Is The Final Chapter Over For Sachin

After Ian Chappell's recent advice to Sachin, that "He should try to find an honest answer sitting in front of the mirror, to the question that whether he should continue playing: And the answer would probably be a 'No' ", the whole India including the so called experts have criticised Ian for making such a comment. The so called experts have hit back at Ian saying that its for Tendulakar to decide and he should not be the one to suggest a player like Sachin to call it a day.

I think criticising Ian for this doesn't show all these experts and ex-players in good light. As far as my view is concerned and i know that most of the true fans of Sachin would also agree, he should now seriously think about what he is actually trying to acheive by elongating, in what has been an extraordinary carrer but sadly and inevitably well past its peak. What Ian has simply said is a fact that none of the cricket lovers can deny if they be honest and yes that includes Sachin himself. And for that matter we all know that Australians arent really known for holding back on saying the truth.

Ian very appropriately compared Sachin with Brian Lara, emphasizing on the fact they started in a pretty much similar way and have been doing similarly good till about 4 years back and when Tendulakar suffered a few injuries, his acumen as a batsmen started showing signs of a slowdown. While Lara almost carried on in the same vein as he had been doing for almost one and half decade since he began, Tendulkar's abilities started deserting him. Yes the very fact that despite the ageing process catching up with Lara he still manged to gather himself and play some extra ordinary innings when his team needed it the most, may be, just may be not to that level of perfection as he used to do in his early years. I have been observing the way Lara has started playing since he has crossed the age of 30. What he does to perfection, is that he tries to create an impact not by slowly building his innings as a new batsmen would do trying to make his mark in the squad, rather he does that by playing to the tune of what i call the 'Great Player's inherent ability to affect the way opponents play' i.e. they would not truly raise thier game to a higher level all the times, rather thier style of play would make the opposition fear them and thier would be a negative impact on the mental aspect of the game of the opponents and ultimately on their game as well.

A Brian Lara or for that matter a Steve Waugh would always try to maximize the affect they have on the opposition and ultimately would come up with performances their teams always required them to deliver at critical junctures in almost all the games. How else would one explain the ability of Steve Waugh in producing just the right innings at the right time with a probability of almost a 100%. He would rarely fail at critical junctures which sadly is false in the case of Sachin. Now even Ricky Ponting is growing in stature and is challanging the little master real hard. Ponting has been touching that mark of excellence as a caaptain as Steve Waugh did and helped Australia in critical games. Who can forget those famous lines: "You just dropped the cup sonny" to Gibbs, from him in '99 world cup when he played that critical innings to see Australia through and ultimately calim the championship. I have to agree their is something about these Aussies, they have a tendancy to beat anyone at their own game. One of my friends put it very beautifully, when we were watching the Aus Vs Brazil soccer World Cup match. He said "Give them a season in Kabaddi and they will beat us at that too". They do have a true sports culture.

As i write these few paragraphs there is news in the media that Sachin has hit back on Greg saying "No coach has ever questioned his attitude even in passing". What a pitty Sachin that you could not show enough maturity to handle it, even if he did question your attitude, which i expected from you. The complete episode of his face off with Greg has been mentioned in the media. Greg asking him to bat in the middle order and him insisting on an openers slot. I am not trying to balme Sachin in here by saying that he didnt show maturity. All i am trying to say that the way he reacted was not good in the end for both him and Greg and ultimately for team India. He could have avoided or diffused the situation knowing pretty well that being an Australian he wouldn't mince any words. If he was very open and straight with waht he said, then it made sense for Sachin to have resolved the issue amicably, but not by having an ego issue with him and living dangerously in the dressing room after the face off.

So now i will have to blog next, on what all Sachin said as i think its immature on his part and i think now i will also be able to justify a lot about what Greg said, and people didnt beleive. I think by coming in the open against Greg all seniors have vindicated his statements only and not done any good to their reputations in cricketing world. As more and more news reaches us, I think Greg will, and infact has already come out clean from all this sh** that Indian cricket is in at the moment after the World Cup debacle.

To elaborate further on why Sachin should retire, i would also want him look deep within and really answer one simple question. Does he think that for the passion that he has for playing cricket ODI's specifically he is justified in denying a fitter and probably a future Sachin his place in the Indian team. I think the answer is 'No'. It would be sad if Sachin's passion to play, no matter what he achieves for the team (he might get a few more records , that is for sure) denies another Sachin his 2-3 years of internatinal cricket or more generously put deny all of us the chance of witnessing another young Sachin taking on a team like he did in that summer against Pakistan in '89. Oh what a luck day it was and will always reamin for Indian Cricket....may that day come again and a new Sachin comes to the rescue of Indian Cricket. Is Sachin listening....?