India debates Tendulkar's one-day future

Debate intensified after Tendulkar's contemporary Ponting was forced by Australia's selectors to bow out of ODIs.

NEW DELHI: India's cricket greats have begun talking about a topic that was considered unthinkable a year ago -- Sachin Tendulkar's retirement from the sport.

Or, at least, the need for the record-breaking batsman to quit one-day international cricket to prolong his Test career.

The debate has intensified after Tendulkar's contemporary Ricky Ponting was forced by Australia's selectors to bow out of ODIs this week.

Ponting retired from the shorter format after being dumped from the ongoing tri-series, but vowed to fight on in the Test side. Some want the Indian selectors to be just as ruthless and end Tendulkar's one-day career.

The Hindustan Times, discussing Ponting's axeing, hoped that Indian cricket chiefs would learn from the "no-nonsense approach" shown by the Australian management.

"Indian cricket set-up needs to take a cue from its Australian counterparts when it comes to pushing the seniors out," the paper wrote. "If they have to take a tough call looking at the future of the team, the time is now."

Former World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev agrees that it is time to ponder hard choices for Tendulkar, despite the adulation the "Little Master" still commands across India.

"Maybe his time has come," Kapil said on the Headlines Today news channel. "Every player has his time. Age is not on his side as it was earlier."

Tendulkar, who turns 39 in April, is not only the world's leading batsman in both the Test and one-day formats, but also the longest-serving international cricketer, having made his debut in 1989.

Fans have been left on tenterhooks as Tendulkar, who has scored a record 51 Test and 48 one-day centuries, struggles to reach the unprecedented milestone of 100 international hundreds.

His form has turned indifferent in the tri-series in Australia, where he has managed just 90 runs in five games at an average of 18.

Former captain Sourav Ganguly, who played alongside Tendulkar from 1992 to 2008, said his old teammate's decision to pick and choose one-day matches was costing India dear.

"Sachin has to ask himself whether it's helping him as a one-day player or if it's helping the Indian team," Ganguly told Headlines Today.

"If Sachin can't get an answer to these questions, he has to go."

Tendulkar, who has played a record 458 one-day internationals, has turned out in just 18 ODI matches in the past two years, including nine in India's triumphant World Cup campaign in February-April 2011.

He still managed to record the first double-century in ODIs -- 200 not out against South Africa in February 2010 -- and was the star in India's World Cup win with 482 runs, second only to Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan's 500.

Ganguly dismissed batting legend Sunil Gavaskar's suggestion that the selectors should talk to Tendulkar about his one-day future.

"I don't see any of the selectors stepping in," Ganguly said. "They are not going to stand in front of Sachin Tendulkar and say 'Listen little champ, you need to go'. That is never going to happen."

But the Hindu newspaper urged former players to lay off Tendulkar, saying the decision to quit or not should be left to him.

"A lot has been said -- especially by former sportspersons who themselves stayed on well beyond their use-by date -- about Tendulkar's ODI career," it said.

"Whatever the intentions, these gems of seemingly timely advice are clearly uncalled for. Sachin has served the country with exceptional pride and genius for far too long and he deserves the right to choose his own time of departure."

A poll published by the Times of India on Thursday said that 57 percent of 47,000 respondents wanted Tendulkar to quit one-day cricket and 41 percent urged him to continue.

In the immediate future, Tendulkar has two opportunities to silence his critics -- against Australia on Sunday and Sri Lanka next Tuesday -- plus a possible best-of-three-finals, should India qualify.