Opinions are never right or wrong, never constant and yes, the opinions are changing. “You can’t contain Sachin’s deeds in a statistical frame. He brings unstinted joy to the art of batting. Statistics will happen because cricket is about runs and wickets. But how can you evaluate Sachin’s contributions by just counting the number of runs he has scored. To me, he best symbolizes the heights an individual can rise to dominate a team sport. Words can never capture the beauty of Sachin’s cricket,” this is just one of many quotes from the cricketing legend Kapil Dev on Sachin Tendulkar who now feels that it’s time Sachin quit ODIs. “From what we have seen in the last three months, he should have announced his retirement before the World Cup. It’s important to know that every cricketer has his time,” Kapil told ‘Headlines Today‘.
Surprisingly, it’s not just Kapil, but a large number of Indians seem to be of the opinion that the god of cricket should leave one-day cricket and it was quite evident in a Times of India online poll which concluded that 57 percent of respondent feels that Sachin should retire from ODIs. While 41 percent answered ‘No’ to the question ‘Should Sachin retire from ODIs?’, as many as 57 percent of respondents voted ‘Yes’.
TOI had nearly 47,000 people responding to its poll out of which 19,127 voted ‘no’ and 26,813 answered in favor of the question and around 817 (2 percent) people were undecided.
The calls come from different corners asking Tendulkar to call it quits from one-day cricket and many eminent cricketers were heard echoing the public opinion including Kapil Dev, EAS Prasanna, Sourav Ganguly and Kirti Azad. Ganguly once said, “The thing I like most about Sachin is his intensity. After being in the game for so long, he still has the same desire to do well for India in any international match. I tell you what, this man is a legend.” And today he says, “Sachin has to ask himself whether he is good enough to play one-day cricket day in and day out; whether it’s helping him missing tournaments and playing a one-day series after 8-9 months; whether it’s helping him as a one-day player or if it’s helping Indian cricket as a one-day team. If Sachin can’t get an answer to these questions, he has to go.”
Former Indian cricketer EAS Prasanna backed Ganguly and Kapil and said, “If he continues to fail like this, people will have a wrong impression of him. I think it is better to retire when he is at his best,” MSN reports.
Former test cricketer Kirti Azad said, “The selectors should waste no time in dropping Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman from the national team if they do not retire on their own following the massive drubbing in the Test series against Australia.”
The genuine thought process that went into the call for Sachin’s retirement from one-day cricket by general public is quite questionable as it’s highly possible that the public anger and frustration over India’s pathetic show Down Under, Ricky Points decision to retire, and the opinions of former players have influenced the results of the poll.
Related articles
- Tendulkar should reconsider ODI career – Ganguly (espncricinfo.com)
- Kapil Dev calls for Sachin’s retirement from ODIs (thehindu.com)
- India debates Tendulkar’s one-day future (thehimalayantimes.com)
- Nobody can replace Sachin: Vengsarkar (cricketnext.in.com)
- Tendulkar Should Reconsider ODIs, Rotation Policy Absurd: Ganguly (sbnation.com)
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