The future of Tendulkar

In today's one-day match against South Africa, the last in the series of five (with one washed out), India won comfortably though not convincingly. Sachin Tendulkar, the topic of this post, contributed a decent 30 runs. Though I didn't actually watch the match, I assume the start was blazing, he slowed down after Sehwag's dismissal and got out after being frustrated by the Proteas for a few overs.

For a few years now, Tendulkar has slowed down with the progress of age and wear-and-tear possibly. That has generated a long-standing debate in the cricket-religious nation. Is it time for Sachin to hang his gloves? Should he play only one form of the game hereafter? So on and so forth.

In both forms of the game, his averages have suffered in the past few years. Statistics don't lie even though they may not always give the whole picture. In one-dayers, he hardly has anything more to achive (highest number of runs, highest number of centuries and even highest number of matches now). The team is no longer dependent largely on him and also, his entertaining knocks have become rare. In Tests too, that is true to some extent, but he does have feats to accomplish there.

He is still too good a player to be dropped. Such greats need to be treated with dignity. But the onus is on Tendulkar to think about the situation and make a decision, even if that is to continue playing as is. Cricket fans all around the world definitely would not want to see a star wane away.