[lloydofcochin]

Originally Posted by karty_83

He must be averaging in 20's i guess, but IMO it would't matter even if he had got a couple of 50's. What's the point in playing a 39 year old in a odi team that has been on a overseas losing spree ?

I really admire Muralitharan. This guy announced his retirement 8 short of 800 wickets. He could have easily accomplished this feat and then retired. But he chose the Champion's way and picked up those 8 wickets in his final match.

Extremely sad to see people calling for Sachin's head due to a handful of failures. I really don't understand why other non-performances are not questioned.

Sachin still has at least 2yrs of Cricket left in him and I'm sure he will perform and will not be a burden to the team. Sports is all about Champions and I'm sure he will come back to form with a bang. As someone said - Class is permanent and form is temporary.

Couple of years back Kumble was out of form and was injured for a Test match and Amit Mishra happened to take 7 wickets in that match and then the media started calling for Kumble's head and the gentleman announced his retirement gracefully without much ado even when he was good enough for few more games. Where is Amit Mishra now? And still we haven't found a bowler who can do even 50% of what Kumble did. I'm sure that if he makes a comeback now he will put all the other Inidan spinners to shame. Remember that Champions are not made in 1 day and age should not be the criterion to drop players

Sachin's troubles of late I feel is just a mental block. He is failing since he is getting overcautious. He is a stroke maker and as a batsman his forte is in taking the attack to the opposition by dictating terms to the bowlers. He just has to clear his head and be that little disciple of Achrekar who used to take the 1 Rupee coin home everyday for not allowing the bowlers to re-arrange his stumps

I admire Dhoni was his calmness & superb batting in ODI's but as a captain I feel he is partial and not proactive and his recent actions & comments don't bode well for the team spirit.

[vinukm]

Originally Posted by karty_83

I really admire Muralitharan. This guy announced his retirement 8 short of 800 wickets. He could have easily accomplished this feat and then retired. But he chose the Champion's way and picked up those 8 wickets in his final match.

The more Sachin Delays his retirement he will have tough time answering his critics. He is no doubt a great player but he has to perform to survive in the squad. Overheard a joke that Sachin is waiting for his son to Debut before he retires

[suhaas307]

@ Lloydofcochin

I've been a Sachin fan for as long as I can remember. I've always admired him. And I believe that he is the best batsman India has ever produced. Very closely followed by Rahul Dravid.

But IMO, his time is up. We're not calling for his head. We just expect him to retire gracefully. He could give youngsters a chance in the team.

Now if he still has the passion and drive, and if he still believes that he can do what he does best, then I'd be more than happy.

And in my humble opinion, a 99 century tag next to Sachin would look far more sensational than a 100.

[lloydofcochin]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

@ Lloydofcochin

I've been a Sachin fan for as long as I can remember. I've always admired him. And I believe that he is the best batsman India has ever produced. Very closely followed by Rahul Dravid.

And in my humble opinion, a 99 century tag next to Sachin would look far more sensational than a 100.

Suhaas,

Those who love Cricket cannot stop admiring Sachin. Cricket will surely be poorer without him and as a true fan I'm never bothered about this 100th 100 story it is just media hype.

I'm sure that he will come back with a bang and will let his bat do the talking as he always done in the past

NB : Nice read - http://www.espncricinfo.com/awards20...ry/551872.html

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Half the Indian team is from the CSK. Can't he think beyond the IPL ? I feel I am watching CSK more than India.

I feel more than Dhoni, the chairman of selector, who is from south is to blame for that.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

We just expect him to retire gracefully. He could give youngsters a chance in the team.

The best time was after winning the world cup. I don't see any other event in near future.

[amitoj]

What man. We are not able to beat even Sri Lanka now!

I wonder whether our selectors will ever have the guts or the spine to do what the Australian selectors have done.

[suhaas307]

Sehwag needs a break, and Tendulkar needs to step down. there! I''ve said it. And I'm not ashamed of it.

Irfan Pathan's knock today was a good one. It's unfortunate that he got out. He could have taken us closer to the target.

Virat Kohli played well, but had a lot of luck.

I would have sent Parthiv Patel to open today and dropped Tendulkar and Gambhir a slot lower. Parthiv can play as an opener and has done a decent job for the team.

[karanraheja]

Sehwag s careless attitude is a real piss off !!! In such a important match he had to play such a useless shot !! What was with Kohli and Raina bowling in the last few overs?? Seriously some decisions are questionable !!

[karty_83]

Our Selectors and Team management are showing favoritism to a select few players regardless of their performance. As long as they continue to put individual glory and stats above the game and country's pride, Indian cricket will suffer.

[Naturalist]

We are not able to beat Srilanka, very sad.
Shewag is a walking wicket. Why he is not being dropped alltogether.
For all the people who defends sachin to be in the team - Australian selection committee has mentioned all of them deeply respect Ponting as a player and a great human being but they mentioned they have taken this step in the best interest of the national cricket team.
Sachin should have retired by himself to give opportunity to others, atleast in the best interest of our own National cricket team and pride. Spineless BCCI atleast wake up now!

[PPS]

Dhoni said in his press conference a couple of days back that Sachin,Sehwag,Gambhir are slow fielders & are a liability in the field!
Well the way Jadeja & Rohit Sharma are batting they are a liability with the bat, on this current tour atleast. Even Raina is struggling,20s & 30s dont win you many games.

Also Dhoni said that he wants to give as many chances to youngsters keeping in mind the 2015 World Cup which is down under. Well the same thought process was in use before the 2011 World Cup & what eventually happened was that neither Rohit Sharma nor Jadeja were in the Squad!
The focus should be on winning this tournament for the time being.

-Also instead of Jadeja , Irfan Pathan should be blooded in at no.7 as he's a better bowler. Neither is going to win you many games at no.7 , at best they can throw their bats around.
-Play Praveen Kumar & Rahul Sharma. Zaheer needs to bowl in the slog overs when he's in the team.

[esteem_lover]

The media is having all the fun now



Source : http://www.espncricinfo.com/

[Gandhi]

Really nice article worth reading - Harsha Bhogle: Players must not decide how long they play | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

[Dushie]

With the way India is playing their matches i have lost hope and i don't feel they would make it to the finals. Only a miracle can save them now.Srilanka is in good form now and i find them to be a tough opponent and they would really fight it out.Australia has given a mixed bag of performances but overall have performed better than India. So i am not getting my hopes high for India winning the cup with the kind of form the batsmen are in.
Of course India teams performance can swing if the Top3 Sehwag,Gambhir & Tendulkar start firing.It has not happened for a long time now, so better late than never.

[NPV]

While on one side we have to accept Sachin's greatness and immense contribution to the game and the team, he definitely seems to be struggling, can't deny that.
I think he should go gracefully when he's at the top of his game, rather than get to a situation when the media starts talking about it and the board starts 'considering' dropping him - that would be embarassing and would take away some sheen from an otherwise great career.
Kapil is saying it's time for Sachin to retire. However, he must be forgetting that he too was struggling in his last few games and would probably have been dropped if he hadn't decided to retire.
In fact I would laud Gavaskar for one reason - he wasn't a great player in the ODI's but still got his first and only century in his last ODI match - now that's going out gracefully !
At the end of the day Sachin needs to make a decision to retire or start playing really well and get a few more centuries quickly to silence his critics. However, I sincerely hope Sachin does not continue his bad form and wait for Arjun to make his debut before he decides to hang his boots