All about SR Tendulkar

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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by prasen9 »

Tendulkar said he won't retire even after playing 200 tests. It is time the selectors have the guts to drop him. Here's why. In the last year, he played 8 tests and averaged 25. In the last 2 years, he has averaged 31 in 17 tests. Since Mar, 2011, he has averaged 31.8 over 21 tests. Since Nov, 2010, he has averaged 36 over 27 tests. 27 tests is a career for some other folks. He should have been dropped at least two to 2.5 years ago. He was 37 or 38 then and had been playing for over 20 years. Awful decision by the selectors. They should drop him immediately. Think about how far ahead we would have been if Rohit, Rahane, Manoj, or Nayar would have been given those 27 tests. We would know whether to keep or junk them. We cannot take away the opportunity from our youngsters anymore. It is a zero sum game. They are the future. Junk Tendulkar. I don't care if he comes out and scores 350 against the hapless WI in an innings.
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by Sandeep »

So 8 years after this thread is started, Sachin announced his retirement. 200th test will be his last. No matter what I will watch him one last time in the stadium.

Sachin, you are and will be one of the very few people who inspired me in life. You will always remain my hero. You will be missed!
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by prasen9 »

Hope he retires with back to back double centuries :-)
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by prasen9 »

Tendulkar made his debut when I just got into college. Throughout my adulthood, more or less, he has been a constant in the team. So, after 24 years and one T20 match later, a giant will retire. What a career!
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by Atithee »

I think that somehow BCCI will ensure that the Indian team tours SAF before SRT retires. How this and still SRT plays his 200th match at home will happen, I don't know.
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by prasen9 »

No, I don't think that India will tour SA before SRT retires. The WI trip is settled and SRT's retirement is also settled.
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by Sandeep »

Yes, I don't think there will be a last SA tour for Sachin. But what a career, since yesterday I feel like a part of my growing up and youth has just died! Phenomenal career.

I just hope I get tickets for his 200th test. It is a frenzy in India, have a feeling the tickets will be sold out in minutes they are up for sale. I don't even know how to get them sitting here in Hyderabad. Do they sell online?

On his 200th test, cricket to Sachin "Thank you for making me look beautiful for 24 years!"
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by Atithee »

What good does it do for Saurav to make statements like these at this point? All the other things he says about SRT's greatness in this same interview seem an after-thought. He just comes across as a sour puss still pouting over his earlier than deserved retirement (in his own mind). What a loser!

I would have retired a year earlier: Sourav Ganguly

"If I was in his shoes, I would have gone a year earlier," is what former India captain Sourav Ganguly said Sunday of Sachin Tendulkar.

Ganguly hailed the accomplishments of Tendulkar who would be quitting the game after playing his 200th Test match.

"Only because he is Sachin Tendulkar, he could get a run for three years. Nobody else in the world or Indian cricket would have got that much of time. I am happy that he is going," said Ganguly during a Cricket Association of Bengal-organised event here.

"It's a fact which you have to accept that at one stage you have to go. When Sachin sits down after the Mumbai Test and looks at his career, he will say to himself I have done proud and there is nothing which I have not achieved. If I probably went on for six more months, it wouldn't have helped me or cricket," said Ganguly during a chat show also involving West Indian great Brian Lara.
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by prasen9 »

I agree 100% with Ganguly. SRT should have retired from tests right after the World Cup. At the very minimum, he should have done so after the debacle in Australia. Just because he is SRT, he continues. The selectors had no balls to drop him. Maybe only Dravid would have gotten so much rope. Laxman would certainly not have.

Ganguly's gripe is genuine. He was asked to retire in his prime for useless test batsmen such as Yuvraj + Raina. Only when Kohli was on the stage should he have been told to retire. He did not mention his retirement at all in what you have quoted. Every word he says in the part you quoted is a pretty accurate reflection of reality.

Note that this is what he said in an interview. The context is important. For example, if the question was whether SRT is retiring at the right time, it is the right response. Refreshingly candid. Ganguly had a very good relationship with Tendulkar. They admired each other. But, that does not mean that he has to sugarcoat things. Tendulkar himself had batted for Ganguly to be retained at certain points in his career.

Selective ageism is bad. Selections should be on the basis of performance. As long as players are performing they should continue and as long as they are not, they should be dumped. Using this criterion, Ganguly should have gotten a few more series and Tendulkar a few less years in tests.
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by Atithee »

It is not about whether SRT is retiring at the right time. I agree that SRT has dragged on for too long. I completely disagree about the timing of Saurav's remarks. The occasion is not befitting of the response, no matter how refreshingly candid it is. What do other forum members think?
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by suresh »

It is as if most people in the country were afraid (that includes me) of saying that The king is not wearing any clothes. SRT went past his expiry date just like Kapil Dev. I am happy that someone finally said it. Honestly, what is the big deal about 100 centuries, 200 tests when you hold just about every record there is. You can see his (poor) performance in Tests over the last two years.

Code: Select all

 	              Span 	  Mat 	Runs 	HS 	Bat Av 	100 	
unfiltered 	1989-2013 	199 	15847 	248* 	53.71 	51 	
filtered 	  2011-2013 	 16 	  761 	 94 	 29.26 	 0 	  	
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by Prashant »

Even though I thoroughly agree with the content of Saurav's statement, I also see Atithee's point. There are good & bad times to speak home truths. I am a huge fan of candid speech from sports stars, but timing matters. It isn't really a question of "the emperor has no clothes", because the statistical argument is quite obvious to most serious fans.

Another point - it is patently unfair to blame Tendulkar for the selectors' lack of balls. It is incredibly hard for these top performers to walk away from their sport - there are examples in every sport you care to name where guys dragged on way after their best. That's why we have selectors, and if they lack the cojones, that is their problem & not Tendulkar's. There is nothing incumbent on him to retire gracefully & in a timely manner.

By the way, I think Tendulkar stayed on about 18 months too long (not any more than that).
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by prasen9 »

I am not blaming Tendulkar at all. I actually do not think players should retire at all unless they feel mentally that they cannot turn the corner. Most elite athletes will not feel that. The blame falls squarely on the selectors.

Not knowing the context, I am creating a hypothetical context here. This is from an interview. Let us assume that Sourav was asked whether SRT is retiring at the right time. In this case, what do you want Sourav to say assuming that you want him to be PC? Lie? Or say, "No comments". Or something vague like "It depends", "SRT knows" or some other vague crap.

Sourav knows fully well that his relationship with SRT will be fine. Chances are that they have discussed or criticized each other many times in the past and they know the mutual respect means that the other person won't mind.

I would have done pretty much the same. But, anyone who has read my posts here already knows that I am pretty tactless.
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by suresh »

I agree that the selectors should have had the guts to dump SRT. However, I think at some point SRT got a bit obsessed with his numbers (strange given that he was a team player for most of his career) and that made him prolong his career. So he should also take some of the blame. As Prasen correctly points out, we should also take into account the context in which Ganguly made his comments. Ganguly has never ducked journalistic bouncers in his whole life.
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Re: All about SR Tendulkar

Post by prasen9 »

Here is SRT's numbers since 11th October.

2010-2013 28 1607 146 35.71 2 2 1/5 92.50

An average of 35.7 over 28 tests. We have been carrying him for over three years in exchange for very mediocre performance.

While I do not think that one can time things that precisely except in hindsight, I think after the WC win would have been a fabulous time for him to retire from tests. The selectors should have certainly dropped him after the debacle in England. That was the travesty. We wasted the opportunity of the Australia series to separate the wheat from the chaff with respect to Kohli, Rohit, Rahane, Manoj, etc.
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