Call It A Day

The misfield by Sachin Tendulkar on the last ball of the series was befitting, and sums up of the situation for him.

The bottom line is - he is not only way away from his prime, and his form is on perpetual decline - he has, in fact, stooped to the lowest level in his career now. I believe, he should have called quits long before, but he doesn't do that now, his erstwhile greatness may get permanently removed from our memories, and that would not be fair to him.

To put things in perspective, here are some statistics. Of all his 35 centuries, since November 2002 he has scored just 4 of them! Amongst these, one century (248 not out) is against Bangladesh; another is against Pakistan (194 not out) at Multan, in which he was playing so slow that acting captain Dravid had to declare even before he could complete his double century!

His earlier century against Australia (241 not out) was dubbed by Ian Chappel as the worst Tendulkar century ever because he just refused to play on off side!

It all started when media commented that Sachin Tendulkar cannot graft in Tests. He plays as if he is playing one days. This reportedly changed the whole psyche of him. Just to show people, he tried to graft. The situation now is - he can neither graft nor play his natural Cricket. The Midas touch is gone, it seems, for ever.

I have no clue why he is still continuing - for country's sake or for his personal ego - but he must go now for his own sake. Its just not happening with him. He looks helpless, clueless, and pathetic on the field.

The way he patently hops down - after every LBW or Bold dismissal, as if to show that ball kept low, which is usually not the case - cuts an extremely sorry picture. Already, people have begun to ridicule about this, and soon the ridicule will expand to the other features of his game with likes of Barry Richards and Imran Khan already sniggering "I told you so".

The worst part is that his old competitors to throne - Lara, and Inzymam are still at their prime, and the new ones like Ponting have hit a perpetual purple patch. That puts Tendulkar's patchy performances even more dismal in comparison.

The last Test match was lost just because of that inexplicable partnership of 24 Runs in 15 overs between Sachin and Dravid. With Ganguly, Dravid was playing decently which is typical to his habit. If the person at the other end is playing good, Dravid would blossom; but if the other guy plays like all is lost, Dravid creates even more dismal scenario.

Anyways, lot said. Time to rethink Sachin. Don't be another Kapil. Give a last try, and if it doesn't happen for you - Call it a day.

Pollock's Bunny..

..Sachin Tendulkar.

Scores in last three innings:-

2(20 balls)
2(22 balls)
2(15 balls)

Superb!

Analyze This

Tendulkar has another record to his name, while Pakistan has the match.

He is now the top scorer amongst Indian Test Cricketers now, leaving behind Sunil Gavaskar.

Incidentally, this team has the Captain(Sourav Ganguly) who has won the most number of Test matches for India. He has also won the most number of Test matches abroad.

This team has the player(Virendra Sehwag) who has scored most number of runs in an innings for India; the player(Rahul Dravid) who has scored second most numbers of runs in an innings; the player(VVS Laxman) who has scored third most numbers of runs in an innings; the player(Sachin Tendulkar) who has the most number of centuries in the world; the player(Rahul Dravid) who has most number of double centuries for India.

In addition to that, we have the player(Anil Kumble) who has taken the most number of wickets in Test Cricket for India.

Despite of all this greatness bestowed upon Indian Team, Pakistan won this test by 168 runs. India lost to Pakistan, the each and every day of this test , all the sessions except one. That tells some story of the fact that how misplaced the performance evaluation criterion in India is.

And even when all the arguments would fail, we would have highly cliched statement ready - Form is temporary, Class is permanent. Who cares if India lost the match !

Mai Na Kehta Tha

Circinfo reports: Umpire Bucknor raises him finger after deliberating for a long time! Tendulkar walks away shaking his head, tv replays clearly indicate that the ball swung away after passing the bat, Bucknor gets it terribly wrong on this occasion.

I had already forewarned about Bucknor. Its his 100th match. Bucknor wants to have fun. And he shall have it. Or is it the Pakistani cake which Bucknor had cut on the eve of his 100th Test which has done the trick ?

There is not much to add to the point that this guy(Bucknor) is as low a human being as a slut. Never seen the mockery of the game of such proportions. Loosing mental faculty is one thing, while deliberate hounding and vilification is another.

Qatil Ada

At the end of the first day, Sachin Tendulkar sat for the daily press conference. Amongst other things he spoke about, there was this particular quote which I found very interesting. It was in the yesterday's edition of The Times Of India as well.

On his 10000th Run, Sachin says : I did not realise it. All of a sudden, the crowd reaction was different. I asked Rahul (Dravid) what happened. He said, ‘You want me to tell?’ I said, ‘No. I know now.’

Reading this, I scratched my head. Is our Tendlya so naive ? I don't believe so. Nor did Abhishek. Even if we believe he was naive and forgetful, there are facts which contradict his statement. Here is the proof given by Abhishek.

These two things happened well before Dravid went up to him to congratulate.

- He raised his bat after scoring that run.
- And exchanged hand shakes with Pakistani players.

