Sachin Tendulkar likes round numbers. He likes centuries more than fifties, and he likes a hundred centuries very much. It took 11 tests, 13 ODIs, 34 innings and more than a year for him to climb from 99 centuries to 100. But he stayed at it.
The Republic of India — as it would appear to some from the media coverage during those awful 370 days — did little else but wait to exhale its collective breath while he was thus stuck.
He was honest and attributed this slowness to being nervous as that glorious mark eluded him.
Tendulkar is a man who consciously plays for record-setting, for building mountains nobody else may climb. This takes away from what should be a team game played for winning, not record-setting. However, this does not bother Indians who, as Ian Chappell once observed, don’t mind losing the match so long as Sachin scores his century. I don’t have any quarrel with this attitude and it is true that he is first rate at setting records.
Aged almost 40, having scored his 100 centuries, and being quite unlikely to score 200 of them, what could Tendulkar still be hanging around for?
It could be one or both of two things.
The first is money. Tendulkar takes in INR100 crores ($20 million) a year, of which most comes from endorsements. As Gavaskar and Shastri and Kapil Dev will testify, these fade away as one retires. Sachin’s brand might have more life than these three ancients, but he’s already in decline. He was second in earnings to Dhoni last year and will probably be third to Virat Kohli this year. Retirement will immediately slice off at least 50 crores (500 million) a year from his booty, which is a loss of INR1.3 million a day.
Let us assume, however, that he is not playing on only for the money. What else? I think here we might find an answer to why he’s hanging on.
His tally of 100 international hundreds comprises 51 scored in tests and 49 scored in ODIs.
This 49 is an awkward, unfinished number. It needs to become 50 for it to look good. My guess is (and assuming I’m wrong that he’s not hanging about only for the money), he’s waiting to round the 49 off to 50 ODI centuries. This is a simple enough goal and quite achievable. But it is not one he can publicly own. Even he who plays for setting records may not say he is.
That might explain why he has been vague about his retirement plans despite the speculation that is damaging him. There is a weakness in my theory and it is that in the recent past, Tendulkar has been skipping ODI matches, including the series in Lanka earlier this year. However, this was before his performance against New Zealand and the talk of his retirement. This has put the sort of pressure on him he has never faced before. If I am right about his motive for staying on, he will play in every ODI he can from now on.
The problem is that there are no ODIs to be played this year.
The English team arrives in India at the beginning of November but will play its first ODI only on January 11. There are five ODIs in that series and given that Sachin scores a century every 10 matches, he has a good chance of rounding off his record then.
My bet is that after he scores that hundred he will announce retirement and play a final series where he can be cheered off the grounds. The hope is that he doesn’t take as long to score the thing as he did for his 100th.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2012.
COMMENTS (19)
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People are out to make a career out of criticising Tendulkar. There is nothing wrong in it, except that there is no such clamouring for the retirement of politicians, journalists, singers, actors etc. even when they are well past their expiry dates.
AAkar Amazing!!!! come and have a dinner with me... atleast post this guys....
if press is freedom... let us post what we typed not what you edit?
Cricket is a team game. If ST is playing only for records and accumulating runs then what has stopped the other 10 team members from giving winning performance? There is not even half as good a batsman as ST in any team of the world. Whether retire or not it is between ST and cricket board. As far as his popularity it is between him and his fans. Once the number of fans decreases he would not be making so much money and would have to retire. How can one blame him for making money which is his basic right in a capitalist society?
@curious
Let me say what you wanted to say but could not. We worship idols - hence we are big on individual records. Allah is not merciful on us pagans, so we create our own demigods to help us plod through our life.
Why Indians are so big on individual records? What's a big deal in it? No disrespect intended but Indians need to understand Sachin is only that big in India. He is not like Deniss Lille or Viv Richards that their opponents fear them...Having said that I would agree technically and record wise he is the greatest batsman ever but I wouldn't put him in the top 5 most feared cricketers list...
This is just an opinion and no disrespect intended!
The presence of Tendulkar in Indian team has helped India producing great talent like Virat, Raina, Yuvraj etc. it took him some innings to score his 100th hundred, but certainly not took many matches to score 99 hundreds, his stats speaks.
