Inzamam-ul-Haq said that to retire or not is an individual decision and added that the Big three- had not reached retirement age.
NEW DELHI: Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq Saturday said here that to retire or not is an individual decision and added that the top three Indian players - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly - had not reached retirement age.
"The experience of senior players is very important for a team, more so in a high pressure India-Pakistan series," he said at a press conference.
"It's an individual decision to retire. I don't think they (Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly) have reached an age when they should retire. I retired because I am (almost) 38. It was surprising not to find Dravid's name in the team," he said.
The 37-year-old master batsman said there was no hard and fast rule about the age for retirement. He cited the case of former Pakistan captain Imran Khan who played international cricket till he was almost 40.
"There is no fixed age for retirement. It depends on the fitness of individual players and their performance. Imran bhai played till 39.
"Senior players are crucial for a team. The problem in our subcontinent is that immediately after one World Cup we start preparing for the next World Cup and start drafting in youngsters," he said, taking a swipe at the administrators of Pakistan.
Inzamam said he was surprised not to find Dravid's name in the Indian team announced for the first two One-Day Internationals against Pakistan starting in Guwahati Monday.
The right-hander, who amassed 8,830 runs at 49.60 in 120 Tests and 11,739 at 39.52 in 378 ODIs, also supported the Indian players' newfound aggression.
"The joy of playing cricket is with aggression. But aggression should not cross a limit. Aggression is a tactic to put the opponents under pressure," said the Multan-born player.
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