Sachin Tendulkar different from others: Srinivasan
26 March 2013 11:52 PM GMT
BCCI president N Srinivasan on Monday refused to be drawn into a debate on whether it was time for Sachin Tendulkar to call it quits from Test cricket, saying he is the ‘greatest batsman India has produced’ and it won’t be fair to the batsman to discuss about his retirement.
Asked whether BCCI was giving special treatment to Tendulkar when compared to the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, both of whom are presently out of the team due to non-performance, Srinivasan said, ‘I don’t think any one us can talk about Sachin (Tendulkar). Sachin is probably the greatest cricketer India has ever produced. I don’t think it is wise to sit and analyse his performance series wise,’ Srinivasan said in a television interview.
Srinivasan’s personal opinion was that Tendulkar has no comparison as he belongs to an altogether different league. ‘Sachin is different from others. This is my personal view and I distinguish between selection matters and personal view,’ the BCCI chief said. Srinivasan also refused to react to a column by renowned historian and cricket writer Ramachandra Guha where he said Tendulkar should have retired on a high, like Vijay Merchant, who quit international cricket after scoring a flawless century against England in 1951.
‘It’s not fair to be quizzed about Sachin because I am not a selector. I don’t think we should be discussing this. It’s not fair on Sachin to be discussed at all,’ he said.
‘BCCI’S FAITH IN THE TEAM AND CAPTAIN JUSTIFIED’
The 4-0 clean sweep against Australia in the just-concluded Test series has justified BCCI’s faith in the team and its leader MS Dhoni, according to board president N Srinivasan who said a ‘stern’ test awaits the team when they tour South Africa. Lauding India for its historic series victory over the Australians, Srinivasan said the Board ‘always had confidence in the team’ despite its below-par performances in recent times.
‘It is very nice to see India winning. We always had the confidence in the team. We understood that the team was going through a period of transition after some great stalwarts of Indian cricket chose to retire. But I think our faith in the team, the captain and the players have been justified. Cricket is a sport. In sport you cannot be winning all the time. I don’t think that the Indian players want to lose. They also want to win, they fought hard. Sometimes they had bad luck, circumstances were against them. But overall, we should be proud of our cricketers,’ he said.
Srinivasan was particularly happy with the way India bounced back after the 1-2 defeat at the hands of England at home in the previous series, but said stern tests awaits MS Dhoni’s men when they tour South Africa later this year. ‘Against England I thought may be were little bit unlucky at times, but the team regrouped and performed extremely well against Australia. But we will have tests in South Africa and New Zealand towards the end of this year and early part of next year.
Asked whether BCCI was giving special treatment to Tendulkar when compared to the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, both of whom are presently out of the team due to non-performance, Srinivasan said, ‘I don’t think any one us can talk about Sachin (Tendulkar). Sachin is probably the greatest cricketer India has ever produced. I don’t think it is wise to sit and analyse his performance series wise,’ Srinivasan said in a television interview.
Srinivasan’s personal opinion was that Tendulkar has no comparison as he belongs to an altogether different league. ‘Sachin is different from others. This is my personal view and I distinguish between selection matters and personal view,’ the BCCI chief said. Srinivasan also refused to react to a column by renowned historian and cricket writer Ramachandra Guha where he said Tendulkar should have retired on a high, like Vijay Merchant, who quit international cricket after scoring a flawless century against England in 1951.
‘It’s not fair to be quizzed about Sachin because I am not a selector. I don’t think we should be discussing this. It’s not fair on Sachin to be discussed at all,’ he said.
‘BCCI’S FAITH IN THE TEAM AND CAPTAIN JUSTIFIED’
The 4-0 clean sweep against Australia in the just-concluded Test series has justified BCCI’s faith in the team and its leader MS Dhoni, according to board president N Srinivasan who said a ‘stern’ test awaits the team when they tour South Africa. Lauding India for its historic series victory over the Australians, Srinivasan said the Board ‘always had confidence in the team’ despite its below-par performances in recent times.
‘It is very nice to see India winning. We always had the confidence in the team. We understood that the team was going through a period of transition after some great stalwarts of Indian cricket chose to retire. But I think our faith in the team, the captain and the players have been justified. Cricket is a sport. In sport you cannot be winning all the time. I don’t think that the Indian players want to lose. They also want to win, they fought hard. Sometimes they had bad luck, circumstances were against them. But overall, we should be proud of our cricketers,’ he said.
Srinivasan was particularly happy with the way India bounced back after the 1-2 defeat at the hands of England at home in the previous series, but said stern tests awaits MS Dhoni’s men when they tour South Africa later this year. ‘Against England I thought may be were little bit unlucky at times, but the team regrouped and performed extremely well against Australia. But we will have tests in South Africa and New Zealand towards the end of this year and early part of next year.
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