Kapil Dev, India’s first ever World Cup (1983) winning captain urges that Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar should retire from all formats of international cricket with immediate effect, the support his desire he brings out the performance of Sachin Tendulkar who have scored just 68 runs in his last four innings played in the ongoing tri-series in Australia and further says that Sachin should actually retire right after the World Cup 2011 in which India has emerged as the first team to win World Cup in home land.
In an exclusive interview to new channel Aaj Tak Kapil Dev says “From what we have seen in the last three months, he (referring to Sachin Tendulkar) should have announced his retirement after the World Cup or even earlier. It’s important to know that every cricketer has his time. Having served India for 22-23 years, there surely is no greater cricketer than him. But he should have announced his decision to retire from the shorter format soon after the World Cup,” and further says that “May be his time has come. Every player has his time. He is 39-40 years now. Age is not on his side as it was earlier.”
On the other hand Kapil Dev didn’t even leave Team India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and is completely against his decision of not taking Ravindra Jadeja on board in the last game played against Australia in Brisbane on Sunday, in which Australia defeated India by 110 runs and Kapil Dev also feels that it is time for veterans like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman to retire from Test cricket which helps in giving a chance to the youngsters for proving themselves in the international formats. Kapil Dev also feels that he do not regret the fact the trio (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid & VVS Lakshman) have served the nation more than the few other cricketers, but its time for them to provide chance for rest of the emerging players in the country to serve the Indian Cricket without which they will be held responsible for the country’s poor performances (quoting the Team India’s performance in England & Australia tours).