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Why Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly must quit India's one-day squad

The little maestro has been struggling with his fitness after 20 years of gruelling Test and ODI cricket. But he could still make the 2011 World Cup if he took time out now.

by band afbab on 15 September 2007

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Sachin Tendulkar: Time to pack his one-day bags (Gettyimages.com)

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I wrote after the World Cup that it was time for four of India's senior players - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble - to retire from the one-day game. Kumble retired immediately after the debacle, and reading about Tendulkar's rumoured desire to retire from ODIs means that the thought has crossed his mind.

The primary reason for me to suggest that they all retire within the next six months is that it's very unlikely that they will all be around for the tournament in four years' time. Preparing for a World Cup means identifying at least 20 individuals and finalising the squad of 15 about six months before the tournament, much like what Australia and Sri Lanka did for 2007.

Tendulkar, especially, has been struggling with the effects of playing for almost two decades. He was in sparkling form in the recent ODIs against South Africa and Sri Lanka, but his inability to cross the 100 mark was clearly a result of the fatigue he now feels after batting for too long. Add to that the fielding and bowling he has to do, and it's a lot of strain on his body.

'Tendulkar's inability to cross the 100 mark in the recent series against England and South Africa was clearly a result of the fatigue he now feels'

If he really wants one last shot at the World Cup, which will be played at home, it might be wise for him to step aside from the ODI side for the next two years. In fact, just as they realised that Twenty20 is not their cup of tea, all three of them should retire (or take a break) from the ODI side after the Australia tour later this year. Shane Warne did that with a lot of success and managed to prolong his Test career.

A lot of important cricket is scheduled after the Twenty20 tournament, and it involves Tests and ODIs against Pakistan and Australia - India's biggest rivals. On current form, the trio are still far better than the players waiting in the wings, but their fielding drags the side down. In all the matches we won, we relied heavily on big scores from the opening pair of Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, and such reliance is unhealthy. It's important that players like Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik play at least one or two full seasons for us to evaluate our bench strength.

The other important issue is the one of the future captain. Rahul Dravid's slump in the Test series against both England and South Africa is alarming. It's early to say, but it's possible the twin pressures of captaincy and being the best batsman in the side are affecting his batting. Considering that both Verinder Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh have been playing for more than five years, they should have been ready to take over the captaincy sometime soon.

Sadly, they haven't taken their chances at cementing their places and we've continued to rely on the foursome of Sachin, Sourav, Rahul and VVS Laxman. Giving either Yuvraj or Sehwag (or even Mahinder Singh Dhoni) the captaincy for the ODI squad will give the future captain time to settle in and prepare for World Cup 2011.

Considering the amount of meaningless ODI cricket scheduled (along with the Twenty20 tournaments sprouting everywhere) it would be prudent for them to step aside from the ODI squad, concentrate on Test cricket and allow younger players a platform which is better than Twenty20.

Is this the way forward for India? Post your comments below or submit an article to Sportingo.

Comments (11)

by Sridhar on September 15, 2007

Look at the number of runs Sourav or Sachin scored this year. There is no way you are gonna have youngsters perform consistently. You cant write sensational posts to get publicity at the cost of national heros. bad articile. Let's see if you can put this comment or if you have the guts to do it.

by Shweta on September 15, 2007

Not sure that I agree. You are concentrating on the future of india. You cannot build a team with a weak foundation. India is not an australian team. You need a good blend of seniors and youngsters. We have 3 seniors and 8 youngsters. You wanted Sachin and Ganguly to quit because they were not playing well. Now you want them to quit because they are playing exceptional cricket. What do you want them to do ? Ridiculous media people. What they can do to get attention ?

by Arpit on September 15, 2007

Your article is pathetic. Why do you want them to retire. They are in such good form, especially Sachin. I totally disagree with you, man.

by bandafbab on September 15, 2007

I want them to retire (or take a break) to prolong their test careers and give younger players a chance to see if they're good enough for the next world cup. The focus for me is the the World Cup 2011, not some meaningless ODI series which one will forget a few weeks after they finish. I'm one of Sachin's biggest fans, and his retirement from the oneday squad will help prolong his test career and also allow Kaif, Uthappa, Gambhir an extended run to prove themselves in ODIs.

by Priti on September 15, 2007

Well it's a bad article. Kaif has been given ample chances. So has Gambhir. Utapa is getting chances to display his skills. Take out sachin or ganguly, the team will go to drains. Maybe sachin can be rested against shitty teams like Zimbabwe or bangladesh, but for major ODIs against australia or England we need him. Stupid article.

by abbhi on September 16, 2007

There are umpteen number of players who are in their mid-thirties in many teams in the cricketing world. Australia, SA, NZ... but no one in their country calls them 'aging'. But listening to our commentators, one gets the impression that we have players over 50 in out team. It is listening to such commentators that band afbab has writtne this piece. Let the players decide when they want to retire - as Kumble did after the world cup. Sachin, Sourav, Rahul, ( and even Laxaman, Kumble in test squad) all have been doing wonderfully well. So my slogan for the indian cricket fan is 'Relax and enjoy the game of the trio, we are not likely to see the like of them too soon.'

by indian on September 16, 2007

I guess you are from pakistan. Go back to the s**t hole you came from !

by debasis tripathy on September 17, 2007

do you have any sense or just you needed somrthing to right , i Don waanna give any comments on such an useless article. Please refrain from writting such articles its more of a joke rather than an article .

by ravi on September 19, 2007

I understand what you want to say, but simply retiring them wont do anything. like someone else pointed out indian teams have always had a balance of seniors and juniors. Give new faces a chance but instead of all out retiring them, work on their fitness, stamina, and endurannce. Like abbhi said 2 posts before me they are people in other sides who are in mid-thirties and are still playing well. Thats is because in my opinion they are fitter. Work on this problem and you'll see a definate change in perfomance. Also seniors like dravid, sachin and sourav inspire a team. Overdependace is a crutch but their ability to lead is a great asset too.

by band afbab on September 21, 2007

It's a bit late for the trio to improve their fitness or fielding. Seeing the way our 20-20 squad is performing, it makes sense for these guys to take a break (or retire) from oneday cricket, and let the younger guys play without fear of getting dropped for a senior player. It's more likely that the 20-20 squad players will make it to the world cup, so why not test them gainst Australia and Pakistan in the upcoming ODIs? Yuvraj, Sehwag and Harbhajan have enough experience to help out the new captain Dhoni. BTW, thanks for making a sane comment compared to the angry ones earlier.

by Sammer on September 26, 2007

I think having players that have some cricket left in them is not helpful to ODI form of cricket. We need players full of cricket not just left overs. We need players who can give their best on the field and anything less should not be acceptable. Look at the 20-20 side, they won the world cup, because they played with a new attitude.