“Sachin Tendulkar should finish his career as Sachin not as someone who is struggling,” says former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. Ganguly wants his former teammate to end up on a high just like any other great player deserves to be. It might be the last series of Tendulkar when he will play against South Africa later this year.
Everyone knows that Tendulkar carries “massive reputation” when he makes his way to the middle, but past few months haven’t been so easy for him. He has failed to score a century on home soil. Ganguly was quoted by The Hindu saying, "He's got such a massive reputation as a player, the best I've seen during my career, and I have played against the likes of Brian Charles Lara. I've said so to him personally as well. Whenever he finishes, whatever time he wants to, he should finish being the player he is; not someone who has struggled."
Tendulkar is on the verge of becoming first cricketer to play 200 Tests. He has played 198 Test matches till now and if he goes onto feature in all these tests of these three-match Test Series, he will cross the 200 mark. But former Indian skipper doesn’t believe in these numbers and wants Tendulkar to show his charismatic innings once again. He was quoted by Hindustan Times saying, "More than Tendulkar getting past 200 Test matches, I really want him to get a hundred in South Africa."
Ganguly reckons that green-top wicket is something that is going to be a real challenge for the players once they reach South Africa. He added, "I have seen a lot of good things in England [Champions Trophy], and in the West Indies (tri-nation series), but Test cricket obviously is different. I don't want to sound negative, but it's going to be hard on green, pacy wickets. So let's hope Dhoni again pulls something out of the hat."
Ganguly once again praised MS Dhoni for his courageous captaincy, but he didn’t want to draw any comparisons between him and Dhoni. He was quoted by Deccan Chronicle saying, "It's great to see such a fantastic leader; he just gets better and better. Comparisons don't irritate me. It's bound to happen but then I don't take too much interest in them because my time as a player is done. It's his time now, and he will be done in four years or so and someone else will come."