Well I am not saying it rahter it is former australian captain Ian chappel. Here is what he have to say,

I don't want to compare any players, but my favorite batsman is Lara. There is no doubt about Tendulkar's class. Needless to say, Ponting has been the BEST batsmen in the world in the recent times(though Im not a very big fan of him). I don't like Indian team very much, but I wanted to see India winning a world cup just because of Sachin Tendulkar. He is a great batsmand and it is the only feat he has not accomplished yet.
Talking about Sachin's retirement, I would say who the ef are those guys who say that he should retire. He is one of the greatest players of all times and he should know himself than anybody else when to retire. People were saying the same thing about Ganguly and he has come back strongly. We all know well, "FORM IS TEMPORARY, BUT CLASS IS PERMANENT"

Mr./Ms. bidhan40 if quoting of individuals makes a player great I can copy and paste more quotations from Individuals or self-proclaimed Cricket critic praising Sachin. I guess if you search on google you will find 1000s time more comments praising Sachin than Lara and Ponting put together. But quotations don't make a player great but his on and off the field activities does. Sachin is No less great than Lara, Jaysurya or Ponting. Regarding his retirement, I guess every team will choose the best player they have and Sachin is still teh best player India has on and off their bench. So, I don't think he should retire and jeopordize the team. His record past and present suggest the same. He is still going to be in the team india till 2011 World cup. Any one wanna bet against it.

Guys lets recosider Bidhan's stance
Bidhan = kattar paki fan, kattar anti - indian team ( He wanted them to exit out early, even a neutral wouldnt have wanted so because A GENUINE CRICKET FAN would've never wanted a BANGLADESH VS AUS and a BANGLADESH VS NZ MATCH instead of india playing them ).
Bidhan = trying to tell us all that he isnt the best by quoting the other players/coaches by googling.
Bidhan = seems to be an intelligent human being but being a complete moron by elude us from singing hymns and worshipping SACHIN!!!
I'm a die hard tendulkar fan, and THERE's no way that im gonna allow a rubbish talk to slip by.
PS this is like someone saying that Ronaldinho should retire now ( although he hasnt dominated football as much as Sachin's dominated Cricket ) .
MAN , yo muji pakistan ko fan haru ta baula huna lage jasto cha. GEDA jasto INZAMAM CHOR TA RETIRE GARYA CHAINA, MUJI MERO SACHIN RETIRE GARNE?

couldn't resist the temptation of putting forth my 2 unwanted cents here.

let me make my stance clear first off. to all the die hard tendulkar fans here: i am, by no means, trying to offend you folks! no matter how long he's' gonna play from now on, tendulkar will be remembered as one of the greatest batsmen world has ever seen, period!

when he beat the crap out of aussies TWICE in the 98 sharjah cup tournament: first in the crunch qualifying match and then in the final afterwards, i was one among millions of his supporters who applauded him for his classy and gutsy performance. i used to like him before that but i became an instant fan of his after that coz it was one heck of a show!

BUT

there are few things that one needs to look into when analyzing a performer- a player of this game called cricket. when one speaks of a player, he/she has to come out of prejudices for or against the player just because you love or hate the team he plays for.

that said, i would like to put forth my take on cricket in general and tendulkar:

1) cricket is not just a physical game but MORE importantly a mental battle.

2) as much as strongly talented/skillful, a player also needs to be MENTALLY STOUT to deliver at the top-notch level.

i hope folks, who know this game, will agree with me on this.

there is no doubt that tendulkar is one of the best batsmen in terms of skill/talent. there are very few players who can play all the shots around the wicket as efficiently as tendulkar does. if you ask me personally, i haven't seen anyone else in today's generation, who has all the shots in his armories and can play all of them as equally well as does tendulkar!

so why is that he's not been able to perform to his level lately?

1) mental strength is where he lags big time behind other class players. he is NOT rigid mentally. his inability to deliver in crunch/pressure matches is it's evidence. i mean c'mon, forget about the legends with the likes of viv richards or gary sobers or brian lara for that matter, but let's look at some of the australian players like matt hayden or ricky ponting. technically speaking, matt hayden is no where near tendulkar. he does not play too many shots behind the wicket or square of the wicket for that matter coz his strength lies in playing in front of the wicket, means, he is not all that good a player for horizontal shots. BUT, he is one of the key match winners for aussies for the last few years, because he is mentally very very tough. in form or out of form, he does not allow bowlers to take over him. he always looks for forcing the issue to the bowlers. that requires a lot of mental rigidity. tendulkar lacks it big time!

2) back problem, elbow injury and other physical injuries/weaknesses that he suffered from in the past few years, has considerably cut down his ability to play many shots -- hook or pull shots being the major ones. he is NO MORE the same tendulkar that he used to be.

