Finally Sachin Tendulkar announced that the 200th test match of his career would be his last test match and thereafter he will quit from test cricket as well. With this news some would have taken a sigh of relief that thank god Sachin is going and some for whom the spelling of the sport is SACHIN would be feeling sad. I am confident that the percentage of latter's category would be very low.
Sachin Tendulkar undoubtedly was born to play cricket and the heights that he saw in his career were unseen and unheard of. But the trouble began when it began to dawn on people that he has started playing for records rather than playing for the team. His flaws were well covered by media, his blind fans and some cricketer-turned-commentators/columnists. Therefore two wrongs became one right, which had some impact on the sport as many lost interest in the game. I know many who did that and I who followed the sport for 3 decades have already stopped following the game.
There were some bias for Sachin and it was imminent that he will play his 200th test come what may. The writing was on the wall, which only few could read and others didn't want to believe. He was not scoring runs but the commentators kept on saying that he is just one big innings away from getting back into the groove. But then isn't every player is? Board had to prove that they were tough and did remove some players from the team after they played few small innings. Look at the below statistics for the last 3 years for some popular players:
Rahul Dravid Match/27 innings/49 runs/2032 8 centuries 5 half centuries
G. Gambhir Match/17 innings/30 runs/944 0 centuries 7 half centuries
V. Sehwag Match/18 innings/32 runs/916 1 century 5 half centuries
VVS Laxman Match/25 innings/47 runs/1864 3 centuries 14 half centuries
Sachin Tendulkar Match/22 innings/39 runs/1305 1 century 8 half centuries
When was the last time Sachin played a match winning inning? Does any one remember?
What is your take on below questions:
Don't you think he lost a big percentage of fan following because of his attitude?
Didn't he start to play for himself?
Wasn't the board and some ex-players biased towards him?
Didn't he take things for granted?
He would have been remembered as a great player but due to his attitude has now demoted himself to the category of good players' list. What is your opinion?
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