He was rested because he can’t be dropped. He is selected again and we had to break the successful opening pair of Virendra Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir  to accommodate him because he has to open the innings. One ex-cricketer said a few days ago, "of course Sachin will open the innings", mind you, he said, "he will" not "he should".

He did opened the innings and of course the hype was created to the maximum heights courtesy media, which generated a lots of expectations from the man, who is none other than Sachin Tendulkar or should I say THE SACHIN TENDULKAR. He did nothing different than what he has done many times in the past i.e. disappointed his fans. He clearly struggled at the crease, unsuccessfully tried hard to hit the ball but at last lost the battle to the bowler. The runs started to flow once he was out and Gautam joined Sehwag at the crease.

But don’t worry Sachin, there are people who will protect you because it has to be justified that you were playing the ODI after a gap of many months so it was quite obvious that you looked a bit rusty, sorry can’t use that word for you, may be off-colour is a better substitute. May be you should be given a few games to get into the groove, which cannot be done at domestic level for a player like you.

Dear Sachin, if you really know the importance of being a senior player and do care about the game, don’t  you realise that you should now restrict yourself to playing test matches only. Because the team is performing exceptionally well without you and there is no place for you in the team. One young player will have to sacrifice his place for a person like you, who has already seen the maximum heights.

If you are checking the results of the public opinions carried out by various channels, magazines, newspapers, you will see that hardly 50% people vote in your favour, which means that majority of people have lost faith in you or your popularity graph has taken a downslide.

What you have achieved is unmatchable and I am sure nobody can reach there, so it is utmost important for you to make sure that your achievements remain intact. No doubts on your playing abilities or you being a phenomenon, but it really hurts when I see icons fall.

I know you are sensible enough to make a choice and I look forward to hear from you that you have said good bye to ODIs.


The above is written without prejudice.

Who is your favorite sports player in this field?

Mohammed Azharuddin