Sachin Tendulkar

19 Tests, 914 Runs, Highest score 109, Average 31.51 with 1 century and 6 fifties.

The above figures are Sachin’s Test match numbers after his elbow injury in 2004; I have excluded the double hundred against Bangladesh. For somebody who used to average in the high 50’s these are damning statistics and indicate that something has gone wrong with his batting. Yet, we are prepared to give great players extra leeway because they can produce decisive innings that can change the course of a match and therefore his selection hasn’t borne much questioning. But, in the last couple of years, we haven’t seen this happening and in fact on all occasions when Tendulkar had the opportunity to impose himself on the game, he has frozen into a zombie like batting mode. It began with the torturous 98 ball 16 in the third Test against Pakistan in Bangalore in 2005, but that can be glossed over because we were trying to save a Test match, but more damaging was the 62 ball 14 against South Africa in the second innings of the third Test earlier this year when India were in a great position to win an away Test series. This strange mode of batting that he adopts can be classified at best as poor judgment and at worst timid and defeatist. The only decisive innings after the elbow injury has been the sparkling second innings 55 against Australia in Mumbai in November 2004, where he along with VVS Laxman set up a consolation victory for India. It has been a long time since that knock.

You must be wondering why am I talking about his Test match statistics right after a India exited the one day World Cup? Well, some people have suggested that Sachin should be dropped from the one day team and should only play in Test matches. The truth is that his Test match batting doesn’t even earn him a spot in the playing eleven, and in fact his one day batting has been far superior. He has played some wonderful one day innings in the recent past including dominating centuries against Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan. I still believe that if Sachin had been opening in the World Cup, India would have probably made it past the group stage and to the Super 8’s but would have struggled and embarrassed themselves against far more professional sides. Tendulkar still can bat and probably knows more about batting technique than most people in this world. Yet, something seems to be wrong with his mind, instead of getting stronger with experience like Rahul Dravid, he seems to be getting more fragile. Maybe the constant pressure and adulation of the Indian cricket fan for the last 17 years has worn him down.

He is still young, turning 34 in April, and I don’t think anybody has the right to tell Sachin Tendulkar when he should retire, only he knows that. At the same time, Ian Chappell was well within his rights in asking Sachin to look in the mirror and consider quitting. Introspection is needed Sachin. Why are you batting like this? Is it because of the waning of your physical powers, which should make quitting an easier decision or is it a mental thing? If it is the latter, are you prepared to accept it and do you have the motivation to conquer it? You know that you have nothing left to achieve.