No one can ask me to retire, because to play cricket and play for India was my decision – Sachin Tendulkar !!

No one can ask me to retire, because to play cricket and play for India was my decision – Sachin Tendulkar !!

Hmm…. Sachin Tendulkar. One of the biggest cricketing legend, great human and a proud Indian. I once loved him play. I don’t enjoy watching him now as much as I used to watch him few years ago. May be I loved his cricket more than the man he is. Cricket gives you happiness. It makes you proud to be Indian if you love the game. It’s the same with any sport for that matter. So I watch cricket because it makes me happy. When my country gets defeated I get defeated. Therefore I will want my country or team to win. To win we need a team better than any other team. Team is made of people. So we need people who are at the best. Forget the past. It is present and the future that matters to me.

So I was wondering. When I reach 60 and when I am not as smart as the newly recruited young blood in the company, would I tell my company, “Nobody can tell me to retire. Nobody helped me to study. I worked hard to get recruited to this company. So nobody has the right to ask me to retire.” Well I could have told this if I own the company. But I don’t own the company. I am just the part of my team.  So in my 60s can I think like this? “In the past, in my younger days, I have worked really hard in this company and I was called the master in what I did. I set very high standards. I was smart, I brought more business. Now things have changed. The way people do business has changed. I am old now, I am more experienced than these young guys but I don’t have the energy to run behind clients, daily escalations. I still have the same passion but I feel I am letting my team down. I better at least let my employers know when I will retire and take it easy, so that they can recruit a young guy like me who is waiting for his chance to have a go at this world.”

This is my point of view. I am not saying that Sachin should retire. Well I don’t have the rights to say that. However, I have the right to say that my team should not be defeated badly consistently. All the steps should be taken to make sure this doesn’t happen. Nobody is bigger than the team.

Sachin is the greatest player and he is the greatest batsman but the decision to retire is not only his. It should be a collective decision. There are so many young players for whom Sachin is nothing less than God. But they shouldn’t be waiting on the bench for their God to give them a chance to be God.  I am no one to say that Sachin should retire, but the decision is not entirely his. If it is so, then the selectors are just dummies who want to make money with Sachin as brand for Indian cricket. The decision should be mutual and graceful.

Just passion for a thing is not enough. One should every day evaluate if someone can do the job better than them. If the answer is yes, it’s time to pass on the baton. There is no point in holding on to that baton and walk. The young guy on the last lap will die waiting for you to reach him. Your team will be second or third but never first. The passion to run was there but was constrained by physical ability. Even if you are 2^nd or 3^rd, you will still feel defeated, because you have set so high standard for yourself that people can only accept you as no 1, every time, each time you run. So run that last race, run with all your might, feel peoples love for you, see the respect in their eyes, the same love they had for you when you were at your peak, run as if you are in 20, run the last race, pass on the baton and in the end when you have contributed for the teams win and seen everything in your life, just hang on the boots. Only you know when to run that last race. I like you Sachin but I like my team India more. Now don’t tell me I never played for India, how I would know. I know this for sure, because each time you had that cricket bat in your hand, million hearts prayed that you don’t get out because they wanted India to win !! Why is that today when you hold the same cricket bat I am not much worried? That’s because today Indian cricket has so many match winners who have grown around you and learnt from you. Today when my team is defeated, I don’t blame you. I blame the team, because when I blame you, people come up with facts to support that you are not the guy to be blamed. It is true, you are the best. But God will be questioned, because He is God and every time, his followers will bring the bible, kuran and so on to support that God is greatest, but I just sometimes wonder. If God is really as powerful as people say he is, then why does he need supporters or followers? May be that’s what makes him God !! Ultimately, it’s up to the people who support you. I hope you get good things to hear from everyone when you decide to change your role in Indian cricket and take up bigger, different responsibilities!!