OH SACHIN, poor Sachin – you belted 99 centuries in your pretty long cricketing career spanning over more than two decades. Still you are finding it extremely difficult to score that all elusive 100th magical century.

The century of centuries as the media has already branded it. Sachin, you are a legend. But the poor form that is on display in the Commonwealth Bank 2012 series has left all your fans bewildered. When you return to the pavilion with a serious gloomy face, what sort of a reply do you give to your family members for the repeated failures?

How do you face the fierce stares of near and dear ones and close friends? How do you justify the series of failures – it is difficult to just imagine a batsman of your caliber and vast experience scoring only 90 runs in 5 matches in the CB series of 2012!!!

Right now you are in Australia and know that Ricky Ponting has been dropped from the ODI team basically due to his poor form. We in India are not that harsh – others drop a player, we do not believe in such uncouth language, we do not believe in being so blunt. We respect the sentiments of others.

We Indians love euphemism - we say the player has been ‘rested’. The willow is betraying you, 22-years are a whole lot of cricket and no one in the world has got a chance to bat for so long. Has the time come for you to part ways with the beloved willow?