I've almost stopped following cricket. But I do follow sachin tendulkar quite a bit.

Read http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2005/mar/14sachin.htm

This stumped me inside out..Time and again he talks about his injuries to reporters more often now than before and says he played in this or that match with some pain. I know he was pretty fussy about sightscreens even in his prime, but this time seemed more like cribbing.
I read about his batting on day 3 or something during the mohali match which only india could possibly lose (atleast thats what the media says)..What would have been the reaction of 'experts' if some 1 other than sachin had slowed the scoring rate?? Surely, they dont wanna risk spoiling their good names trashing sachin!! And his statistics get bigger as ever..10K runs.

To me, he's ceased to be a factor in indian cricket right now. Sehwag is the go to guy for the next few years definitely.

Interesting thing abt sehwag: When i talk to ppl abt sehwag, common refrain - he's inconsistent, cant score like sachin on a regular basis etcetera..Know what, some arbit stat states he's getting 1 ton every 3 games..Er, what else is consistently good? 1 in 1.? It is interesting to note that when ppl talk about a flashy player, they are prejudiced by the fact that flashy corresponds to inconsistency. Nice!

-r