Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar could have been dropped from the Indian ODI team in 2012 if he had not announced his retirement, revealed former chief selector Sandeep Patil on Wednesday.
Patil, recently making a shocking revelation, said, “On 12 December, 2012, we met Sachin and asked him about his future plans. He said he did not have retirement on his mind. But the selection committee had reached a consensus on Sachin…and had informed the board too about it. Perhaps Sachin understood what was coming, because at the time of the next meeting, he called and said he was retiring (from One Day Internationals). If he had not announced his decision to quit then, we would have definitely dropped him.”
Even after giving a great performance in the Test Matches regularly, Tendulkar was not able to perform very consistently in the ODIs. Patil at that time making a comment, when he was asked about Sachin’s plan, told the media how Tendulkar wanted to focus on playing test 50 overs format.
Patil had said, “Sachin wanted to concentrate more on Test cricket. He called me and Sanjay Jagdale (the then BCCI secretary). Then it was collectively decided that he will retire from ODI’s.”
Tendulkar had announced his ODI retirement on 23 December, 2012, and his last ODI was against Pakistan in Dhaka during the Asia Cup. The legend finished his game with full pride as he made a half-century and led India to victory.
He has played 463 ODIs in his career and has scored 18,426 runs and made a total of 49 centuries in his career, all the three of them, world records.
“The only sad thing about being a selector is that you end up losing some of your friends. But that’s part of the game. There are some matters between the selectors and BCCI which should remain confidential and cannot be revealed,” Patil said.
Patil refused to accept that Tendulkar had been forced to retire from Tests due to his poor performance in the hurriedly-arranged West Indies tour to India in November 2013.
Tendulkar played his last match of his career was at Wankhede Stadium on 14 November, 2013. He scored a marvelous 74 before announcing his retirement and had helped India win by an innings and 126 runs.
Tendulkar scored a total of 15,921 runs, including 51 centuries in the 200 Tests that he played during his tremendous career.
In the last press conference before the end of his term, Patil refused to the accusation that Dhoni’s retirement came out as a shock to even him and the other selectors. Patil speaking on Dhoni’s retirement told the media, “Things didn’t move in our favour, and in that backdrop one of your senior players decided to hang his gloves. That was shocking, but in the end, it was his decision.”
Patil also said that the age of a player shouldn’t be considered while taking a selection call.
“Sometimes people say players are dropped because of their age but I believe age is not the barrier. We give importance to fitness and performance. If a player is fit enough to perform, he will have equal chances to be considered for selection,” he said.
The BCCI on Wednesday named a new five-member selection committee, headed by former wicket keeper-batsman MSK Prasad. MSK Prasad, who was a part of the previous panel as well, as the South Zone representative, replaced Patil as chairman of the selectors.