The Hindu : Sport : Time may have come for Tendulkar to concentrate on Tests

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Time may have come for Tendulkar to concentrate on Tests

As the tournament reaches its climax the thoughts of the master must be turning towards tomorrow, writes Peter Roebuck

Sachin Tendulkar must have much on his mind as he prepares for the finals of this triangular tournament. Not for the first time in a long and productive career his form has been under scrutiny.

But he has survived worse spells and emerged intact. Over the years his weakness has also been his strength. His strongpoint has been his lack of ego, his willingness to serve. His weakness has been his lack of ego and inability to impose himself.

By now Tendulkar knows these things and has learnt to live with them. It takes more than the imponderables of the game to upset him. If he has been lost in thought it is surely because for the first time in his career he is weighing up his options. Otherwise he’d hardly be human.

India has been in Australia for an interminable time, moving from match to match, hotel room to hotel room, packing bags, emptying bags, filling in forms, catching flights, all the unseen things that happen between matches. He has been attending practices, batting in the nets, completing fielding drills, turning over an arm. After all these years it must be second nature to him, like packing a briefcase and catching a train.

A life of this sort suits young fellows for whom every city brings fresh smells and sights. To them a tour is an adventure. Suddenly they are important as they are ferried in buses, interviewed, featured in advertisements. Suddenly they are playing with and against their heroes. It can happen quickly and sweep an impressionable youngster off his feet as decisively as any pretty girl.

For a long time a cricketer may continue to enjoy the simplicities of touring life. Sportsmen relish the jokes, pranks, stories, laughter, sadness and privacy of the rooms.

Listen to any retiring player and he will say how much he will miss that part of his experience. Has one amongst them mentioned missing the game itself? Eventually, though, the time comes when the call of family life is as strong, when the desire to sleep in your own bed returns.

And then a travelling player starts to think about the sacrifices his wife and children have made to accommodate his spell in the limelight.

Tendulkar is in most respects the same as other men. Just that he can bat as few have ever batted. But he has a family and a home and sometimes must yearn for them.

Although players are constantly surrounded, cricket is a lonely game, especially on tour. As the weeks have become months, as another one-day match approaches before another expectant crowd, he must sometimes have wished for a quieter life. It is close at hand.

Recently he saw the old hands go back home. Did part of him not wish to join them? The new bloods arrive and for a while their spirit must have carried him along. Tendulkar enjoys the company of the youngsters. He knows they look up to him and it makes him happy. It is never so easy with contemporaries, for anyone. But even the adulation of youth is finally not enough.

And so as the tournament reaches its climax the thoughts of the master must be turning towards tomorrow. He might think the time has come to join Anil Kumble and others of his generation in concentrating on Test matches and letting the youngsters take care of the rest. It might not be a bad idea. He has done enough chasing around. It might also prolong a wonderful and recently rejuvenated career.

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