A time to retire, Sachin?

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">var server = '203.197.64.235'; var sitepage = "www.timesofindia.com/india/index.html"; var position ="Bottom1"; if (! 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It is a question that boggles the mind. Fifteen years is a life-time in today''s cricket. And Sachin has lived life fully and magically. <br /><br />To leave at this juncture would be to deny cricket its ultimate virtue: individualism. That is what sport lusts for. <br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />But a Sachin departure would have a not-out effect that cricketers can only dream of. As a star once said, such a gesture would compel a shocked world to ask "why?" instead of "why not?" <br /><br />To leave when you are on a high is "to walk to the pavilion to a perennial applause." <br /><br />Yet a farewell would only be notional. There''s too much of him in us. For 15 years we have watched Sachin with awe, anguish, and concern. He has become part of our family. In his tons we saw our own happiness reflected back. <br /><br />Even in the era of Schumi, Tiger, and Becks, Sachin has an ever-growing fan club. Worldwide, Harry Potter may be a kid''s most alluring alter ego; in India, Sachin is the ego. <br /><br />Kids may forget their mathamatics, but they keep tabs on Sachin''s numbers. Even during his injury-related absence from cricket, nobody has been able to out-Sachin Sachin. <br /><br />His figures intimidate: An ODI batting average of 44.91 with as many as 13,415 runs and a Test pileup of 9,470 runs with an average score of 57.39 is simply phenomenal. <br /><br />Sachin does not have to become the highest run-collector or ton-maker in Tests to show that he''s extraordinary. He has already done that, daring critics to question his claim to cricket''s biggest crown: that of best batsman. <br /><br />Legends don''t wilt under pressure during the game''s toughest moments. Legends are free spirits that are not bound by critics, sponsors, victories, defeats, and rising audience expectation. <br /><br />They don''t play; they have fun. And that''s what instinctive players like Sachin miss when they are pinned down by expectation. <br /><br />Even as we debate whether Sachin will return fit as a willow, we need to answer another, bigger, question: Is he still bowled over by cricket? <br /><br />When he comes back, will he ever be what cricket truly wants him to be - Sachin the Destroyer? Or, will he turn out to be what we all want him to be - Sachin the Collector? As a collector of stats, he would only diminish his genius. <br /><br />He would become one of us. <br /><br />Certainly, the destroyer has played his part to perfection and deserves to walk into the sunset if he believes his innings are over. Indeed, a legend''s innings are never over. They begin only after they are declared. <br /></div> </div>