3) tendulkar is still young-- age-wise alright, but, for someone who's played CONTINUOUSLY for the last 17/18 years, it's very hard to cope up with the physical and mental condition at the status quo. physical deterioration is inevitable and he is just a normal human being--NO GOD!

so, because of all these reasons, tendulkar has lost his superior form somewhat permanently to say the least. he may be able to play for few more years, but his best time has gone. his fans should know this.

i love the game and love this gentleman called tendulkar for his skill and sportsmanship, but every good thing comes to and end and sadly but truly he's on the verge of termination. let's accept this reality.


LooTe

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Okay accpet the fact that he is on the end of the career, but what Bidhan pal is upto? I still fail to comprehend and I blame noone else but my retard mind.

Bidhan pal - Lara is indeed the toughest opponent for McGrath, but he is one for every bowlers? C'mon now you sound more like 'Tendulkar' hate rather than a cricket fan. Sorry to come up with this conclusion pal! I have always read your comments on cricket and was and still am glad to find you as one who has interests in cricket, but I do not see any justice in comparing players. Eveyrone is good in their own way, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.

Arghhh ..typos please truncate them, especially the last sentence! :$

hahahahaha..flips maicha!!! yo bidhan bhanne manchhe west indies ko die hard fan ho..so he doesn't see anything other than maroon LOL! :P...bidhan praji, i know how you marketed italian soccer team during the world cup last year hehe..so i know ke...and i know others do too...:P....but WI is down and out (almost)..so your campaign is almost over. :P...

that said, mc grath has foxed tendulkar in several occasions so he is more comfortable bowling at tendulkar than lara. whoever has commented that lara has an edge over tendulkar, well, it's their prerogative so one should not be doing anything against it. i don't believe too much on folks like tony greig who would go head over heels to praise a batsman more than he deserves when he plays well. but folks like ian chappel are more rational to my mind and i have to agree with what ian said about tendulkar.

there are many indians who have themselves started to believe that tendulkar era is gone which is right, so why we nepali folks trying hard to prove them wrong huh? :P...nothing can be taken away from what he's achieved in cricket, but hey, let's not stretch him further beyond improbable. tendulkar era is gone! :(

LooTe

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Okay let's put it this way. What is the sole purpose of this thread? Bidhan pal doesn't say that Tendulkar's career has come to an end but he does believe what Ian Chappel and others have to say about! Ironic, very ironic indeed!

I'm not supporting Tendulkar because of his team I favor, but because of his class. Most probably his good days are gone, but his bad days don't say he was not a class player.

Feel free to disagree!

I don't disagree..

Feel free to agree :P

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Hahaha Loote sir, you are a cracker!

Btw I have always believed that McGrath was better off Tendulkar. I still remember a Test Series (forgot which one is it, been a long time) where Mcgrath bowled beauties to Tendulkar. Everytime Glenn deliverd ball to this Little Man, I literally shorten the distance between the initial position and the screen. Fun those days were and fun to came up with those wicked ideas just to watch my team playing!

yah i know flips...mc grath has taken tendulkar's wickets on more than 7 occasions (that too on a trot, i believe) in the test encounters between india and aus. so mc grath has every right to chose lara over tendulkar :D

btw, still disappointed over india's exit ki got over it??? do you need tissues? still ? ;P

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I guess there are other stuffs to be taken care of. Indeed disappoint I'm not to see them in the super eight but I guess they achieved on how/what they had performed. Life goes on without them too, hoina? Btw, thanks for your tissues. I'll prolly need them for bigger moments.

Alrighty, enjoy your weekend and the games too!

hehe...yeah i am not too happy either. early exit of india and pakistan has taken the charm and glamor away from this wc to much extent. but as you said, that's how it is...perform or perish! :D..

you have a gr8 weekend too flips. enjoy other games. :-)

Bidhan gets to get a life!

duh!
Read as :
Bidhan needs to get a life.

Hey FLips and Loots,
Hows it going?

bidhan40 ,
not really gonna say anything about your views on tendulkar or lara, Im enjoying the posts made by others, but I do wanna say soimething ... did the T in your keyboard got fcked up or what ? you seem to be saying endulkar a lot more rather than tendulkar .... is it your way of saying lara is sooo great that tendulkar does not deserve the t in his last name ???

Hahaha Lemoney Sweet, you never fail to bring smile on my face. Just dropped in to say hi. You have a wonderful weekend!

G'nite!

Hey Flips,
YOU do the same to everyone too. Have a great weekend!
Goodnight. and yes.. Sachin rocks and he has atleast a year or two of wonderful ODIs. The ones who dont agree can very well turn green and blue and red and black and finally transparent and wish they'd never said what they have about what he's worth.

look who's in!!!
hehe limca!!! howdy??? long tyam no see, no hear??? ke ho??? kati busy bha...spring break sakisakya hoina ra? :D

oops........before we hijack this thread, let's talk in nautankiland folks!! this place is not ours pheri bidhan chalise aaula karaudai :D