Kirti Azad's irresponsible comments!

In the Cricket Planet show during the 1st ODI between India and Pakistan on 11/5/2007, Kirti Azad made some idiotic and irresponsible comments regarding Sachin Tendulkar. Such comments are expected from the normal public but for them to come from an international player himself is pretty sad and ironic!

His specific comment that crossed my mind was - "Tell me one final which India won where Sachin played?"

Was he even confident of his facts before making such an irresponsible comment??

He then went on to talk about consistency and how "senior players" should walk away themselves when they start being inconsistent. What really surprises and ticks me more is that players such as Azad who were highly inconsistent themselves talk big about consistency. This was in response to a simple question by the host, Padam, as to who he felt should open the Indian innings.

By the way Mr.Azad, pls find this below link for your kind perusal:
Singer-Akai Nidahas Trophy - Final

I have posted this message in several forums including one on the Zee Sports website in the sincere hope that it somehow reaches Mr.Azad and he refrains from making such stupid comments in the future - better even if Zee can simply stop taking him on such shows.

For everyone's reference: pls read Kirti Azad's profile on the cricinfo page - it answers all my questions as to how he became an international cricketer after all!
Hint - the first line gives it away!!!
Kirti Azad's Profile from Cricinfo

When should Sachin retire?

If you are a Cricket fan of any nature, I am sure this question must have crossed your mind some time or the other. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has been the backbone of Indian Cricket for over a decade now. Considering a Cricket-crazy nation that India is where Cricket is almost the primary religion, you can imagine the mental stress these Cricketers must be going through given the expectations that the "junta" has from them each and every game they play. In this context, imagine the level of expectations from people like SRT, Dravid and likes. How much of this stress can a human body take and for how long?

Agreed that these same Cricketers are paid a fortune to represent BCCI (not India - since BCCI is not a government entity and therefore they are not necessary playing for their country - a whole different subject altogether). However, they are human beings too, you know. I am slowly getting convinced that Sachin's body is getting tired from all the Cricket he has played and the consequences are visible. He is going through a lot of fitness issues and his performance has not been the same. Therefore, looking at the precedence set by "Warnie" & "Pidgeon", should Sach consider retirement at this time? I sincerely feel that he has some more Cricket still left in him.

The ideal scenario would be Sachin retiring at Wankhede after winning the World Cup final in 2010. If it comes to that, I would pay any amount to get in the stadium that day to witness the event.