Being picky getting a little too sticky?

So Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has done it again by opting out of the tour of Sri Lanka. A news that made more headlines than Sunil Chettri’s signing with Sporting Lisbon. And as always, the debate is raging on whether or not he should be playing too picky a game within the game of Cricket. While one set of people have come out slamming this decision of his, others have willingly chosen to stand by their Cricketing God of 22 years.

The decision of his being debatable all along, actually cannot be declared outright correct or incorrect in totality. The obvious word being that Sachin has the right to pick and choose which series he wants to play so that he can prolong his career and help in the smooth transition from one generation to another. Well, it’s a fair enough argument that Sachin is within his rights to pick and choose when and where he wants to play and which series he wants to prioritise more so as to add more life to his career. But then, he can do that by quitting ODIs altogether as well. A lot of players have done it in the past, choosing one format over the other, thereby permanently vacating their place in one of the formats while continuing on another one and allowing another guy to take up the position he has quit from. It’s much better to do away with all kinds of speculation once and for all and settle the matter. It will also mean a more settled, assured and more consistent opportunities for the likes of Ajinkya Rahane to be representing national colours.

It was being argued all along that with Sachin choosing to opt out of certain tournaments, it is allowing the younger generation of Indian cricketers to get much needed practice to prepare themselves for future assignments. But then, wouldn’t that mission be accomplished in a better way if Sachin made permanent way for somebody like Ajinkya Rahane to open in ODIs? It is not just about getting opportunities, but also about getting consistent opportunities in the national colours. However, if anything is to go by, the recent tour of the India “A” team to the West Indies, threw up more questions than answers; which also further necessitates Sachin’s presence at the top.

Coming to the point of India “A” team’s recent tour to the West Indies, it actually has deepened our cause of concern rather than any kind of assurance for the future. This suggests that the future generation of Indian Cricket isn’t yet fully ready to shoulder higher responsibilities. So on those grounds, Sachin’s decision to play certain important tournaments and skip a few others does tend to hold some ground since completely handing over the mantle to new hands could prove to be dangerous. However, fact of the matter is that, had the boys representing India “A” done well in the West Indies, then the whole debate would have taken a completely different turn and rather going much more against Sachin and Sachin’s requirement in the team cannot be based on one performance. That’s a different story however, and would have been discussed in greater detail had the India “A” team performed better than what they did.

People suggest that currently, it is important for Sachin to get sufficient rest before taking the field for a major Cricket series, but then, his lack-lustre form against England last summer was clearly visible after having opted out of the West Indies series. It took him the entire Test series to get his rhythm going and more often than not, it was his wicket that would begin the collapse lower down.

For now, Sachin’s decision has yet again divided the world into two. As mentioned before, it is hard to point out the absolute correctness and the absolute wrongness of his decision. It is a choice that he has made and might as well continue with it for a while, and all the while, what we can only expect is that his personal decision to pick and choose doesn’t begin to affect the team re-building for the future where a few other players are not sure of their responsibility in the team and do not find sufficient rhythm for themselves before the World Cup in 2015. Though I might be thinking a little too far ahead of myself.