How long, Sachin Tendulkar?

Greatness never goes away except for fading into reminiscences. Greats, however, have to leave the stage at some point. The greatest thespian, the finest impresario on the cricket stage is now set to bow out into history.

The inevitable is upon us as also the question: How and when?

When Sunil Gavaskar announced his retirement on the back of an unbelievable, near match-winning innings of 96 on a brutal and treacherous strip in Bangalore, the country let out a collective sigh. “Why now?” the whole country asked. Everyone thought that he was still the best around. In sheer contrast was the huffing and puffing Kapil Dev who continued playing till the whole country started wondering whether the team was not paying too high a price for getting him a record. He looked incapable of getting even a schoolboy out when a relieved country bid him goodbye with his 434th wicket.

Sunny had then said that one should retire so that people should ask why and not ‘why not’. Sachin is unfortunately getting into the ‘why not’ spectrum. Sourav Ganguly has a point when he says that Sachin should retire from one-dayers.

Dilip Vengsarkar says that there is no substitute for Sachin. I would beg to disagree. There is no one irreplaceable in this universe. In the stellar world, even a solar system is not forever. This luminescent star too must come to the end of its cosmic cycle. Personal milestones can be allowed to be achieved as a token of acknowledgement for services rendered, but there has to be a timeline.

I find Sourav’s arguments lucid and logical. He says that Sachin is neither helping himself nor the team in the ODIs. It is now nearly a year since his 99th century. Ricky Ponting had to be dropped from an ODI game before he saw the light and announced ODI retirement.  There are others like Kohli and many other bright youngsters waiting in the wings who need to be blooded slowly into the international arena. It cannot be anybody’s case that we fall shy of bringing up youngsters in the ODI space. This is by definition a format for younger legs and matters have not been helped by Dhoni going public about the fielding level of some of the players in the side including Sachin.

Another very important aspect is the looming big transition in the Test match format where India has produced one of its worst performances ever. A performance reminiscent of the ignoble 1960s in 2011-12 has necessitated changes. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have probably played their last innings.

The Australians breached the wall with clinical efficiency after discovering the technical adjustment made by Dravid to score big runs in England. Just one century in four Test Matches (Virat Kohli) puts the whole debacle in perspective. Sachin, therefore, has to remain in the Test matches to guide this process of transition.

In order to focus on this and serve the country with his best, he has to act as the fulcrum around which the Indian batting will revolve for the next two years. He has to channelise his thinking faculties, and just think that his job is to supervise this transition in the Test matches. This would automatically relieve him of the pressure that he has put himself under with the expectation of the elusive 100th century. Dravid and Laxman are very difficult to substitute in the star-studded batting order but every team has to move on.

While we talk of Sachin retiring from ODIs, the selectors too must develop a plan of transition.

These are critical times for Indian cricket. The inadequacies of our administrators have got masked for far too long due to the presence of superstars in the team. BCCI has the enviable task of nurturing new superstars. I do not find any plan in place. The former cricketers’ performance in the Technical Committee was woeful.

Knee-jerk solutions like holding Ranji matches on neutral venues is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I wonder whether they even remotely considered the paper they had asked Aakash Chopra to forward to them. Why on earth do they not consider awarding batting and bowling points is beyond me. When I toured England with a club side in 1997, my reaction after looking at their tournament structure and their noble (!) tradition of all-day cricket in the club games, was that the game was on its deathbed in England. They have had the prescience to reform their structure and have made it competitive. Unless BCCI invigorates its domestic structure, I am afraid we will have seen the end of India’s domination. 

What do we do then? Just wait till destiny throws up a few superstars? Sachin the superstar was discovered by chance and the credit must go to Raj Singh Dungarpur for having the courage to pick him up at a young age. Today’s selectors would not stick to a youngster that long. We do not see selectors acting with either courage or gumption these days. There is no plan for mentoring promising youngsters or for tracking their progress.

Even that may not suffice as last 15 years or so Indian cricket has seen a galaxy of superstars at work together. Anil Kumble and Ganguly have retired and Dravid and Laxman will go now. The youngsters have not yet come up to the level of these retiring superstars. Their commitment and work ethic is yet to be proven fully at the highest level.

Among all the youngsters, Kohli seems to be the only one to have come close to making the cut. I am waiting for Pujara to get into his element. I am not so sure about Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina.

There is also a serious attitude problem among the youngsters. Many of them are performing only in the quest of an IPL contract. This has got to be addressed very quickly. Any youngster who puts IPL before the country requires a rap on the knuckles. Unfortunately, even here there is no plan to address the issue. In this backdrop, it becomes ever more important that Sachin is persuaded to focus only on the Test matches. He needs to retire from ODIs and if he does not see the light in the interest of Indian cricket, selectors must muster up courage to tell him to go. Take a leaf out of Cricket Australia’s book.

This is not an issue which is to be looked at emotionally. At stake is the very Indian cricket whose cause Sachin espouses. India has given him so much love, adulation and affection. He must now return it in good measure by letting personal preferences take a back seat and concentrate on national priorities. It is payback time.

(The writer is a principal secretary in the Rajasthan Government and a former president of Rajasthan Cricket Association. Follow him on Twitter: @Sanjay_Dixit)