I'm very happy to inform my fellow CD's that I have completed 26 months and still 10 months left for me to apply for my Citizenship and move on.

I started watching Indian cricket on cable since last month after a gap of 26 months, and very happy to see Sachin complete his 35th test hundred.

The Sachin I saw now is a pale shadow, of what I've seen 26 months ago. It reminds me of Sunil Gavaskar towards his end, where he kept dragging his retirement. There would always be a big debate on who would be the greatest Indian Cricketer, whether it would be Sachin or Kapil Dev?

My personal vote would be always with Kapil Dev for his 175 against Zimbabwe(which unfortunately was not recorded or telecast live), and his backsided catch in the final against West Indies in the world cup in 1983. I had the opportunity of meeting Kapil at the Mumbai airport along with Sachin, while he was coaching the Indian team. He had no hang ups and was very friendly with whomever asked him for an autograph or chatted with him, while I found Sachin to be a very reserved person and a gentleman.
May be I'm bit old fashioned, but it isn't better for people to retire, while at the top than to drag this, until people start asking how long?.

I hope this question on Sachin would ignite a debate from my fellow CD's.

Please note that the 2007 world cup is in the West Indies, and many of the Desi's could plan to go to the matches, as it is quite near and also the round trip ticket cost is around $800.

Happy Holidays(I want to be politically correct) and Happy New Year to all the Fellow CD's!

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Speech by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times....

"When we were young kids growing up in America, we were told to eat our
vegetables at dinner and not leave them. Mothers said, 'think of the
starving children in India and finish the dinner.' And now I tell my
children: 'Finish your maths homework. Think of the children in India
who would make you starve, if you don't.'"

If I am not wrong, Gavaskar went out at the top.
He was not stuggling at the end.

I am not sure about Tendulkar.
My source of info about how good a cricketer is comes from my Uncle who was a University level player. I generally trust him on most other things.
He says Tendulkar is the best Batsmen he has seen in his lifetime (He is almost 50). i.e. Technically he is BRILLIANT. He can play spin or fast with equally well. There are no known shortcomings.

His problem is that he has suspect temperament. Generally in leadership roles or when he had to absolutely perform he hasnt.

Kapildev is exactly as you said. I saw him once in a local match at Ferozshah Kotla and he came up to the public and had small chats and laughed around. Easy going kinda guy.

I think to be fair you have to compare a batsman to batsman.
Sachin has taken quite a few wickets too and is a good fielder.

Since I have not followed cricket for quite some time, I could be wrong.

I thought he was gone.

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I once made a mistake, but I was wrong about it.

If you have seen Sachin's batting in the first couple of one-day internationals against Sri Lanka, he was at his best. His injury has definitely affected his batting & with age his reflexes are bound to slow down. So it is not fair on our part to expect him to score as he used to earlier.

Having said that he still remains one of the better batsmen in the world today.

I feel Gavaskar was definitely a better batsman of spin bowling.

Shankaracharya, you have said that after getting citizenship you are planning to move on. In life or to some other place?

Thanks & rgds.

Rajan.

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Let's make India a better place !

Sunil Gavaskar was retired on the height of his career. In the last test match (It was not offical match though) he played was ICC v/s Rest of World and he did scored some 150 runs againts the top bowlers of the world at Lords. And his only one-day century came in the second last match he played in just 72 balls. I guess he was about 33-34 when he retired.

It was Vishanath, whose career dragged a lot.

Sachin is still doing good. You can't expect century from every match from him. He should play another 3-4 years before retirement.

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A Proud Indian Canadian

Age should not be a matter if Sachin is playing well. Geoff Boycot came out of retirement to face Thomson and Lillee. Same thing with Rohan Kanhai when he played in the 1975 world cup. Same for Bobby Simpson.

It comes down to the politics (selectors and the BCCI). Look at the way how Ganguly is kicked around. Today he is there, tomorrow he is not there.

Anil is getting sharper and sharper with age!

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A Proud Indian Canadian