Questions regarding the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar came to the limelight a number of times in the fag end of his career. The maestro decided to call it quits, first in the ODI format in December 2012, and then retired from Test in November the following year. Sandeep Patil, who was the chief selector then, revealed that the Little Master would have been dropped had he not announced his ODI retirement.
The former selector stated that Tendulkar was asked about his future plans in December 2012, and Patil believes Tendulkar was aware of the things to come. Hence, he decided to call it quits.
"On December 12, 2012, we met Sachin and asked him about his future plans. He said he did not have retirement on his mind. But the selection committee had reached a consensus on Sachin... and had informed the board too about it," The Times of India quoted Patil as telling Marathi channel ABP Majha.
"Perhaps Sachin understood what was coming because at the time of the next meeting, Sachin called and said he was retiring (from ODIs). If he had not announced his decision to quit then, we would have definitely dropped him."
After having come up with such a huge statement, Patil went a little on the backfoot when interviewed by the group's website. The selector said Tendulkar wanted to play Test cricket and hence decided to quit ODIs, not mentioning the "dropping him" episode.
"As long as I remember, it was December 12, 2012, Nagpur. Sachin got out and the selectors decided to meet him and ask him about his wish. I was the one who staged the meet, being the chairman of selectors, and it was purely to understand what was running in his mind," Patil said.
"Sachin wanted to concentrate more on Test cricket. So, it was decided that he would retire from One-day cricket. He called me and Sanjay Jagdale (then BCCI secretary). Then it was collectively decided that he would retire from ODIs."
The fact remains, Tendulkar retired from the ODIs as one of the greatest batsman, scoring 18,426 runs in 463 matches, which is a phenomenal record. Besides this stunning record, Tendulkar also achieved one of his biggest dreams, winning the World Cup in 2011 before hanging his boots from ODI cricket.
