India tour of Australia 2011/12

Sachin should have retired after World Cup: Imran Khan

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan believes that legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar should have retired after India's World Cup victory last year.

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan believes that legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar should have retired after India's World Cup victory last year.

"We all want to go with a big bang but you always don't get it right. For Sachin the ultimate time to go was after that World Cup win. He had such a great World Cup. He is a great player and there is not replacement for him,"

"He has to decide for himself and he must time it right. You don't want to go having lost to Australia 4-0. If he had gone after that World Cup that would have been the ultimate high," Imran Khan told a news channel.

Indian seniors players including Sachin Tendulkar are facing severe criticism after India's humiliation in England and Australia.

Many ex-cricketer feels that time has come for the Indian senior players to say good-bye to international cricket.

"It's a very difficult question for a sportsman to know when to leave...It's a very difficult decision and many great players have not got it right,"

"For Indian cricket it's not one player now but three or four would have to take decision. But the big question is whether you have got their replacement. If the gap between the young and old player is too much then you have to stay with the old players," said Imran.

Sachin is searching his elusive 100th international ton for last 11 months, but Imran Khan feels that statistics doesn't not matter to great players.

"Records must be broken within the team winning. You should not be playing to break records. Records should be part of the win. Sachin is a great player. Would I think of Sachin whether he is of 99 hundreds or 100 hundreds! No," he said.

"Greatest player I've played is Viv Richards. I don't need to look at his records. He is great because he loves challenges. Records are after all statistics and statistics did not matter to great players," he added.