Friday, February 24, 2012

Caught and Bowled...

Now hang on a second..


Someone please tell me, why exactly Sachin Tendulkar should retire?

If your point is that he has achieved all that he could possibly achieve, my answer to that would be that he has achieved all that you wanted him to achieve. If he has different goals, he has never said so. In fact he has never said that he has specific goals, not 20,000 ODI runs, not 25,000 test runs, nothing.

If you think he’s made enough money that his 15 future generations will live comfortably, I’m reading the Forbes list of richest sportsmen (let alone individuals), and he’s nowhere near.

If you say he’s 39, and so should retire, well, I’m 34, and do you want me to retire in 5 years? I would LIKE to, but I don’t think I will be able to (that’s for another day though)

I say he’s enjoying himself, he thinks he can still play at this level, and hey, if he doesn’t want to retire, no one can force him to.

Not because he’s done so much for the Indian team, or anything like that, but because regardless of whether you’re Sachin Tendulkar or Sujith Somasunder*, you should be the one deciding whether you want to play on or become a software programmer (which is what Sujith Somasunder is doing now, btw).

Are we asking Mr. Tendulkar to retire in the middle of an away series? And then what, do we do? Send him home? Play with 13 available players for the remainder of the series? So can we stop this nonsensical meme till the team comes back?

Now, if you say that he shouldn’t be in the Indian national team, well that’s another matter altogether. But then, I don’t think he (Tendulkar, not Somasunder - I don’t think even Sujith’s mother wants him in the national team anymore) decides whether he’s in the team or not.

There are 5 gentlemen who pick the team also known as the Selection Panel. They pick 14 players for a tour. If a person is on the 14, and is fit, he is ready for selection.

Which brings me to the next question:

Can someone tell me why Sachin Tendulkar was selected to play this tournament?

*If you don’t know who Sujith Somasunder is, man you need to stop watching Aaj Tak, and be a true cricket fanatic..

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