The cricketing world recently witnessed the exit of one of the great batsmen of the modern era, Brian Lara. Another great batsman of the modern era, Sachin Tendulkar, also is probably going to seen the sun set on his career soon.

Tendulkar’s critics have already decided that the Tendulkar Chapter is a closed one. His form in recent times has been nowhere near satisfactory. His test form has simply been disappointing. The last test series Tendulkar played was against South Africa. Apart from one fifty, Tendulkar’s performance in South Africa was disappointing. He looked very good even in his short stays at the wicket. He played cover drives like the deliveries were harmless toys to play with. Surely, he must still believe that bowlers do not know how to bowl. But he just kept getting out early. After all the beautiful strokes he played, he got out like he didn’t know how to bat; there were too many soft dismissals.

With the progression of Tendulkar’s career, there has been a large amount of evolution in his game. He came in looking like a youngster angry with the bowlers around the world, and looking to hit them out of the park. Obviously, as his career progressed, his mind and attitude towards the game and his batting matured. Also, in the past five years or so, probably since the Natwest series, he has attempted to be a more organised and professional batsman. Unfortunately that does not suit his natural and instinctive style of play. But, a good part of this evolution of his batting is that, he has gained greater mastery over the art. This has made his cover drives look better and most probably gives him a greater amount of pleasure on execution.

Tendulkar’s not being in form is probably because he has got himself into a tangle. He seems rather indecisive at the crease of late probably because of excessive analysis and alteration of his natural game. In all the detailed study cricketers do of late, it is also a possibility that the error is hidden in plain sight and is at a much lower level than what is being analysed and dealt with. It is possible that he just has developed a minor technical flaw much like one develops a common cold. Bob Simpson’s hypothesis that Tendulkar does not look at the ball leaving the hand of the bowler is not baseless. His dismissal against Bangladesh in the league stages of the world cup was very unusual. How often does Sachin Tendulkar misread an arm ball?

On the political front, Tendulkar’s probably not as humble as he has been made out to be for the last decade or so. The controversy regarding his Ferrari and the other controversy regarding his accountant probably exposes his true colours. Also, the way Tendulkar has been speaking of late indicates many things. Has success finally got to Tendulkar’s head?

Tendulkar has almost nothing left to achieve. As Ian Chappell said, Tendulkar has to look in the mirror and take a decision. If Tendulkar scores a century or 2 in the upcoming Bangladesh test series, he should retire immediately like Pete Sampras did; after a good performance.-BS