Tendulkar should go now for sake of Indian cricket

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

There has been a fierce debate lately if Sachin Tendulkar should retire immediately, following his dismal performance in the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand at home, or should he continue playing until he himself decides to hang his boots.

The debate about Tendulkar’s retirement is nothing new but there’s some difference for sure now. Unlike the past it are the Indian cricket fans, not only the media or the former greats, who desire the holder of so many world records to quit the game now. 

I think they have a point now. The future of the Indian cricket should not be compromised on sentimental grounds. Tendulkar, who will turn 40 later in the season, has had enough. 

He should follow the example of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman both of whom have left the scene voluntarily, after having won more matches for their country in lesser outings than Tendulkar. 

Tendulkar holds many records which are unlikely to be broken. He has far too many runs in Tests as well as One-day Internationals than any other individual in either format. So is the case in the number of centuries.

Not meant to take any credit away from him but in comparison Dravid and Laxman were instrumental in winning more matches for India than Tendulkar has been able to do in an international career in the third decade now. 

He has been playing international cricket since 1989-90 while Dravid and Laxman entered the arena much later. 

The spotlight had been on Tendulkar due to his awesome frequency of runs and centuries but how many of them helped the cause of his team remained debatable. 

Tendulkar’s technique and temperament allowed him to stage a forceful comeback after odd lean patches. But his inability to contribute for the team in the crunch situations disappointed his fans in particular. He was unable to steer his struggling side to safety in the last away series in England and Australia where India were defeated in all eight Tests despite his presence.

That trend continues even today. India appear more likely to win a game when he doesn’t fire rather than the ones in which he scores heavily. 

The recent two-Test series against New Zealand was just an addition to that list. He failed in both the Test matches with India emerging triumphant at Hyderabad and Bangalore. 

India have eight more home Tests to play this season, four each against England and Australia. If he doesn’t step down voluntarily, I don’t think the selectors would be able to drop him on the basis of his huge reputation. 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may be the most powerful body in the business but even they don’t seem to be having the muscles of thinking in terms of replacing Tendulkar with a promising youngster in the home Tests. 

Tendulkar could be good enough to score some runs in home conditions but to expect him to do it in the challenging environment of South Africa and other countries where the pace and bounce demand quick reflexes, besides technique, is too big a risk.

readmore »»

Laxman’s elegance simply enchanting

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

What a joy it is to watch VVS Laxman bat! His stroke-play is truly poetry in motion. He is a pure artist. He has been the most elegant batsman in the game for quite sometime now.

He hasn’t lost any of his touch as we witnessed it at the Eden Garden in Kolkata where he plundered his first Test century against South Africa. It was a magnificent knock that delighted his large number of fans at what has been his favourite ground.

It’s not mere coincidence that he has completed 1,000 runs in just nine Tests at the Eden Gardens. He has played a few of the most memorable knocks of his career here with the epic 281 against Australia in 2001 being the standout effort.

India had missed him so much in the previous game in which he couldn’t take part due to injury. His return to the side immensely bolstered the batting line-up that had cracked at Nagpur primarily due to inexperience that had allowed the South African bowlers to get on top of them.

There was plenty of buzz with Laxman coming back into the side in the second Test that India needed to win in order to retain their top ranking. More significantly they also had to prove the point that the odd failure in the Nagpur Test was more due to the non-presence of their stalwarts than any other factor.

There was greater pressure on Laxman to deliver because Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh were still unavailable and he had to fill the vacuum with the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

There were suggestions to promote Laxman to the number three position in the absence of Dravid, having made the one down position his own for a number of years now.

John Wright, the former Indian coach, firmly believed that sending Laxman at number three would help the cause of the team immensely. After all he and skipper Sourav Ganguly were instrumental in sending him up the order when the team was in dire straits at the same venue against the mighty Aussies nine years ago.

It had proved to be a master stroke with the Hyderabad touch artist rewriting history with a colossal knock of 281 that led the turnaround and India went on to win the Test match from the brink of disaster.

The present Indian think-tank, however, had different ideas and they probably had the conviction that Laxman was to come good at any position. They were proved right.
Murali Vijay, not surprisingly, failed again at number three but by holding Laxman back they had ensured that there was not a big hole in the middle-order. The tactics worked very well once more.

India had very nearly surrendered the initiative by losing three quick wickets in the closing stages of the second day’s play and South Africa were very much in the game at the start of the third day’s proceedings.

It was Laxman’s fluency that tormented the charged up bowlers and their shoulders dropped when the balls were dispatched merrily to every part of the ground. Dhoni kept his company all the way and together they built a magnificent partnership that entertained the big crowd and consolidated India’s position.

readmore »»