Sachin’s retirement will be a sad day: Gavaskar

Lily

B.R
Staff member
Dubai: Sunil Gavaskar feels that it will be a “sad” day for world cricket when Sachin Tendulkar announces his retirement. “Tendulkar has had such a long career of 23 years. It won’t just be India’s problem when he calls it a day but world cricket’s problem. He is such an entertaining player in all forms of the game, he has entertained the whole world, when he decides to finish it’s going to be a sad day for world cricket,” Gavaskar said, speaking at the launch of Danube’s outdoor cricket team.

The former India opening batsman said he believes it is tough to predict when and where the Little Master will retire.

“So I guess we wait for the man himself. It’s very hard to put yourself in someone else’s body and someone else’s mind and feel and think what he is thinking. I think he (Tendulkar) himself said that he is going to make a call on the state of his career at the end of the England series.”

Tendulkar surpassed all records set by Gavaskar, who was the first player to pass the 10,000 run mark in Test cricket.

“I think it got to a stage that I was more relieved than him (Tendulkar) when he broke my records.”

When Gulf News asked about West Indies Twenty20 World Cup heroes Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels’ batting styles and whether power hitting is more important than timing, Gavaskar said: “Like fast bowling, you need to have physical strength. I don’t think you can have puny guys bowling fast because they just don’t have the strength to release the ball fast. The same applies to batting. You need to have that strength then the timing comes through. In modern cricket the kind of physical training that the players undergo now has helps a lot. They are well-guided, well-instructed by professionals who tell them what they need to do.”

Gavaskar went on to compare today’s cricketers with baseball players.

“Cricket over here has picked up something from baseball. In cricket, physical conditioning started a bit late though it was there in professional baseball. What had happened is that in professional baseball with all the physical conditioning and training, players were hitting the ball further. The same has happened in cricket too. While in the past sixes were hit just to 70 to 85 metres today with the physical strength and to a certain extent due to the bat also sixes are being hit for over a 100 metres. I think it is simply fantastic.”

Gavaskar went on to predict that by 2014, India will have a completely new team.

“It’s a scary thought to have so many good players going away. What cricket has always shown is that replacements will always be coming in. It might not be in the sense that a player goes out and other comes in, but you have seen it, there is a transition period, and we will see India go through a transition period. By 2014, we’ll probably have a completely new team.”
 
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