Times change, and we change with them, so does Tendulkar?

One of the finest batsmen’s of the cricket world, the leading run scorer in both of the age-old formats of the cricket, the only batsmen who managed to reach the peaks of 100 international tons mark, the second greatest Test batsmen as ranked by Wisden, and the second Indian to get the highest Australian honour – The Order of Australia; the list goes on, if we patiently sits for a debate praising Mr. Sachin Tendulkar, the legendary Indian batsmen. 

So does Tendulkar?

On the contrary, all those praises are just going through the gutter against the little master blaster’s (Sachin as widely known as) contemporary performance on the field. As the time passed on, the terror in other team’s bowlers to bowl to Mumbai’s pride (as Sachin is largely referred to) is getting vanished, Sachin’s own followers turning out to be the most violent quibbling pots, the Indian team selectors being questioned constantly over Tendulkar’s permanent slot in the squad irrespective of his pale performances. The problems/criticisms are just mounting against the fact that the ace batsman should be given his due respect to decide upon a big decision on vanishing from International Cricket.

The 39 year old Indian batsman, has nothing in common with the 37 year old Mr. Ricky Ponting – the then Australian Captain, who recently has hanged his boots, ending 17 year old cricket career – but alas, has even compared to the Australian on retirement terms. What the heck!

Is Sachin not even worth of his due respect? How far it is reasonable to compare a batsman of Sachin’s stature to that of one of finest cricketing Captains image of Ricky Ponting? Aren’t we in the middle of ruckus?

We do recognise the factor that Sachin Tendulkar’s respective slot in Team India is causing a blockade to bring-in the new talent. We do consider that Sachin has taken many matches in between to complete his 100^th International ton. We do value that despite being a key resource, is not able to put his mark against the opponents. We do accept that the contemporary cricket needs a Sachin of the then Sharjah match winner, but not a Sachin like old-duck just appearing for the sake of appearance.

But - Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis – times change, and we change with them. So does Tendulkar need to? What’s your opinion?