Time and tide wait for no man and the same holds good for Sachin Tendulkar too, agreed this individual has given all us legions of cricket fans reason to cheer more times than one can begin to remember, but then every article or then human being comes with an expiry date and alas Sachin Tendulkar's expiry date is a stark reality staring him in the face despite all his dubious claims to the contrary.......
Yours truly would be the first person to admit that Sachin Tendulkar has accorded Indian cricket a place of immense pride in the hierarchy of cricket playing nations, but then the same can also be said about his equally illustrious predecessors Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar........
No individual can ever be greater than the game, but alas, misplaced vanity or sheer arrogance makes Mr. Tendulkar believe the fact that the game of cricket will become that much poorer with his departure; why will it when it didn't become any poorer with the departure of the greatest cricketer who ever played this gloroius game namely Sir Donald Bradman.......
One wonders why the BCCI mandarins and selection committee are bending over backwards in a sickening effort to please the whims and fancies of one individual who seems to think that he is doing all and sundry a huge favour by simply turning up for a game at a time and a place of his choosing, equally illustrious cricketers like Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar were not accorded the honour and distinction of choosing their test and ODI appearances so then why is the system being convoluted in the favour of a certain Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.......
This gentelman was previously obsessed with the dubious distinction of achieving the hollow personal landmark of hundred international hundreds and his painful and exasperating crawl towards the same even ensured that his team suffered the ignominy and humiliation associated with a defeat against cricketing minnows Bangladesh........
His equally illustrious and far more selfless counterparts Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have all hung up their boots one after the other when their minds and souls told them that their time was up and didn't wait for a nudge from either the paying public or powers that be within the BCCI before hanging up their boots with due pride and glory........
The fact of the amtter is that though the mind may still be willing, the body is failing to keep pace with the demands imposed on it by an increasingly demanding mind as no matter how many hours you put in in the gym or then physically toning and conditioning your muscles and other body parts, the reflexes automatically start slowing down once a person crosses or goes past the age of 35.........
Seeing a rookie like Trent Boult reduce a undiputed master like Sachin Tendulkar to a shocking parody or then sorry caricature of his esteemed self was the last straw as far as numerous fans of Tendulkar like yours truly werew concerned, Sachin was certainly a yard to slow and his bat came down eons after the ball had made a resounding contact with timber leaving a set of shattered stumps and dreams in it's wake...............
For both the sakes of your esteemed self as well as legions of your fawning fans, please read the writing on the wall Shri Tendulkar and go when the world is still asking why rather than when the world starts asking you why you don't hang up your boots as your best years are well behind you and nothing more than a fleeting memory of a bygone era.............
Go with your head held high and make way for a deserving youngster who will serve the cause of Indian cricket with equal distinction, deciation and fervour; as well as giving back to the game is concerned, well you can always open a cricket school or then lobby for the post of the Indian coach with your BCCI chums.............
Yours truly would be the first person to admit that Sachin Tendulkar has accorded Indian cricket a place of immense pride in the hierarchy of cricket playing nations, but then the same can also be said about his equally illustrious predecessors Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar........
No individual can ever be greater than the game, but alas, misplaced vanity or sheer arrogance makes Mr. Tendulkar believe the fact that the game of cricket will become that much poorer with his departure; why will it when it didn't become any poorer with the departure of the greatest cricketer who ever played this gloroius game namely Sir Donald Bradman.......
One wonders why the BCCI mandarins and selection committee are bending over backwards in a sickening effort to please the whims and fancies of one individual who seems to think that he is doing all and sundry a huge favour by simply turning up for a game at a time and a place of his choosing, equally illustrious cricketers like Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar were not accorded the honour and distinction of choosing their test and ODI appearances so then why is the system being convoluted in the favour of a certain Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.......
This gentelman was previously obsessed with the dubious distinction of achieving the hollow personal landmark of hundred international hundreds and his painful and exasperating crawl towards the same even ensured that his team suffered the ignominy and humiliation associated with a defeat against cricketing minnows Bangladesh........
His equally illustrious and far more selfless counterparts Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have all hung up their boots one after the other when their minds and souls told them that their time was up and didn't wait for a nudge from either the paying public or powers that be within the BCCI before hanging up their boots with due pride and glory........
The fact of the amtter is that though the mind may still be willing, the body is failing to keep pace with the demands imposed on it by an increasingly demanding mind as no matter how many hours you put in in the gym or then physically toning and conditioning your muscles and other body parts, the reflexes automatically start slowing down once a person crosses or goes past the age of 35.........
Seeing a rookie like Trent Boult reduce a undiputed master like Sachin Tendulkar to a shocking parody or then sorry caricature of his esteemed self was the last straw as far as numerous fans of Tendulkar like yours truly werew concerned, Sachin was certainly a yard to slow and his bat came down eons after the ball had made a resounding contact with timber leaving a set of shattered stumps and dreams in it's wake...............
For both the sakes of your esteemed self as well as legions of your fawning fans, please read the writing on the wall Shri Tendulkar and go when the world is still asking why rather than when the world starts asking you why you don't hang up your boots as your best years are well behind you and nothing more than a fleeting memory of a bygone era.............
Go with your head held high and make way for a deserving youngster who will serve the cause of Indian cricket with equal distinction, deciation and fervour; as well as giving back to the game is concerned, well you can always open a cricket school or then lobby for the post of the Indian coach with your BCCI chums.............
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