If Sachin were a thoroughbred

Thoroughbred race horse never retire, they are rather retired. 

In retirement, their life is truly cushy, many in stud farms, earning the owner millions of dollars, if a horse is lucky enough to retire to a horse farm in Bluegrass Country, in Kentucky, around Lexington.

I do not know why I was thinking about race horses retiring when I read that Sourav Ganguly has joined the long list of people that has adopted the hands-off approach to the ticklish question of when Sachin Tendulkar should retire.

Why is the question ticklish? The answer is simple – Indians are very ticklish!

Sachin is a thoroughbred; there is no doubt about that. He has won everything under the sun and more. But, much of it is in the past. Of late, though he has been part of the teams – India and Mumbai Indians of IPL – that won trophies, his trophy case is not shining truly. Indeed, to be harsh, his recent individual statistics are taking away the shine from his aging trophies.

This is why I do not understand why Sachin’s retirement should be a delicate subject. A race horse is not asked when it wants to retire. It is retired when the time comes, period. Admittedly, many people will have differing opinions on when a particular horse should be retired to stud, but the horse has no say in it, except through its performance around the track.

Sachin, indeed any cricketer, must be placed in that category only. Is this not what Australia does? He must be retired when it becomes obvious that he is not pulling his weight in the team. Now, there is a subtle shift and you must have noticed it. Sachin has been a thoroughbred but now he has been demoted to a draught horse, going about pulling a load! 

Yes, we can have debate on this but Sachin being allowed to retire on his own terms must not be part of the debate. True, we can give him a ceremonial send off, but when it happens is a decision the others must make. Hands on.

From horse to people. People in professional services – and here I am talking about engineers – are retired when they are found to be not worth their salary. It is a different matter they come back into the profession as consultants! They were thoroughbreds, metamorphosing into draught horses, at the flick of a switch, so to say.

From people to Sachin. It is for the others to decide when to make Sachin a draught horse or retire him to a farm, metaphorically.

Raghuram Ekambaram