Board of Control for Cricket in India president N Srinivasan refused to be drawn into the debate on whether it is time for Sachin Tendulkar to call it quits from Test cricket, saying he is the "greatest batsman India has produced" and it won't be fair to the batsman to discuss his retirement.
Asked whether the BCCI is giving special treatment to Tendulkar when compared to the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, both of whom are presently out of the team due to non-performance, Srinivasan replied, "I don't think anyone us can talk about Sachin (Tendulkar)".
"Sachin is probably the greatest cricketer India has ever produced. I don't think it is wise to sit and analyse his performance series wise," Srinivasan told NDTV.
Srinivasan's personal opinion was that Tendulkar has no comparison as he belongs to an altogether different league.
"Sachin is different from others. This is my personal view and I distinguish between selection matters and personal view," the BCCI chief said.
He also refused to react to a column by renowned historian and cricket writer Ramachandra Guha, who wrote that Tendulkar should have retired on a high, like Vijay Merchant, who quit international cricket after scoring a flawless century against England in 1951.
"It's not fair to be quizzed about Sachin because I am not a selector. I don't think we should be discussing this. It's not fair on Sachin to be discussed at all," the he said.
Tendulkar scored 81 in the first Test in Chennai, but failed to get another big knock in India's historic 4-0 sweep against Australia in the just-concluded Test series.
Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters
