Former India off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna today said Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement from ODIs was a realistic decision which brought relief to the national selectors.
“Sachin’s retirement from ODIs is a realistic decision as it has relieved the selectors from facing embarrassment of picking or dropping him from one-day games. If he was dropped, many would have questioned the selectors and included many would have questioned his capabilities,” he told reporters here.
Sachin would have been a liability if he had failed and obviously he is a super cricketer, an icon but a human being whose reflexes are not the same as it was twenty years before, Prasanna said.
Prasanna said Sachin retired from ODIs possibly to focus on Test matches because he has not done well in the recent past and is determined to perform before he quits the longer version of the game.
“He knows people forget one-day and T20 matches. A player is recognised as good with reference to five-day game,” he said.
Prasanna said the fact that Sachin could manage to maintain himself at such a high level for a very long time speaks volumes of the God’s gift to him.
“We may talk about Don Bradman, XYZ and what not, but they did not play as much cricket as this boy has played,” he said.
Former India wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani said Sachin should have retired from the ODI after India lifted the World Cup, but certainly not amidst severe criticism.
“The timing of Sachin’s retirement was inappropriate. He should have retired following India’s world Cup triumph. If he would have retired then, everybody would have lauded especially when he was at his peak,” he said.