Also,
-crowd's reaction did not become "different" "all of sudden". They had been applauding everyball after his 15-16th Run.
-There was a countdown to 10000 runs being displayed on scoreboard.
-He was visibly shaky & stranded way too long before that run.
-Attempeted 2-3 very horrendious shots for that run.
-There was a phenomenal jump in the scoring rate from 0-27 to 28-52.

Judge yourself. May be he his naive, but we are not. That's the perfect example of putting one's foot in the mouth.

For Mr 'X' From NY/Chicago

Mr 'X' in his comments to my previous post had enquired "more about how slow his(Sachin's) innings of 193 was" & "more about how slow his 194 at multan was". I well tell you more than that.

Tendulkar's 193 in Headingly was scored in 330 balls, 431 minutes, when at the same time Sourav Ganguly scored 128 runs in just 167 balls and 261 minutes.

In Multan, Sachin scored 194 in 348 balls in whopping 493 minutes, where as Sehwag scored 309 runs, in meager 375 balls & 531 minutes. In the same innings, Yuvraj Singh had scored 59 runs in 66 balls.

In Sydney, against Australia, Tendulkar scored 241 in 436 balls & 613 minutes where as Laxman scored 178 in 298 balls & 403 minutes. In second innings, when India needed fast runs, Tendulkar scored 60 runs in 89 balls, when Dravid scored 91 in 114 balls and Sehwag 47 in 50 balls.

I think this information is 'more' than enough to open up your cataracting eyes. I am leaving the arithmatic for you. It just requires a few divisions and substractions now.

However, this might not be enough to give you some sense in comment writing. If you had a different of opinion, then state it with reasoning, like what Khandu did. But that's the part of the upbringing.

What's Wrong , Sachin?

If media is to be believed, whole nation yesterday exhaled a collective gasp of disappointment (source TOI). If Sehwag could be believed, whole Indian team was dejected(source SIFY). All these heart aches are due to our much adored Tendulkar's missing his two records.

By missing century, he couldn't exceed Gavaskar's tally of most centuries in Test Cricket, and by scoring 121 runs, he could have reached his, now much elusive, 10000 runs.

I was neither left gasping, nor dejected because I don't give a damn about it. I don't miss his record, I miss his game. The truth is that this is happening much too often. He takes too much agonizing time on the crease these days; more so, whenever he is reaching a milestone.

I am not sure, but some considerable time back a few petty idiots had blabbered that Sachin doesn't play Test Cricket as it should be, and lo, he begin to grind at the crease, curbing his natural instincts. This is leading him no where, but he is not learning from it. I am not giving any advice, but this is a fact.

This had happened when Dravid had to declare even before he could reach his double century just because he was marooned for quite a long, inexplicable time in 190s against Pakistan. His previous two innings against Aussies were similar too(241* & 60*). Ditto was the story against West Indies at Kolkota an year earlier( 176), and against England another year earlier( 92 & 193).

The last time I saw him playing his natural game was against West Indies(, the fifth Test) at Kingston in 2001-2002. He scored a swashbuckling 86 in second innings, and that too had come after a looooong time, and there has been no repeat performance since then. It is so unfortunate that with the ascent of Sehwag in Test Cricket, we have seen great master's descent.

He must realize that these tennis elbows, crushed toe bones, and trouble some backs won't allow him a very long run in Cricket now; so whatever opportunity he gets, he must make a full use of it. Mustn't leave it for next time. Till then, I won't care for records. I just want to see him play his natural game. Records are besides the point.

Random Thoughts

One year seems to be a long time in sporting world. Recent comments by South African ex-cricketer Barry Richards clearly suggest that.

Barry Richard now believes that Sachin Tendulkar is 'still possibly' the best batsman in the world. Just last year, during the World Cup in South Africa, when Sachin was going hammer and tongs against all teams, and was adjudged the Man of The Tournament, Barry had other thoughts.

He, then believed that Brett Lee was the better choice. Around the same time, he had pointed out that it's Adam Gilchrist, not Sachin who is the best batsman in the world. 'Statistics are often misleading' is his favourite bedroom line.

Now that Sachin is much subdued and is not performing up to his potential, Barry has the change of heart. Reason, of course will always remain a mystery, though I am pleasantly surprised at that. He rarely has warm words for Indian team, especially Tendulkar.

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Surprise Surprise !! In Hockey, India has beaten last Olympics silver medallist, South Korea 5-2. They had taken 4-0 lead in first half. South Korea must have been trifle disappointed because India did not concede single goal in dying moments which they have been patently doing . Now, that is some thing which had not happened since a long long time.

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Anju George looks for the impossible today. Loaded with too much expectations, plus tremendous media glare - the job becomes doubly difficult. Eight jumpers out of eleven are ahead of her in the qualifiers. True, that hardly indicates anything, but the past 13 days' experience forces me to be realistic, rather than fantastic. My only hope is that she gives her best shot and passes the dope test.