BCCI will request Sachin to retire after his 200th Test match

Sachin could call time on his glittering cricket career soon

Sachin Tendulkar‘s 200th Test match could be his last with the BCCI all set to request him to call time on his outstanding career in order to give more chances to promising young cricketers, BangaloreMirror reports.

Tendulkar will be asked by the Board Of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to hang up his cricket shoes after he plays his 200th Test in November. Tendulkar is India’s greatest cricketer of all time and the best sports product India has ever produced.

According to the Bangalore Mirror, a source from the Board acknowledged that they will pitch the idea of retirement to Sachin, who did not look like he was going to quit the game anytime soon until now.

The person who will break the news to Sachin has been chosen by the BCCI. The name of the person is being kept under wraps due to the ongoing turmoil with the BCCI and N Srinivasan. When asked if the reports were true, Srinivasan, who was recently re-elected as BCCI president, declined to comment.

The Board thinks that Sachin is a shadow of his former self and that it is the right time for him to step down. The master blaster has under-performed in the Test matches against England and Australia and the BCCI feels that his usefulness has run its course.

The 40-year-old has not scored a century in 22 Tests, and has only managed two half-centuries in his last 12 Tests. The BCCI want to rebuild the national team with young talent and Tendulkar does not feature in their plans.

The former India international has had a negligible record since his last Test in 2011 in Cape Town where he hit 506 runs in eight tests with an average of 35, a record which is poor for a cricketer of his stature.

Board sources told the Bangalore Mirror that the two-Test series versus the West Indies have been chosen to favour Sachin. Although nothing is official yet, the Tests will most likely be played in Mumbai, the birthplace of Tendulkar.

The delicateness of the situation is due to no selector ever dropping Tendulkar when he wanted to play. “At the same time his batting frailties have become too stark to ignore,” said the senior official. “He could not face a bowler like Monty Panesar in home conditions. He was further exposed in the series against Australia. Now the tricky bit is who will let him know this.”

The news of the impending retirement will be broken by a senior administrator and not a selector. “Put together, they (the selectors) do not match his stature of 200 Tests and over 33,000 international runs. Between them, the four selectors – the other one has not played Test cricket – have not played even one third of the Tests that Tendulkar has played.”