While I too believe that Sachin is a great batsmen in terms of personal milestones, his record in winning matches and saving Tests is inferior to lesser mortals like Dravid and Laxman. He is a man who knows nothing but cricket and is humble enough to acknowledge it. Unlike other sporting celebrities he has not allowed success to go to his head and remains a simple man. No partying, boozing, women, drugs and other indiscretions from him. He will remain a role model for aspiring cricketers for a long time to come. Even at this age his love for cricket has not diminished in any way, however he understands that his body is no longer able to follow all the commands given by the Brain and his frustration gets visible.
I've known many sportsmen in various sports who played right until their later years, only because they loved playing. It had nothing to do with money as those sports had none of the major sponsorships that cricketers enjoy. It also had nothing to do with records.
They simply loved it and could not live a single day without going out into their fields and wielding the instruments of their sport.
Stop living Tendulkar's mind. It is his decision to play, and as long as he CAN play he is free to do so.
It is common knowledge that the most hated Indian in Pakistan is not Bal Thackeray or Modi or Advani, but it is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
So I guess, this article is bound to be very very popular with Pakistani readers.
My prediction...Sachin started his career playing against Pakistan and end his career playing against Pakistan. He will quit either after 200th Test or completion of 25 years of international cricket whichever comes first. His record will remain there for a long time and records are meant to be broken, someone will positively break his record in future. But it will take minimum 25 years and 200 Tests for this "someone" to break his record.
Or, he is just playing for the love of playing? Won't it be disastrous that Dravid, Laxman AND Tendulkar quit at the same time?
It's high time he retired. Or made to retire.
@Aakar Patel these kind of articles.......more than sachin expecting a 100. it seems that you are more desperate than him to catch eyeballs with this kind of articles.many have made a living criticizing sachin,yet even to this day he stands tall. many chose cricket as their career,Rahul Dravid trained himself to be a cricketer and sachin was born to play cricket.never again we will see another one who can match sachin's abilities.
Also just like every profession has its struggle to set foot and bearing. There is a peak time also in every profession and individual and also the retirement age also. Classical example, the great Ian Thorpe, multiple Olympic award winner retired from swimming in the peak of his career. In cricket peak time 30+, politics it is 65 or at the maximum 70+, Vajpayee has retired gracefully since 7 years. Its high time Sachin contemplates his retirement and rather start something anew. Also Sachin in any other team would have retired or would have been forced to retire long back. Every great master of the game has done so be it Brain Lara, or the Waugh Brothers, or the Flower Brothers. Its another matter that the Western Zone in BCCI is ruling the roost in BCCI and Sachin being a Maharastrian has the luxury of deciding his own future, form or no form. Rgds P
The weight of constant expectation has indeed weighed heavy on many record setters - but some of them return for another day in the sun, as did Federer this year (30 is rather old for a tennis player); some players like Agassi, Dravid and Jayasurya actually had a very productive later innings. Given the Rajya Sabha nomination acceptance and withdrawal from several ODI tournaments, I think Sachin is trying to gradually withdraw from the shorter form of the game without any big announcements - but of course, he wants to leave with a bang, and I hope he manages to do so (make a bang and leave, I mean). As regards the endorsements, I am sure he has been well advised that these will not continue to flow in if his form is seen to be in permanent decline, regardless of whether he continues to play or not.
Observant and very realistic. But Tendulkar is such a class that even Pakistanis wont like this article. :)
Sachin will definitely score the 50 centuries in ODI's and retire only from ODI's. He should hopefully play test cricket till the Test World Cup.
My appendage to your observations. There is no doubt in anybody's mind that he is indeed playing for money and records. But Sachin should play smart now. Now that his form his waning. He should either quit ODI or Test format. If Sachin is indeed passionate about cricket then he should quit playing ODI and prolong his test career. But playing test matches would only drain off his energy, meaning he should play ODI, this would also help him complete his 50 centuries. By choosing to play in either of the one format, he can prolong his career and also the earnings. Remember he is fortunate to have won the world cup during his professional life. There are many players in my sport events where individually they are gifted but collectively they have won nothing. Be it England and Netherlands or even Germany in Football world cup. Regards P