Sachin may retire after his 200th Test match..

BCCI has confirmed West Indies tour of India, this November for 2 Test matches and 3 ODI series. The confirmation of series comes as a surprise, since the whereabouts of this series weren’t mentioned in ICC’s Future Tour Programs. 

Now, it’s not the schedule of the series that has caught everyone’s attention. It is India’s and cricket’s biggest ever icon Sachin Tendulkar’s career that has become the epicenter for news. Yes, by this time you must have made the right guess. The test series is probably the last of little master at game’s highest level. Speculations are that the series will curtain the legendary career of Sachin Tendulkar – A Living Legend.

 Living a Childhood dream - Sachin Tendulkar with Worldcup in his hands

Team India was scheduled to tour South Africa in November after a home ODI series against Australia. BCCI proposed an offer to West Indies that they fairly accepted. Had it been India touring South Africa in November, the whole of India would have been saddened by the fact that the farewell to the country’s greatest sportsman ever was bid on a foreign land. 

Truly Master Class - Sachin Tendulkar

Thankfully, BCCI made sure that Sachin remains at home when he calls it an end to his glorious career. The two test matches are likely to be played at Kolkata and Mumbai. Sachin deservingly gets a chance to play his last test match in his home-town, in front of his home crowd, the place where it all started for this batting great. The legendary batsman would accomplish yet another milestone as the test in Mumbai will be his 200th Test match, the highest number of appearances by a cricketer in Test cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar has done it all in cricket. He has faced the greatest of fast bowlers and has built an unparalleled reputation for his batting amongst the likes of Brain Lara and Ricky Ponting. His batting records sometimes looks like a collection of batting stats of an entire team.  With over 30000 runs in all formats of the game and 100 international hundreds, Sachin Tendulkar has been consistent in delivering for team India for over two decades now.

Sachin Tendulkar hasn’t scored a century in his last 38 Test match innings. His last century was a master-class 146 against South Africa at Capetown in January 2011. At Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Sachin last scored a century against Srilanka way back in 1997. He has scored nearly 850 runs in his 18 innings at Mumbai at an average of 47.05 However, his record in Mumbai tends to slightly improve against West Indies as he has 251 runs in 5 innings at a healthy average of 50.02. His overall record against West Indies, inclusive of all the venues, fares much better as he has successfully amassed 1546 runs in 19 matches at an average of 55.21.

 

Carrying the weight of over a billion expectations - Sachin Tendulkar

 With bat held high in his hand and his eyes shooting at the heavens, when Sachin walks on to the pitch for one last time, he'll be carrying expectations of a whole nation, the entire world, living legends and legends from heaven, his admirers and his critics. A performance nothing short of his best would be expected from the GREATEST CRICKETER OF ALL TIME.