At 34, Endulkar theory re-surfaces

Tendulkar has been 8216;rested8217; along with another former captain Sourav Ganguly for next month8217;s one-day series in Bangladesh by the selection committee when the team was announced last week following the World Cup debacle, a decision which has triggered various interpretations in the media.

The sands of time seem to be catching up with Tendulkar with a question mark hanging over his international career, which has been nothing short of spectacular so far.

Tendulkar is still a world-class player in both forms of the game and his decline as a batsman8212;though palpable going by statistics8212; still show him to be good enough to command a place in the Indian team which was struggling to maintain consistency.

Tendulkar, who performed poorly like so many of his Team mates in India8217;s disastrous World Cup campaign in the West Indies, has scored only four hundreds in his last 50 ODIs, as compared to his overall tally of 41 in 384 ties while his average during this period 8212; just under 40 8212; is below his career average of 44.

His plunging Test career graph is more glaring. In the last 20 Tests, the man with the most number of centuries has scored only two three-figure innings including an innings of 248 not out against Bangladesh when India toured their eastern neighbours in December, 2004. It8217;s true that because of injuries Tendulkar missed quite a few tours and with them the opportunities too, but still a steep slide of 12 points from his overall career average of close to 55 in an Indian record 135 Tests itself is a pointer to his declining form.