Last roll of the dice for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Tendulkar-c2556 – Opinion - Part 2 - Continued...
While there remained a sense of peace in his comments, it was definitely an alien experience for the veteran batsman. He later also spoke about the low moments of the past 12 months, where he had to deal with a barrage of criticism over his own form.
Punter averaged a lowly 22.55 during the last 10 Test matches before the last home summer where he got back into touch against the Indians. It included 4 uneventful Test matches against England, and two bouts against the Proteas. That tour in particular
was a real low point in Ponting’s career, who himself conceded that he would like to put the events of that trip behind him.
He might have achieved all that there remains in cricket, but he still feels hungry to get his team back to the top of the Test rankings, and ultimately wrestle back the Ashes. He however, will need to take small steps, foremost being to remain in good shape
in order to tackle a formidable Proteas lineup, against whom he fell considerably short last year. If he manages to do well, then he will certainly remain in contention for next year’s bouts against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013, and have a fairy tale ending to a career which had
stalled just 12 months ago.
While Tendulkar case offers some similarity, his cult following in his region offers him extra respite. The uncompromising nature of Australian cricket has left Ponting on his own, and his exclusion from the shorter version formats depicts that, whereas
for Tendulkar, he will still bid farewell on his own term.
Despite that, his failures over the past 12 months, and especially during the recent Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 where his defences were breached easily by the Kiwi bowlers, even he had to come out and accept for the first time in all those years that
he will assess his future in days to come.
“The moment of retirement is going to be hard because I haven’t experienced anything close to what I might go through when I retire. It depends on what my heart tells me then. I need not take a call right now. When I play in November, I will reassess things,”
he said.
“I am 39 and I don’t think I have plenty of cricket left in me. But it depends on my frame of mind and my physical ability to deliver. When I feel that I am not delivering what is needed, and then I will re-look at the scheme of things. I am already 39 and
no one expects me to go on playing forever,”
While Ponting tends to depict a personality which is uncompromising and realistic, Tendulkar’s comments offer a different picture. For the best part of his 23-year international career, he has singlehandedly carried the team forward, so for him to bid farewell
to game will be a very emotional affair, where sentiments will come into play.
All will go well if he gets back to form against England and the early signs indeed look promising after he scored a ton in the domestic circuit. But the fact of the matter is that while Ponting has few goals to conquer, for Tendulkar it’s just the emotional
attachment with his fans that keeps him motivated to carry the added burden.
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