not agree but it is time that SRT thinks of retirement. No one can play forever.

[Making_Splinters]

When every player hits the end of the career every poor run of form is seen as the death knell, for some it takes just a single series other can carry on in hope and some like Tendulkar are basically undroppable. There's no reason why Tendulkar can't bounce back from this, he's had to adapt his technique before to come through poor runs after all. The odd thing is that Tendulkar for the first time has actually come out and spoken about his retirement which suggests that the fight is starting to get too much for him. It's easy scoring runs when you're in good knick but getting back to form is very tough.

[shankycricket]

When every player hits the end of the career every poor run of form is seen as the death knell, for some it takes just a single series other can carry on in hope and some like Tendulkar are basically undroppable. There's no reason why Tendulkar can't bounce back from this, he's had to adapt his technique before to come through poor runs after all. The odd thing is that Tendulkar for the first time has actually come out and spoken about his retirement which suggests that the fight is starting to get too much for him. It's easy scoring runs when you're in good knick but getting back to form is very tough.

[rich1uk]

you cant really say that because he has had a poor run of form previously but managed to sort it out means he can do it again now however

he wasn't 39 when he was able to do that before

as unique a talent as sachin has been there comes a time that age catches up with everyone and he is probably a couple of years past the point where age would start to show up in performances

[KipperJohn]

Just read that he is to be awarded the Order of Australia. I watched him make 42 at the MCG and he got a standing ovation - to the wicket and back. Brilliant news for a change and well done the Aussies!

[mikesiva]

These lists cause more arguments than they solve....

http://www.relianceiccrankings.com/alltime/test/

Sachin at 26, behind Shiv at 25....Bradman tops the list, with Hutton at two, Ponting at three, Sobers, Sanga, Walcott and Richards at six.

[DeltaAlpha]

I agree, Mike, and, without knowing how the numbers are calculated, it's difficult to know just what they mean. Anyone know how they're calculated?

As for Tendulkar retiring, I think he'll know when to do that, and would respect his decision whenever it comes. I don't think he should be pushed.

[Gingerfinch]

That list does indicate that Sachin has been consistently very very good.

[meninblue]

Could be that they have ranked average wise

[Gingerfinch]

It shows their peak batting rating.