Is it really important to debate on Sachin's retirement?
Almost all cricket sites and media are debating about whether Sachin should retire now. But why it's really such an important matter to debate? As Ravi Shastri and Gavaskar pointed out, why should the selectors select Sachin for the ODI team if they believe he is not fit for the ODI's anymore?
On top of all these debates, are we really fair in handling a cricket legend like this? Is Sachin really performing very badly? Here's the statistics from the current CB series.
| Player | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 0 | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G Gambhir | 5 | 5 | 0 | 222 | 92 | 44.4 | 264 | 84.09 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| V Kohli | 6 | 6 | 0 | 219 | 77 | 36.5 | 289 | 75.77 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 1 |
| MS Dhoni | 5 | 5 | 2 | 191 | 58* | 63.66 | 254 | 75.19 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
| SK Raina | 6 | 6 | 0 | 134 | 38 | 22.33 | 181 | 74.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
| RA Jadeja | 6 | 6 | 1 | 93 | 24* | 18.6 | 127 | 73.22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| SR Tendulkar | 5 | 5 | 0 | 90 | 48 | 18 | 128 | 70.31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| RG Sharma | 5 | 5 | 0 | 79 | 33 | 15.8 | 111 | 71.17 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| IK Pathan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 74 | 47 | 24.66 | 66 | 112.12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
| R Ashwin | 5 | 5 | 2 | 55 | 30* | 18.33 | 62 | 88.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| V Sehwag | 3 | 3 | 0 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 31 | 96.77 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
It's obvious that Sachin has not performed well up to his reputation but for that case anyone from the team excluding Dhoni and Gambhir has not done well in the series. Sachin is playing an ODI series almost after a year. And it should be noted that not only the test team but also Indian ODI team has been performing miserably in all the away series in the recent past. Sachin was not part of the ODI team that was whitewashed in England. Why there was no call for anyone's head then?
And the debate at least makes sense if the youngsters are performing well and only Sachin is failing. Of course even in this series, Rohit Sharma is not even able to score more runs than Sachin. And it's still a mystery how Ravindra Jadeja finds his way back into the playing eleven every time. It was said that he is an all rounder who can bat, bowl and field. There’s no question about his fielding abilities but he has not proved his mettle with bat or ball in this series. To add to this, Indian Captain Dhoni, who backs up Jadeja every time didn't even give single over to Jadeja in Brisbane (India Vs Australia, 7th Match of the CB series). Just can't help but wonder about his role in the team!
Talking about fielding, it's really unfair to say that only Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir are NOT fielding properly. How many catches did Rohit Sharma drop in the Brisbane match? It's also fair to say that India was able to restrict Australia to 269 at Adelaide only because of the stunning catch by Sehwag to get rid of David Hussey.
And as always all our ex-cricketers comment about anything and everything. But it’s wrong on the part of Kapil and Ganguly to say that Sachin should retire now. Both Kapil and Ganguly retired after passing their own prime career. If they really wanted to help him, they could have given him their suggestion / advice personally than talking about this in media. And it's not that Sachin can't take immediate decision on his career. When 20-20 format was introduced, Sachin was quick to decide that he will not play in that format. Has that really done any wonder to Indian 20-20 cricket?
Yes, it's true that Sachin should eventually retire. But probably it should be handled in a much better manner. Sachin is such a humble and modest player. Even in the current series, only Sehwag and Gambhir have aired their views about the controversial rotation policy. Sachin has not uttered a single negative comment about this.
Sachin has played cricket for a long time and he has made us all proud. So instead of just debating and making his life miserable, let's wait for some more time so that he decides to hang up his boots in a happier manner.
Last but not least. Just by forcing Sachin to retire will not do any magic wonders to the current team until unless Dhoni opens his eyes and decides to include only performers and not just his buddies!