After Tendulkar scored his100th international hundred on March16, 2012, in the one-day international (ODI) against a weak Bangladesh side, following his poor performance of not having scored a single century in his previous 33 innings, one of the questions that agitated the minds of cricket lovers in this country was whether he should retire from all formats of the game, including Test cricket (he had earlier announced his retirement from ODIs).The question assumed added significance, considering his age, and also that he had broken almost all  the records with the exception of Bradman’s highest Test average of 99.94 runs and a few other records of much lesser significance.   Only a few days earlier, Andy Zaltzman, writing for ESPN Cricinfo, had  opined that even thought it was 29 innings since Tendulkar had scored his 99th hundred and had suffered similar lean periods of poor performance twice before in his career, he had bounced back to form each time. He thus hinted that Tendulkar would similarly find form once again. His prediction did come  true, though his elusive hundred was scored in a one day international, and not in a Test, and that too against a very weak team that was incapable of bowling out even a University eleven!  It was at about this time that Pakistan's legendary cricketer Imran Khan, in an interview given to  CNN-IBN categorically stated that Tendulkar should have announced his retirement when he was at his peak, after India's World cup triumph in April 2011.According to Imran, it wouldn’t have mattered for a great player like Tendulkar whether he got his100th ton or not. "Cricket was not about breaking records. Records should be part of the win and not the other way about," Imran said, citing the example of Viv Richards who loved challenges and did not play for breaking records. He asserted that  a cricketer should know when to quit and not when he is unceremoniously sent out by his selectors for poor performance.  Imran also  stated that he  himself had retired at his peak after Pakistan's World Cup in 1992, thus preserving his reputation.It is against this background that, notwithstanding Tendulkar’s miserable batting average of 32 in  the Test Series against the weakest Australian team that ever played cricket, the  IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla  justified the retention of Tendulkar, declaring that nobody had the right to drop him unceremoniously in view of his enormous contribution to Indian cricket. This was echoed by BCCI president  N. Srinivasan as well.
Tenndulkar himself said that people who were clamoring for his retirement had never taught him how to play cricket- a rather perverse justification of his decision not to retire.It is in this context that it is relevant to mention that the great Don Bradman had already announced his decision to retire after the 1948 Test series in England, and though he failed by a whisker to finish with a Test career average of 100, he did not reverse his decision to quit. His historic walk back to the pavilion after having been bowled by Hollies for a duck is the stuff of legend.On the contrary, Tendulkar's obstinate quest for his elusive 100th ton had only led to a series of embarrassments. His unwillingness to retire even now, when he is clearly on the decline is unpardonable. It seems pointless to stretch a fading career beyond its utility for the team just to score more records.The Don would never have allowed himself to suffer this ignominy.
Note: Views expressed are those of the reader and not of the newspaper.