Sachin should have called it quits after World Cup triumph: Imran Khan

Abhishek Manroa January 31, 2012 0

Sachin should have called it quits after World Cup triumph: Imran Khan

KOLKATA: Pakistan’s living cricket legend Imran Khan said Monday that the best time for Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar to call it quits was after his team won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 last year.

India had defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets on April 2, 2012 after the space of 28 years and Sachin Tendulkar had a central role in the Team India’s triumph and no one better than Imran Khan knows of calling it quits on the twilight of a cricketing career.

During his Indian tour, Imran Khan told local media on Monday, “We all want to go with a big bang but you always don’t get it right. For Sachin the ultimate time to go was after that World Cup win. He had such a great World Cup. He is a great player and there is not replacement for him”.

During his interaction with the local media, Imran Khan also gave his comments about the recent bashing of Team India from the hands of Australia. The legendary former Pakistan captain said, “Tendulkar has to decide for himself and he must time it right. You don’t want to go having lost to Australia 4-0. If he had gone after that World Cup that would have been the ultimate high”.

While Imran said that the senior Indian cricketers should make a call, he also suggested the Indian cricket board to nurture replacements for the outgoing veterans. He said, “Indian players have the right to decide when they want to retire but it is board’s management that should first get the replacement for them”.

He added, “It’s a very difficult question for a sportsman to know when to leave…It’s a very difficult decision and many great players have not got it right”.

Pointing out the senior cricketers, Imran stated, “It’s not one player now but three or four would have to take decision. But the big question is whether you have got their replacement. If the gap between the young and old player is too much then you have to stay with the old players.”

Talking about Sachin Tendulkar’s elusive 100^th hundred in cricket, Imran Khan was of the view that the statistics don’t matter much for the veteran Indian cricketer as nothing can denounce his greatness as cricket player.

He highlighted, “Records must be broken within the team winning. You should not be playing to break records. Records should be part of the win. Sachin is a great player. Would I think of Sachin whether he is of 99 hundreds or 100 hundreds! No”.

Elaborating further on his point, Imran said, “Greatest player I’ve played is Viv Richards. I don’t need to look at his records. He is great because he loves challenges. Records are after all statistics and statistics did not matter to great players”.

Pin-pointing Indian cricket’s main issues, Imran Khan said that the Indian cricket board is emphasizing a little too much on the shortest version of the game thus leaving the greatness behind in the longest form and therefore their team has reduced to a “Walkover Team in Test Cricket”.

He added, “India needs to re-think strategy seriously… have they put too much emphasis on IPL, T20 cricket. It’s great entertainment but how to compare T20 with Test cricket. Test cricket is the ultimate test of the skills of a player”.

When talked about the highly anticipated Pakistan-India cricket series, Imran Khan was equivocal in his stance, saying the two neighbouring countries should revisit their strategies and focus on fostering fresh cricketing ties.

He added, “We have deprived the sub-continent of the pleasure of an Indo-Pak cricket series. The highlight of the World Cup was the semifinal between Pakistan and India. Let’s put our past behind and move on. It’s time for new relationship and new era”.

He further stated, “We must go beyond Mumbai 26/11. Everybody in Pakistan condemned the person and the Mumbai incident. Even in Pakistan thousand people have died in terrorist attacks. It’s time for new relationships and to resume Indo-Pak cricket series”.